Søren Kierkegaard

Soren Kierkegaard was an influential Danish writer and religious philosopher of the fist half of the nineteenth century. Born to a fairly wealthy family, Kierkegaard spent most of his life focused on religious and philosophical thought and the nature of God and humanity. He spent much of his time walking the crooked streets of Copenhagen, meeting with people from all classes of society. In 1837 he met Regina Olsen, and proposed in 1840, but the marriage never occurred as he broke off the engagement in 1841, for unknown reasons possibly linked to feelings of personal inadequacy. After breaking off the engagement, he took his degree. He devoted most of his life to writing, on both religious and political topics, entering into a very public feud with the established church shortly before his death in 1855.