Curated playlist
Christian existentialists
- Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky stood before a firing squad in 1849, and a letter from the tsar arrived.
- Karl BarthKarl Barth mailed the Barmen Declaration to Adolf Hitler. The Swiss theologian wrote nearly all of it.
- Paul TillichTheologian Paul Tillich argued that the God most people debate is not God at all.
- Rudolf BultmannRudolf Bultmann told students it hardly mattered what Jesus did in his life.
- Søren KierkegaardSøren Kierkegaard invited a satirical newspaper to attack him, and it did.
- Nikolai BerdyaevNikolai Berdyaev told the Soviet secret police chief what was wrong with Bolshevism, and was freed.
- Rollo MayRollo May was named after a fictional boy in children's books. He disliked the name until he found a Norman conqueror.
- Gabriel MarcelGabriel Marcel wrote at least thirty plays, but readers kept turning to his philosophy.
- Lev ShestovLev Shestov's dissertation was rejected, which blocked him from becoming a doctor of law.
- Miguel de UnamunoA famous 1936 speech by Miguel de Unamuno may have been invented. A historian says a 1941 magazine article wrote it.