Nietzsche and Kierkegaard in contrast

The first to attribute philosophic worth to the individual was Schopenhauer, who in raising the question of the value of the world, viewed the world from the viewpoint of the particular. Nietzsche later followed in his footsteps. His entire thought centers on the significance of human existence; vehemently upholding the value of the individual, he attacks all norms and laws that are outside of the individual. His violent opposition to all previous philosophy is a sharp expression of the basic motive of his atheism. He does not deny God because of theoretical reasons, but because he cannot endure the thought that above him there is a God. The exact opposite of his justification of atheism is Kierkegaard's justification of faith. Only faith can grant him assurance, because it attaches great importance to the individual and to his sin, and redeems him from it. For Kierkegaard, Hegels' interpretation of Christianity substitutes man in general for the individual, paying no attention to that which is of prime importance -- the individual. He sees this as proof of the failure of the entire philosophic enterprise because philosophy gives no answer to the life-questions of the individual man.

Julius Guttmann, Philosophies of Judaism: The History of Jewish Philosophy from Biblical times to Franz Rosenzweig, pp. 420-1