Hans Nielsen Hauge and Soren Kierkegaard

During the past several decades, scholars from both the humanities and social sciences have expressed a renewed interest in human flourishing (Janicke-Bowles et al., 2023; Pawelski, 2022; VanderWeele, 2017), and among Christian scholars, in Christian flourishing (Counted et al., 2025). Scandinavian scholars have made substantive contributions to the ongoing discussion of both secular and religious perspectives of flourishing societies (Davidsson, 2025). In this chapter, we discuss the contributions of two great Scandinavian leaders, Hans Nielsen Hauge and Soren Kierkegaard, focusing specifically on their direct and indirect communication styles. We conclude by recommending a more nuanced communication approach to promoting human flourishing in general and Christian flourishing in particular.