Abstract

The concept of trøst [consolation, comfort, solace] has not received much attention in the Kierkegaard literature. Apart from isolated remarks, there is neither a treatise nor an entry on it in Kierkegaard handbooks and dictionaries. It is therefore an attractive but complex undertaking to gain an overview of Kierkegaard’s treatment of the concept of trøst by evaluating the relevant passages in Kierkegaard’s extensive oeuvre in order to identify essential characteristics and lines of development. After some brief remarks on the occurrence of this concept in Kierkegaard’s work, general observations are made on Kierkegaard’s concept of trøst as a basis for a thorough historical-systematic approach.