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Kierkegaard Has Been Viewed As Being A Predictor Of The Post-modern Rejection ...

Kierkegaard has been viewed as being a predictor of the post-modern rejection in this regard. Students of Hegel, at the time, were working out the implications of Hegelian thought in scriptural studies. Kierkegaard early on sets himself at odds with Hegel's students emerging superstructure of quasi objectivism. Of note, is the famed ‘Historical Jesus' movement of the 19th century. This movement is formally set off by the publishing of D. F. Strauss's Life of Jesus. Kierkegaard's objection was not necessarily against formal study as such, but rather with the spirit or attitude of the problem. A true student of the Bible would come to the text seeking to learn and to be transformed through the imitation of Jesus Christ. Without that receptivity there is a posture of putting the Scripture below oneself, even of forcing the text to adhere to anachronistic truth systems that are shifty at best.
The fault that Kierkegaard observes is the thinly veiled attempts to force the Bible into a historical-critical-objective model that can't and shouldn't accommodate it. Kierkegaard thinks that to assume such scientific and hyper-rationalism on the Biblical account is misguided at best. Polk comments
No objective grounding is firm enough to prevent ingeniously self-interested readersi.e., each and every one of usfrom making malevolent use and self-deceptive sense of ScriptureWhen it comes to Scripture, valid reading requires a passionate interestedness, a risk of faith in the face of uncertainty, a resolute love of God and neighbor, a posture of gratitude toward the past and hope for the future, and a relentless self-scrutiny, which are what Kierkegaard means by ‘subjectivity.'
Kierkegaard has trouble with the blurring of the lines amongst fields of inquiry like Hegel proposes in his metaphysical system.
There is no overarching narrative for human existence that can encapsulate every aspect, every moment, or every truth. By trying to create an overarching system one inevitably begins to deconstruct key elements of the systems being incorporated. For example, a doctrine of sin is essential in Christian theology but out of place in the field of psychology, and so on. Thus, truth is relative for Kierkegaard. This is not free-wheeling relativism, but a statement of place. One finds truth in relation to his or her position to it. In the reading of the Scripture with personal engagement, one finds him or herself in the sights of spiritual truth. The Historical-Critical method is simply out of place in its analysis of the Biblical text, and doomed to failure in its stated goals. That is not to say that there is no use for contextual or historical clues about the text, yet they can only provide an approximate understanding of the text.

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