Soren Kierkegaard

cheeses.” In the latter part of March 1840 she again wrote to the brothers
Kierkegaard: “Mssrs. Dear Nephews: Wee have intended to write a long
time ago, but because of aksidental and presssing sir cumstances, this has
beenputoffebutIseefromyorrdearletterthatyorrjorneywasenjoyyabel
andpleazant andthatyou returnedtoyourdear famillyandfriends inCo-
penhagen safely. I have been very weak all winter and my husband was
bedridden a grate part of the time. The words of Our Lord Jesus were not
wrong when he himself says, ‘See I am with you always.’ ... And there
was verry much I would have liked to talk with you about but the time
wasssoshortbothforyouandforme.Butisitnotposssublethatyourdear
brotherwouldgiveusthepleazureoftravvellingheertoourhome,notfor
the graand mannner in which we livve, but out of Christian lovve, so that
we can talk with one an other as friends and rell atives. A loving greeting
toyouandallofyourdearfamillyandfrends.Weaskyouifyuwouldnot
have the kindness to answer us with a couple of words when yoo have a
chance. We ask you that yoo do not scorn this poor ledder because it is
poor and very badd.”
One can only guess what went across the faces of the two quick-witted
nephews when they read these clumsy lines, but neither of them seems to
haverepliedtotheappeal.Theywere,amongotherthings,toobusy.Peter
Christian spent the autumn tutoring and getting a new theological journal
off the ground, while Søren Aabye continued to read for his examinations
with titanic bravado. On June 2, 1840, when he submitted his petition to
sit for the examinations, he explained in Latin that his interest in theology
had long been waning in favor of his philosophical studies: “I freely ac-
knowledgethatundersuchcircumstancesIwouldneverhavebeenableto
bring myself to continue in a direction I had long since abandoned, had it
not been for my father’s death, by which I felt myself in a certain sense
bound by a promise.”
ThepetitionwasgrantedandonJuly3hebeganhisexaminations,which
inaccordancewiththecustomofthetimesrequiredanalmostsuperhuman
demonstration of ready knowledge. ProfessorScharling started out, posing
questions about the history of dogma, including a required recitation of
the Augsburg Confession. Professor Engelstoft continued, now in Latin,
questioningKierkegaardontheOldTestament;thefirstproblemposedwas
atranslationofGenesis9:16–29(thestoryofNoah),followedbyquestions
concerningtheconceptofcovenant,withparticularattentiontoAbraham,
all of which went swimmingly. As the examinations continued, now in
Danish,thecandidatewasexamined onethicalproblems,particularlywith
respect to Kant and to Fichte’s argument for the foundation of morals. Fi-
nally it was the turn of Professor Hohlenberg, who questioned the candi-