Jan E. Evans

Miguel De Unamuno's Quest for Faith: a Kierkegaardian Understanding of Unamunos Struggle to Believe Jan E. Evans

How can this life have meaning if at my death nothing of me remains? This is the essential question with which Miguel de Unamuno, the most accomplished Spanish man of letters of the twentieth century, struggled during his entire life. Unamuno's views have been the subject of vigorous debate: Was he a Catholic, a Protestant, or an unbeliever? Miguel de Unamuno's Quest for Faith seeks to appreciate and clarify Unamuno's faith commitments without diminishing or exaggerating them. His historical context pulled him to equate knowledge with science, but his existential angst told him humans must be something more than short-lived products of matter. He believed that his philosophy and the resulting faith that he held must have consequences for the choices he made to live out his life meaningfully. Jan E. Evans surveys what was at stake in Unamuno's desire to believe and the stance that he came to live with. That stance is contrasted with thinkers whom he read and admired: Søren Kierkegaard, Blaise Pascal, and William James. Ultimately, this book tests Unamuno's philosophy against his own criterion that demanded concrete actions that were motivated by principled passion. It draws new readers of Unamuno into his world and provides critical new perspectives for those who know Unamuno's work well.