Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard
given over to reflections on this experience) we find exclamations
such as this one: "What is it to be roasted alive at a slow fire,
or to be broken on the wheel or, as they do in warm climates, to
be smeared with honey and put at the mercy of the insects--what
is that in comparison with this torture: to be grinned to death!"
There could be no thought now of retiring to a peaceful charge in
the country. That would have been fleeing from persecution. Besides,
unbeknown perhaps to himself, his pugnacity was aroused. While under
the influence of the "Corsair Feud" (as it is known in Danish
literature) he completes the booklet "A Literary Review." This was
originally intended as a purely æsthetic evaluation and appreciation
of the (then anonymous) author[7] of the _Hverdagshistorier_
"Commonplace Stories" that are praised by him for their thoughtful
bodying forth of a consistent view of life which--however different
from his own--yet commanded his respect. He now appended a series
of bitter reflections on the Present Times, paying his respects to the
Press, which he calls incomparably the worst offender in furnishing
people with cheap irony, in forcibly levelling out and reducing to
mediocrity all those who strive to rise above it intellectually--words
applicable, alas! no less to our own times. To him, however, who in a
religious sense has become the captain of his soul, the becoming a
butt of the Press is but a true test. Looking up, Kierkegaard sees in
his own fate the usual reward accorded by mankind to the courageous
souls who dare to fight for the truth, for the ideal--for Christianity,
against the "masses." In a modern way, through ridicule, he was
undergoing the martyrdom which the blood witnesses of old had
undergone for the sake of their faith. Their task it had been to
preach the Gospel among the heathen. His, he reasoned, was in nowise
easier: to make clear to uncomprehending millions of so-called
Christians that they were not Christians at all, that they did not even
know what Christianity is: suffering and persecution, as he now
recognizes, being inseparable from the truly Christian life.
First, then, the road had to be cleared, emphatically, for the
truth that Christianity and "the public" are opposite terms. The
collection of "Edifying Discourses in Diverse Spirits" is thus a
religious parallel to the polemic in his "Review." The first part
of these meditations has for its text: "The purity of the
heart consists in willing one thing"--and this one thing is
necessarily the good, the ideal; but only he who lives his life as
the individual can possibly will the good--else it is lived in
duplicity, for the world will share his aspirations, he will bid for the
rewards which the bowing before the crowd can give him. In the second
part, entitled "What we may learn from the Lilies of the Field and the
Birds of the Air"--one of Kierkegaard's favorite texts--the
greatest danger to the ethic-religious life is shown to be the
uneasiness about our material welfare which insidiously haunts our
thought-life, and, notwithstanding our best endeavors, renders us
essentially slaves to "the crowd"; whereas it is given to man, created
in the image of God, to be as self-contained, unafraid, hopeful as
are (symbolically) the lily and the bird. The startlingly new
development attained through his recent experiences is most evident
in the third part, "The Gospel of Sufferings," in which absolute stress
is laid on the imitation of Christ in the strictest sense. Only the
"individual" can compass this: the narrow way to salvation must be
traveled alone; and will lead to salvation only if the world is,
literally, overcome in persecution and tribulation. And, on the other
hand, to be happy in this world is equivalent to forfeiting salvation.
Thus briefly outlined, the contents of this book would seem to be sheer
monkish asceticism; but no synopsis, however full, can hope to give
an idea of its lyrical pathos, its wealth of tender reflections,
the great love tempering the stern severity of its teaching.
With wonderful beauty "The Deeds of Love" (_Kjerlighedens
Gjerninger_) (1847) are exalted as the Christian's help and
salvation against the tribulations of the world--love, not indeed
of the human kind, but of man through God. "You are not concerned at
all with what others do to you, but only with what you do to others;
and also, with how you react to what others do to you--you are
concerned, essentially, only with yourself, before God."
In rapid succession there follow "Christian Discourses"; "The Lily
of the Field and the Bird of the Air"; "Sickness Unto Death"
(with the sub-title "A Christian Psychological Exposition"); "Two
Religious Treatises"; "The High Priest, the Publican, the Sinner";
"Three Discourses on the Occasion of Communion on Friday."
In the course of these reflections it had become increasingly
clear to Kierkegaard that the self-constituted representative of
Christ--the Church or, to mention only the organization he was
intimately acquainted with, the Danish State Church--had succeeded
in becoming a purely worldly organization whose representatives, far
from striving to follow Christ, had made life quite comfortable for
themselves; retort to which was presently made that by thus stressing
"contemporaneousness" with its aspects of suffering and persecution,
Kierkegaard had both exceeded the accepted teaching of the Church and
staked the attainment of Christianity so high as to drive all existing
forms of it _ad absurdum._
In his _lndövelse i Christendom_ "Preparation for a Christian
Life" and the somber _Til Selvprövelse_ "For a Self-Examination"
Kierkegaard returns to the attack with a powerful re-examination of the
whole question as to how far modern Christianity corresponds to that
of the Founder. Simply, but with grandiose power, he works out in
concrete instances the conception of "contemporaneousness" gained
in the "Final Postscript"; at the same time demonstrating to all who
have eyes to see, the axiomatic connection between the doctrine of
Propitiation and Christ's life in debasement; that Christianity consists
in absolutely dying to the world; and that the Christianity which does
not live up to this is but a travesty on Christianity. We may think what
we please about this counsel of perfection, and judge what we may about
the rather arbitrary choice of Scripture passages on which Kierkegaard
builds: no serious reader, no sincere Christian can escape the searching
of heart sure to follow this tremendous arraignment of humanity false
to its divine leader. There is nothing more impressive in all modern
literature than the gallery of "opinions" voiced by those arrayed
against Christ when on earth--and now--as to what constitutes the
"offense."
Kierkegaard had hesitated a long time before publishing the
"Preparation for a Christian Life." Authority-loving as he was, he
shrank from antagonizing the Church, as it was bound to do; and more
especially, from giving offense to its primate, the venerable Bishop
Mynster who had been his father's friend and spiritual adviser, to
whom he had himself always looked up with admiring reverence, and
whose sermons he had been in the habit of reading at all times. Also,
to be sure, he was restrained by the thought, that by publishing his
book he would render Christianity well-night unattainable to the weak
and the simple and the afflicted who certainly were in need of the
consolations of Christianity without any additional sufferings
interposed--and surely no reader of his devotional works can be in
doubt that he was the most tender-hearted of men. In earlier, stronger
times, he imagines, he would have been made a martyr for his opinions;
but was he entitled to become a blood-witness--he who realized
more keenly than any one that he himself was not a Christian in the
strictest sense? In his "Two Religious Treatises" he debates the
question: "Is it permissible for a man to let himself be killed for the
truth?"; which is answered in the negative in "About the Difference
between a Genius and an Apostle"--which consists in the Apostle's
speaking with authority. However, should not the truth be the most
important consideration? His journal during that time offers abundant
proof of the absolute earnestness with which he struggled over the
question.
When Kierkegaard finally published "The Preparation for a Christian
Life," the bishop was, indeed, incensed; but he did nothing. Nor did
any one else venture forth. Still worse affront! Kierkegaard had said
his last word, had stated his ultimatum--and it was received with
indifference, it seemed. Nevertheless he decided to wait and see
what effect his books would have for he hesitated to draw the
last conclusions and mortally wound the old man tottering on the
brink of his grave by thus attacking the Church. There followed a three
years' period of silence on the part of Kierkegaard--again
certainly a proof of his utter sincerity. It must be remembered, in
this connection, that the very last thing Kierkegaard desired was an
external reorganization, a "reform," of the Church--indeed, he
firmly refused to be identified with any movement of secession,
differing in this respect vitally from his contemporaries Vinet and
Grundtvig who otherwise had so much in common with him. His only
wish was to infuse life and inwardness into the existing forms. And far
from being inferior to them in this he was here at one with the Founder
and the Early Church in that he states the aim of the Christian
Life to be, not to transform the existing social order, but to transcend
it. For the very same reason, coupled to be sure with a pronounced
aristocratic individualism, he is utterly and unreasonably indifferent,
and even antagonistic, to the great social movements of his time, to
the political upheavals of 1848, to the revolutionary advances of
science.
As Kierkegaard now considered his career virtually concluded,
he wrote (1851) a brief account "About my Activity as an Author"
in which he furnishes his readers a key to its unfolding--from
an æsthetic view to the religious view--which he considers his
own education by Providence; and indicates it to be his special task to
call attention, without authority, to the religious, the Christian life.
His "Viewpoint for my Activity as an Author," published by his brother
only long after his death, likewise defines the purpose of the whole
"authorship," besides containing important biographical material.
At length (January, 1854) Mynster died. Even then Kierkegaard,
though still on his guard, might not have felt called upon to
have recourse to stronger measures if it had not been for an
unfortunate sentence in the funeral sermon preached by the now
famous Martensen--generally pointed out as the successor to the
primacy--with whom Kierkegaard had already broken a lance or two.
Martensen had declared Mynster to have been "one of the holy
chain of witnesses for the truth (_sandhedsvidner_) which extends through
the centuries down from the time of the Apostles." This is the
provocation for which Kierkegaard had waited. "Bishop Mynster a witness
for the truth"! he bursts out, "You who read this, you know well what
in a Christian sense is a witness for the truth. Still, let me remind
you that to be one, it is absolutely essential to suffer for the
teaching of Christianity"; whereas "the truth is that Mynster
was wordily-wise to a degree--was weak, pleasure-loving, and
great only as a declaimer." But once more--striking proof of his
circumspection and single-mindedness--he kept this harsh letter
in his desk for nine months, lest its publication should interfere in
the least with Martensen's appointment, or seem the outcome of
personal resentment.