Mythic Mission Mythic Mission #20: Kierkegaard and the Art of Indirect Communication with Dr. Aaron Simmons
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May 11, 2021 Dr. Aaron Simmons, a Furman University philosopher who studies Kierkegaard, postmodern philosophy of religion, and epistemic humility. He recounts Pentecostal roots and discovering Kierkegaard. Conversation hits myth vs logos, truth as lived narrative, kenosis and relational risk, indirect communication as a way to provoke self-authorship, and faith as ongoing becoming.
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Pentecostal Roots And Academic Sunday Lunches
- Aaron Simmons grew up Pentecostal in an academic family, which shaped his integration of affect and intellect in faith.
- He remembers Sunday lunches where his grandfather critiqued Greek translations, showing faith and the life of the mind were intertwined.
Postmodernism As Epistemic Humility
- Postmodernism can be read as epistemic humility, not nihilism, reminding embodied knowers that access to objective facts is always context-dependent.
- Aaron Simmons frames it as an invitation to existential risk: truth may exist but we engage it only through our situated perspectives, requiring trust.
Mythos Logos And Pathos Form Relational Truth
- Mythos, logos, and pathos together show humans are relational beings; truth is lived as a narrated worldview, not only propositional statements.
- Simmons argues coherence matters because the telling (mythos) is how communities inhabit and enact truth, with pathos supplying felt meaning.
