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International Kierkegaard scholars gather at St. Olaf

By Lisa Gulya '07
June 11, 2005

HongsWEB
Edna '38 and Howard Hong '34 founded the Kierkegaard Library with materials they donated to the college in 1976.
St. Olaf College will host the Fifth International Kierkegaard Conference on campus June 11-15. The conference theme, "Kierkegaard's Journals and Notebooks," is in recognition of the forthcoming translations of Kierkegaard's journals and notebooks to be published by Princeton University Press.

A 19th-century Danish philosopher and theologian, Kierkegaard is known as the father of existentialism and regarded by some as the greatest Christian philosopher since Pascal.

Some 130 scholars from 17 countries are expected to attend, including 14 graduate students discussing their dissertations. Keynote speaker George Pattison is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, the Canon of Christ Church Cathedral and a distinguished Kierkegaard scholar.

"With so many scholars and from every corner of the globe, the conference will provide many different and fresh perspectives on Kierkegaard," says Gordon Marino, curator of the library and a professor of philosophy at St. Olaf. And, he adds, with the focus on Kierkegaard's journals, hopefully the participants will be able to shed some collective light on the significance of his "jottings."

St. Olaf houses one of the world's three primary resources for study of Kierkegaard. The Howard V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library is located in the Rolvaag Memorial Library building. Formerly the private collection of the Hongs, amassed to aid their work of translating Kierkegaard's work from Danish into English, the materials were donated to the college in 1976.

The book collection includes approximately 10,000 non-circulating volumes, while nearly 3,000 periodical articles are on file. A unique feature of the collection is the replication of Kierkegaard's personal library collection, including many of the same editions owned by the philosopher. The library, intended to be a study and publication center for students and scholars alike, is open to the public.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.