Passage: Soren Kierkegaard’s critique of the 'Christendom' of nineteenth-century Denmark was rooted in the distinction between objective knowledge and subjective truth. He argued that the attempt to prove God's existence through logical proofs was a form of spiritual avoidance. For Kierkegaard, faith is not a rational conclusion reached at the end of an argument, but a 'leap' made in the face of the absurd. This leap is necessitated by the absolute qualitative difference between the finite human and the infinite Divine. To 'know' God objectively is impossible; one can only 'relate' to God through a passionate, individual commitment that persists despite intellectual uncertainty. Critics argue that this 'fideism' abandons the mind to irrationality, but Kierkegaard maintains that the true religious life begins only when the safety of reason is surrendered for the sake of an authentic existence before the Absolute.