David J. Gouwens

d.gouwens@tcu.edu | 817-257-7581
Professor of Theology

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David J. Gouwens is Professor of Theology at Brite Divinity School. He is a graduate of Hope College, Holland, Michigan, and holds the M.Div. and S.T.M. degrees from Yale Divinity School. He received his Ph.D. in Theology from Yale University. He has taught theology at Brite since 1983, including introductory courses in historical and contemporary theology, and advanced seminars in Kierkegaard, Barth, contemporary theological hermeneutics, Reformed theology, and Christology. Dr. Gouwens' publications have focused on the thought of Søren Kierkegaard, including Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the Imagination (Peter Lang, 1989) and Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker (Cambridge University Press, 1996). In 2012 he co-edited The Paul L. Holmer Papers (Wipf and Stock: Cascade Books Series) in three volumes.

In 2012-15 he is co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Kierkegaard, Religion and Culture Group of the American Academy of Religion, and was Vice-President and then President (1999-2000) of The Søren Kierkegaard Society of North America. At Brite he was Associate Dean of Academic Affairs (2000-02) and Interim Dean (2002-05). An ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), he has served on Grace Presbytery's Examinations Committee and contributes to adult education sessions.



B.A., Hope College, 1970
M.Div., Yale Divinity School, 1973
S.T.M., Yale Divinity School, 1974
Ph.D., Yale University, 1982

Presbyterian Church (USA)

Books

The Paul L. Holmer Papers, in 3 volumes co-edited with Lee C. Barrett III Volume One: On Kierkegaard and the Truth Volume Two: Thinking the Faith with Passion Volume Three: Communicating the Faith Indirectly Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, Cascade Books Series, 2012 Kierkegaard as Religious Thinker New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Kierkegaard's Dialectic of the Imagination New York: Peter Lang, 1989

Essays in Books

"Hugh Ross Mackintosh: Kierkegaard as 'A Precursor of Karl Barth.'" Kierkegaard's Influence on Theology: Anglophone and Scandinavian Protestant Theology Farnham, Surrey, UK/Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing, 2012 pages 85-103 "Søren Kierkegaard: Between Skepticism and Faith's Happy Passion." The Devil's Whore: Reason and Philosophy in the Lutheran Tradition, Studies in Lutheran History and Theology Series Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011 pages 115-22 "Kierkegaard's Christian Discourses on Upbuilding, Mildness, and Polemic: 'A Temple-Cleansing Celebration-and Then the Quiet'" International Kierkegaard Commentary: Christian Discourses Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2007 pages 143-63 "Kierkegaard on the Universally Religious and the Specifically Christian as Resources for Interreligious Conversation" Kierkegaard and Religious Pluralism: Papers of the AAR Kierkegaard, Religion, and Culture Group, and the Søren Kierkegaard Society Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007 pages 83-104

"Kierkegaard's Hermeneutics of Discipleship: Communal and Critical Uses of Scripture in the 1854-55 Attack" Søren Kierkegaard and the Word(s): Essays on Hermeneutics and Communication Copenhagen: C.A. Reitzel, 2003 pages 81-92 "Imagination" and "Introspection" Dictionary of Existentialism Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999 pages 199-201, 213-15 "Kierkegaard's Either/Or, Part One: Patterns of Interpretation" International Kierkegaard Commentary: Either/Or, Part One Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1995 pages 5-50 "Understanding, Imagination, and Irony in Kierkegaard's Repetition" International Kierkegaard Commentary: Fear and Trembling and Repetition Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1993 pages 283-308

Journal Articles

"Mozart among the Theologians" Modern Theology 16 2000 pages 461-74 "Kierkegaard's Understanding of Doctrine" Modern Theology 5 1988 pages 13-22

"Kierkegaard on the Ethical Imagination" Journal of Religious Ethics 10 1982 pages 204-20

Suggested Reading

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Kierkegaard and Theology Murray Rae London and New York: T & T Clark, 2010

Kierkegaard. Abingdon Pillars of Theology Lee C. Barrett, III Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2010

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