Timothy Keller highlighted the book as the only work of Kierkegaard he could truly grasp, praising its modern yet biblical definition of sin as the attempt to become a self apart from God. He and other speakers used it to explain how envy reveals a deeper tendency to seek identity in anything but God, emphasizing its value for spiritual self‑examination. The discussion consistently presented the title as a vital resource for understanding human despair and identity.
Episode: The Sickness Unto Death
The book was mentioned as an important book that was the only one the speaker could understand by the author. Kierkegaard gives a definition of sin that is both modern and biblical.
The only book he ever wrote that I found it possible to understand is his book, The Sickness on the Death. But it's actually an extremely important book.
Because in it, Kirchegard gives us a definition of sin that is both modern and biblical and that's not easy.
He says faith, is when the self wants to be itself grounded transparently in God. Sin is trying to become a self without God.
your identity is like a king without a country or one who has subjects who could desert him at any moment.
Episode: The Evil of Envy
Sren Kierkegaard's book Sickness Unto Death discusses envy as a symptom of a deeper problem: the human tendency to seek meaning and identity in things other than God. He argues that when we are envious of someone, it often reveals the things that we use to justify our existence and build our identity.
God calls every person he's created, he calls all human beings, to live before God.
If you want to understand what it is you look to instead of God for your identity, if you want to understand what you look to for your justification for your existence, figure out your envies.
If you want to understand what I'm talking about, study human envy.
An admirer who feels he cannot be happy by surrendering himself becomes envious of that which he admires. Admiration is happy self-surrender. Envy is unhappy self-justification.
Episode: The Evil of Envy
The book was cited as a way to understand envy, as it explained that envy could be a sign of how people try to build their identity on things other than God.
God calls every person he's created, he calls all human beings, to live before God.
Kierkegaard calls every human being to live before God. What does that mean? He calls every human being to build your identity on God, center your life on God, make God the main source of your happiness.
But Kierkegaard says human beings are offended, that's his term, by this invitation because they don't want anyone superior to them.
And so instead of living before God, we live before other things. We live before people's approval, or we live before money, or we live before career or achievement.
We live before popular acclaim. In other words, we build our identity on other things.
If you want to understand what it is you look to instead of God for your identity, if you want to understand what you look to for your justification for your existence, figure out your envies.
If you want to understand what I'm talking about, study human envy.
An admirer who feels he cannot be happy by surrendering himself becomes envious of that which he admires.
Admiration is happy self-surrender. Envy is unhappy self-justification.
Episode: Running From God
Keller referenced this book's definition of sin as the despair of getting a self before God and the despair of seeking to be oneself without God; it was described as a Christian psychological exposition for upbuilding and awakening. The full title is, "The Sickness unto Death, A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening."
Sin is the despair of getting a self before God and then the despair of seeking to be oneself without God.
gets an identity which is like a king without a country or a country who has subjects for whom rebellion is legitimate every moment.
Sin is the sickness unto death.