Edifying Masculinity and Kierkegaard's Socratic Questioning

This paper explores constructive possibilities in Kierkegaard for masculinity in theology. In *Sickness Unto Death,* masculine despair arises from self-assertion and remove from total devotion to a deserving object. Feminine despair comes from total devotion to the object, without genuine selfhood. Ironically, ‘feminine despair’ applies well to current conversations around toxic masculinity and how to solve it, since many are arguing for a reformed masculinity only so men will benefit others in society. Instead, the Socratic approach to masculinity would do better: asking, what masculinity is (rather than what masculinity is good for) accepts a risk that one is not manly and must find out what manliness is for oneself. This search parallels the development of selfhood into faithful reliance on God. As Kierkegaard contends, risk is the condition for faith, and faith is the condition for selfhood. I will conclude that the same applies for constructive accounts of masculinity.