Carlisle, Clare. "Kierkegaard's World, Part 5: The Task of Becoming a Christian." GUARDIAN April 12, 2010.

Last week we considered how Kierkegaard's concept of passion, drawing on Socrates' analysis of Eros (love or desire), expresses the idea that human existence is shaped by desire for something that is lacking. His emphasis on "the task of becoming a Christian" follows on from this account of existence, and here again the influence of Socrates is evident. Socrates regarded philosophy as the pursuit of wisdom, analogous to a lover's pursuit of her beloved. However, a person's desire for wisdom will only be awakened when he becomes aware that he does not yet possess the truth. This means that the mistaken assumption that one has knowledge – for example, that one knows who one is, and what it means to live a good life – is the first and perhaps the greatest obstacle to the attainment of wisdom. For this reason, Socrates' distinctive philosophical method involved asking questions that revealed to people their own ignorance and confusion, thus preparing the way for them to begin to seek genuine knowledge. In this way, the eccentric Athenian opposed his practice of philosophising to that of his fellow citizens, especially the Sophists, who taught doctrines. While these so-called "philosophers" acted as if they possessed knowledge, and offered this ready-made "wisdom" to others (at a price), Socrates declared that he knew nothing, and exposed his contemporaries' assumptions and pretensions as an even more radical form of ignorance. Kierkegaard described himself as "a Socrates of Christendom". The idea of Christendom is rather out-of-date in today's multicultural western societies, but in the 19th century it was commonly used to signify the "kingdom" of Christian states. However, Kierkegaard uses the term negatively to criticise the idea that being a Christian is simply a matter of being born and brought up in a certain kind of society, and fitting in with its customs, such as being baptised and attending church on Sundays. Just as Socrates challenged the Sophists' claim to possess knowledge, so Kierkegaard suggests that people who considered themselves to be Christians "as a matter of course" are deceiving themselves. In fact, he argued that it is more truthful to talk of "becoming a Christian" than of "being a Christian". In other words, Christianity is a task that is never completed – at least not within this lifetime. According to Kierkegaard, the Christian life involves continual striving. From a personal point of view, this means renewing one's relationship to God repeatedly, at every moment. The parallels with Socrates' philosophical project do not end here. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/12/kierkegaard-philosophy-christianity.