International Kierkegaard Newsletter 2001

No. 23 . October 2001 ISSN 0108-3104 p. 244

EDITORIAL:

Dear Friends, it is with some sadness that I report that this edition marks the end of the last paper edition of the International Kierkegaard Newsletter. I had hoped to continue it for one or two more years, but the number of people wanting the paper version has dropped significantly (while some still forget to let me have their change of address so that copies get returned to me). Most people now have access to email or are near a local library that supports the internet. I thus propose to switch to ensuring that the Newsletter will be available electronically. The internet site is accessible from any library in the world that supports internet access.

Many grateful thanks to the Malantschuk Memorial Foundation in Denmark for its award to help cover the cost of production of the Newsletter. It has been much appreciated in these difficult economic times.

With the discontinuation of the paper edition I intend to concentrate resources on bringing about improvements in the Kierkegaard website. There is much that can be done in that direction.

It has been a long journey from October 1979 in Copenhagen when, using a manual Adler typewriter, I typed the first issue of the Newsletter and sent out a modest number of photocopied copies. After that, for many years, Ole Mai very kindly printed the Newsletter and Grethe Kjaer and I got the copies ready for mailing. - The mailing took place through the Kildegårdplads Post Office, to which I wheeled a large number of packages on my cycle. For the past few years the Newsletter has been printed by Uniprint (Launceston) at the University of Tasmania and I have sent out the copies through Australia Post from the Mowbray Heights Post Office in Tasmania.

Grateful thanks to all who have been associated with the production and sending of the paper edition of the International Kierkegaard Newsletter for so many years.

I very much hope that you will all continue to send me material for the Newsletter, since it is only the format that has decisively changed. (Don't forget the internet web address: http://www.utas.edu.au/docs/humsoc/kierkegaard).

Obituary
The Danish Press reports (Berlingske Tidende, 2. sektion, 2.7.01 and Politiken 2. sektion, 3.7.01) the death of Professor of theology and Kierkegaard scholar Johannes Sløk at his home in Risskov on 30.6.01. Johannes Sløk was one of the four great Århus theologians and in Kierkegaard circles was well-known for his insightful, challenging, and extremely helpful Kierkegaard books. When he gave a lecture, there was never a dull moment, and I have a clear recollection of him giving a paper to the Kierkegaard Society (6.11.1980 "Da Kierkegaard tav") and at question time leaning challengingly, almost confrontationally, forward over the rostrum in response to a speaker's question. He forced one to consider not only one's view of Kierkegaard, but also the nature of the questions one asked about Kierkegaard. Also in Kierkegaard circles he will be sorely missed.

Obituary
With sadness I have to report the death of John W. Elrod (21st January 1940 - 27th July, 2001). John Elrod was an enthusiastic Kierkegaard scholar with substantial books (for example, Being and Existence in Kierkegaard's Pseudonymous Works, 1975) that are still valued by Kierkegaard researchers. I have happy memories of him also as a fellow toiler on the International Advisory Board of Kierkegaard's Writings. He was a delightful person in every respect with a warm sense of humour. We will miss him.

Obituary
Yet another Kierkegaard friend who has left us is James E. Loder, who died in November 2001. A visitor to the Kierkegaard Department at Copenhagen University, he was a source of inspiration and helpfulness to his fellow scholars. His scholarly work was similarly a source of inspiration, always provoking one to thought - for example, in the book he co-wrote with W. Jim Neidhardt: The Knight's Move. The Relational Logic of the Spirit in Theology and Science, 1992. There also come to mind his exciting accounts of people he had known, such as Arthur Koestler. I remember going out to lunch with him in Copenhagen and being so lost in what he had to say that I nearly forgot to eat my lunch. He, too, will be missed by many.

Copyright © Julia Watkin 2001. All rights reserved.
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This page was last updated on 25th November, 2002 at 6.45 p.m.