The great Danish theologian created a completely new philosophical style, rooted in the inward drama of being human. His latest biographer was drawn to him precisely because he addressed a deep need for God within the human heart with intellectual brilliance and passionate urgency

In May 2013 the 200th anniversary of Søren Kierkegaard’s birth was commemorated in many cities around the world. In London, the celebration took place on a Sunday at St Katharine’s, the Danish Lutheran church by Regent’s Park. Kierkegaard’s favourite New Testament passage from the Letter of James (“Every good and perfect gift is from above”) was one of the texts for the morning service. I loved the simple grace of the bare white church, and was touched by the pastor’s openness as she invited everyone to take Communion. After a lunch of rye bread, herrings and Danish cheese, I gave a lecture about Mary, Jesus’s mother, whose faith and courage Kierkegaard admired throughout his life. I began my talk by remembering Anne Kierkegaard, the middle-aged peasant who gave birth to Denmark’s greatest philosopher on 5 May 1813.

George Pattison, then Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford, had written a stage adaptation of Kierkegaard’s book Repetition for the occasion. The play was performed in the church that evening, bringing Kierkegaard to life in a way I could not have imagined possible.