walk out to the customs office with the younger brother, who expressed
hisdisapprovalofPeterChristian’sfascinationwithGrundtvigianism,which
in his view was more likely to strengthen than to combat “all this nonsense
about Christianity with which we are surrounded.” Birkedal remembered
this remark as having been made in “the thirties,” so this critique stems
fro ma very early period. This corroborates the negative pronounce ments
encountered in Søren’s journals fro mthis period. The first of these entries,
dated May 28, 1835, bears the neatly written caption “Some Notes con-
cerning Grundtvig’s Theory of the Church.” Its several pages contain de-
tailed discussions of the arguments inThe Church’s Rejoinder, published by
Grundtvig in 1825 in protest against the rationalist H. N. Clausen and his
“exegeticalpopery.”KierkegaardalsoreadandcommentedonGrundtvig’s
Christian Sermons or the Sunday Book, but here again his comments are criti-
cal, and the journal entry for Sunday, August 26, 1839, expresses irritation:
“All of Grundtvig’s sermons are really nothing but an endlessly repeated
excursionoftheimagination,sothatone’slegscanneverkeepup,aweekly
evacuation.” On that Sunday Grundtvig had preached at Vartov Church,
where, despite their profound differences, Mynster had granted hi ma post
earlier that year. Reporting in his memoirs on his tactics, Mynster ex-
plained: “I was of the not unfounded opinion that without a position he
would create even more disturbances.” And Mynster was certainly right
about that.
After their solicitations had been flatly refused, neither Grundtvig nor
Lindbergcontinued tocallat thehomeon Nytorv,butSøren Aabyemain-
tainedhisconnectiontoLindbergforaremarkablylongtime.ThusinSep-
tember1841,afterLindberghadmovedoutto5Alle ́gadeinFrederiksberg,
Søren Aabye was invited there for a farewell party in honor of Peter
Rørdam. Lindberg’s daughter Elise later recalled how that evening “Søren
Kjerkegaard”had“beenverylivelyandhadtalkedalot.”Hehadapparently
been in good spirits. Four years and half a writing career later, he reverted
to Lindberg’s ideas inConcluding Unscientific Postscript. Here, in the middle
of a half-critical, half-satirical discussion of Grundtvig’s view of the church
andtheBible,Lindbergemergesfromtheabyssofnonsenseastherefreshing
exceptionwithintheGrundtvigianmovement.Lindberg,whoin1844had
been appointed parish pastor in Tingsted on the island of Falster, is praised
as the “shrewd, dialectical Mag. Lindberg,” and is honored for having put
Grundtvig’s “matchless discovery” into the form it required, so that it be-
came“lessdiscontinuous,lessmatchless,moreaccessibletosoundcommon
sense.” Kierkegaard was definitely not uncritical of Lindberg, but even his
choice of adjectives demonstrated clearly that the man commanded his re-
spect. Lindberg is described as a “experienced dialectician” and “a shrewd36 {1813–1834}