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Soren Kierkegaard
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Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing (Harper Torchbooks Book 4) Kindle Edition

by Søren Kierkegaard (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 156 ratings

In Kierkegaard’s view, faith is the most essential task of life. Faith is not a matter of dogmatic adherence, but rather of subjective passion. In Purity of Heart, Kierkegaard discusses multiple facets of human existence, particularly the responsibility of each person to single-mindedly seek out spiritual understanding and ethical integrity. While insisting that each reader must find their own path, Kierkegaard does offer clues to the nature of goodness.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher and theologian. Much of his work deals with religious problems such as faith in God, the institution of the Christian Church, Christian ethics and theology, and the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices.

“About the greatness of the book there can be no question. It should be regarded as the equivalent of shock therapy.”—The Living Church

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  1. Part of series
    Harper Torchbooks
  2. Print length
    217 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    HarperOne
  5. Publication date
    April 19, 2011
  6. File size
    3.6 MB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

'To read this book with care is to know oneself pursued by 'The Hound of Heaven.' 'Purity of Heart' is one of many books in which Kierkegaard sought to rescue the individual from 'massification' by compelling him to stand alone before God.' Howard A. Johnson in The Review of Religion'

About the Author

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) lived in Copenhagen, Denmark. His books include Works of Love and Spiritual Writings (translated and edited by George Pattison).

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003YCOP2K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperOne (April 19, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 19, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.6 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 217 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 156 ratings

About the author

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Soren Kierkegaard

Soren Kierkegaard

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Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher.

Photo by Neils Christian Kierkegaard [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
156 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book has profound thoughts and logic. They find the spiritual content inspiring and devotional. However, opinions differ on readability - some find it a good classic read with few typos, while others find it difficult to read due to formatting issues.

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ThoughtSpiritual contentReadability
9 customers mention "Thought"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book full of ideas and profound thoughts. They describe it as a wonderful read for the soul, dense with logic, and intellectually challenging. Readers praise the author as a monumental genius who explores inner space.

"...Extremely practical, full of logic, and containing the answer to life's most important question 'how then should we live'." Read more

"...A must read for those who explore inner space...." Read more

"Wonderful thinker. Good read for my soul. Old read are good reads and this man has some good reads. Glad I am reading it." Read more

"Kierkegaard is a monumental genius. He reaches out from eternity. Love binds us to the transcendent. The text performs his devotion." Read more

4 customers mention "Spiritual content"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the spiritual content inspiring and challenging. They describe it as a strong devotional read that encourages mindfulness and the Mahayana practice of embracing good, avoiding evil, and purifying the mind.

"...more fully the Three Pure Precepts of Mahayana practice; Embrace the Good, Avoid All Evil, and Purify the Mind...." Read more

"...Content wise - Kierkegaard's topic is challenging and inspiring...." Read more

"Purity of Heart brings focus to the essentials of following Christ...." Read more

"Strong devotional read..." Read more

13 customers mention "Readability"8 positive5 negative

Customers have different views on the book's readability. Some find it readable and easy to understand, with ample space on the pages for annotations. Others mention typos, difficult language, and slow comprehension for non-theologians.

"This is one of my favorite books of all time. A slow reading will draw the reader into levels of inwardness hitherto unseen...." Read more

"...Yes it is difficult language, and Kierkegaard has the discipline or a logician. So I read it slowly...." Read more

"Wonderful thinker. Good read for my soul. Old read are good reads and this man has some good reads. Glad I am reading it." Read more

"...Love binds us to the transcendent. The text performs his devotion." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Kristofer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Strong devotional read
    Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    This is one of my favorite books of all time. A slow reading will draw the reader into levels of inwardness hitherto unseen. There is a certain stability that comes from a life lived in willing only one thing.

    Extremely practical, full of logic, and containing the answer to life's most important question 'how then should we live'.
    One person found this helpful
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  • DallasJim
    5.0 out of 5 stars No escape, no quarter given to yourself.
    Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    As a zen practitioner, rather than a devote Christian, (no they are not mutually exclusive but rather a leaning in a direction) I was moved and changed by this book. Yes it is difficult language, and Kierkegaard has the discipline or a logician. So I read it slowly. It helped me understand more fully the Three Pure Precepts of Mahayana practice; Embrace the Good, Avoid All Evil, and Purify the Mind. Kierkegaard calls up two Guides, one leading us towards Good and the other away from Evil. Purify the Heart or the Mind? Not an important distinction if you look at both in depth.

    He talks of the miracle of the Ultimate in powerful language "“Now the unspeakable is like the murmuring of a brook. If you go buried in your own thoughts, if you are busy, then you do not notice it at all in passing. You are not aware that this murmuring exists.But if you stand still, then you discover it. And if you have discovered it, then you must stand still. And when you stand still, then it persuades you. And when it has persuaded you, then you must stoop and listen attentively to it. And when you have stooped to listen to it, then it captures you. And when it has
    captured you, then you cannot break away from it, then you are overpowered. Infatuated, you sink down at its side. At each moment it is as if in the next moment it must offer an explanation.But the brook goes on murmuring, and the wanderer at its side grows older. "
    11 people found this helpful
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  • James Myers
    5.0 out of 5 stars Game Theory Master
    Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2016
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    Before "game theory" had any footing in Western culture K presented the best case, which still holds, concerning the games played in internal conversations concerning the "double mindedness" of human beings. A must read for those who explore inner space. And, as K advises, read it aloud, so you can here in your own tone of voice your efforts spin the case.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Jeremy Sarver
    4.0 out of 5 stars Nice buy
    Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2013
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    Wonderful thinker. Good read for my soul. Old read are good reads and this man has some good reads. Glad I am reading it.
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  • L. Howard
    5.0 out of 5 stars woody allen?
    Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2005
    Verified Purchase
    I'm dumbfounded that "rob" compared Kierkegaard with Woody Allen. Purity of Heart is all about the purpose and MEANING of existence. It's about reconciliation to the eternal. Woody Allen has no knowledge of the eternal. He's a silly little pundit using philosophy as a means to distract him from utter boredom and complacency. In his films he may drop references and allude to Sartre, Heidegger, Camu and the rest of the existentialists--but that's all he does. He's a geek for philosophy. He doesn't expound upon what they have said. He doesn't challenge them. He just collects their ideas and spreads them out on a table to gaze at. Kierkegaard is much different.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • Christine M. Skolnik
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Place to Start
    Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2013
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    Kierkegaard is a monumental genius. He reaches out from eternity. Love binds us to the transcendent. The text performs his devotion.
    One person found this helpful
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  • K de la Pena
    3.0 out of 5 stars 2013 Rough Draft Printing Edition - Needs editing
    Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    My review is for the actual publication of the book, not its content. Content wise - Kierkegaard's topic is challenging and inspiring. However, this particular edition by Rough Draft Printing 2013 is in serious need of editing. The numerous typos are distracting and annoying. I guess there is a reason that the publisher is named, Rough Draft Printing.

    However - I am not giving it the lowest rating, because the brightness, weight and feel of the paper combined with the font size and white space on the page make it easy to read the text and annotate it directly on the pages.

    The price point was nice too.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Keith D. Stottlemyer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Truth
    Reviewed in the United States on November 12, 2016
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    What a wonderful mind wrote this work. So relevant in the age of social media and 24 hours news. This book would be difficult for a Millennial or any identified 'group'.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Glen Grunau
    5.0 out of 5 stars Kierkegaard recognizes that this is no easy path. He uses scriptural metaphors such as passing ...
    Reviewed in Canada on February 6, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Soren Kierkegaard has created a masterful penetration into the wiles of the human heart. His premise is that our highest calling as human beings is to attain a “purity of heart” which is to “will one thing”. He bases his meditation on James 4:8: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded”.

    Can any of us claim to have pure intention, unspoiled by the tainting of impure motivation or “double-mindedness”? Kierkegaard concludes in his final chapter that “you, my listener, and I must admit to ourselves that we were far from living in this way, far from that purity of heart which truthfully wills but one thing”.

    Our chief confession then must be a confession of conscience. Kierkegaard recognizes that this is no easy path. He uses scriptural metaphors such as passing through the eye of the needle and walking the straight and narrow way to describe the suffering that accompanies such sensitivity of conscience: For conscience is indeed “a blushing innocent spirit that sets up a tumult in a man’s breast and fills him with difficulties”. Kierkegaard recognizes that to persevere in such attentiveness to purity of heart or motivation “will make your life more taxing, and frequently perhaps wearisome. If persevered in, it may make you the target of others’ ridicule, not to mention even greater sacrifices that perseverance might choose to require of you”.

    I am reminded of the two forms of examen familiar to followers of Ignatian spirituality: examen of consciousness and the examen of conscience. Kierkegaard is clearly referring to the latter and understands that this is no easy road but one which is required for anyone longing for purity of heart.

    Among the barriers that Kierkegaard identifies to such purity of intention are: willing out of reward, willing out of punishment, willing out of ego. I wonder about all of the ways in which these impure motivations are rewarded within our belonging systems (which Kierkegaard refers to as the “crowd”) of religion and vocation. Consider the extent to which Christian evangelism rests heavily on these lesser motivations of reward and punishment, heaven or hell. When Jesus accused the crowd, even his closest followers, of only wanting his gifts and not his cross. Our preoccupation, if not obsession, with calculating and measuring outcomes in our vocations, ministries, and churches no doubt represents such a prominent barrier to willing the one good.

    Kierkegaard then goes on to identify the price of willing the one thing. Such a price includes the exposure of our numerous evasions, self-deceptions, and excuses for not willing the one thing and for avoiding the suffering that inevitably accompanies willing the one thing.

    It can be truly disheartening to submit to an examen of our conscience and recognize that rarely if ever can we claim to have pure motivation about any good that we may do for others. In fact, Kierkegaard suggests that the people most “busy” with doing good might be the ones least likely to slow down long enough to examine their motives for their good deeds and see the self-deception that lays hold on them: “But what does it profit a man if he goes further and further and it must be said of him: he never stops going further; when it also must be said of him: there was nothing that made him pause? For pausing is not a sluggish repose. Pausing is also movement. It is the inward movement of the heart. To pause is to deepen oneself in inwardness. But merely going further is to go straight in the direction of superficiality”.

    I wonder if there has been anything written quite like this in the past 150 years since Kierkegaard gave us this gift. Perhaps it is because our busyness for the cause of good has become the new norm. The crowd seems to demand it of us. The barriers to examining our intentions are strong and often impenetrable. When do we slow down long enough to examine our hearts for such purity of intention?
    One person found this helpful
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  • M. McClure
    5.0 out of 5 stars Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 6, 2013
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    You may not find reading this book at all comfortable. You may not like its nineteenth century style but it is one of the great classics of Christian literature and anyone who reads it will be the better for it. It is a small book that needs to be read before you die.
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  • Elena Adams
    5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2021
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    Loved it - pick it up and read different sections for inspiration
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  • siemco
    5.0 out of 5 stars The best devotional book you'll ever read
    Reviewed in Canada on October 27, 2014
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    The best devotional book you'll ever read, but take your time and read it a few times. It pays off.
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  • Sheilah Ca
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely brilliant deconstruction of human motivations
    Reviewed in Canada on July 17, 2015
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    This is a classic work. Absolutely brilliant deconstruction of human motivations.
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