Selections from the Writings of KierkegaardKierkegaard, Søren
Religion
Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard
Kierkegaard, Søren
Philosophy; Theology
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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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