other respects he was quite devoted to me at that time.” Later on, this
devotionwouldbeveryhardtodetect,butatthebeginningtherelationship
seems to have been reasonably positive for both parties. In a letter of No-
vember15, 1836,Kierkegaard’sfriend EmilBoesenwroteto MartinHam-
merichthat Kierkegaardhad beenat Martensen’sand “thinkswell ofhim,”
even if it did not please him that he apparently had to “permit himself to
be instructed in whatever Martensen wishes to talk about with him.” Nor
wasitlikelythatthestrong-willedstudentwaspleasedwiththecharacteris-
tic that Boisen attributed to his tutor Martensen in this same letter, namely
that he was “dignified.”
If the tutoring was unsuccessful and the notebooks contained fewer and
fewernotes,thecausewasnotlazinessbutasharpersenseoftheprofoundly
radical nature of Christianity. “Christianity or becoming a Christian is like
every radical cure: One puts it off as long as possible,” Kierkegaard wrote
in a journal entry of October 9, 1835. And fro mthis re mark it is not so far
to a sense of indignation that is so violent that the sentence charged with
expressingitalmostbreaksapartatthecenter:“WhenIlookuponthemany
and varied examples of the Christian life, it seems to me that instead of
giving the mstrength, Christianity—indeed, that Christianity has deprived
such people of their manhood, and that in comparison to the pagans they
are like a gelding compared to a stallion.” We catch ourselves falling into a
strange anachronism, asking whether Kierkegaard might have read
Nietzsche,whoahalf-centurylaterwouldraisepreciselythischargeagainst
Christianityforhavingcastratedthestrongestindividualsofthehumanrace
and bound the will to life in the fetters of morality. Kierkegaard rages on
inanotherjournalentry,alsofromOctober1835:“Inaddition,thereisalso
the strange, suffocating atmosphere we encounter in Christianity....As
soon as we look upon this earthly life, they come forth and declare that
everything, both man and nature, is sinful; they speak of the broad path as
opposed to the narrow....Almosteverywhere the Christian concerns
himself with what is to come, it is punishment, devastation, ruin, eternal
torment and suffering that are held out before him. And as voluptuous and
profligate as the Christian’s imagination is in this respect, when there is talk
oftheblissofthefaithfulandtheelect,itisthinstuff,depictedasthebeatific
gazing of lusterless, staring eyes with large, fixed pupils or with a gaze so
awash with moisture as to hinder all clear vision.”
For a theological student who was soon supposed to present himself for
his final examinations, these lines were more than inappropriate. It is easy
to understand how the ever-glib Martensen had his difficulties with the
rebellious student Kierkegaard. We more than sense the need for rebellion,
{1813–1834} 31