Soren Kierkegaard

from January 1839 until April 1842. Tryde was of Mynster’s tendency in
church matters, but his theology was more speculative and he also had
friendly relations with Grundtvig.
At other times Kierkegaard went to the Christiansborg Palace Church to
hear Just Paulli, whose friendship with H. L. Martensen extended all the
way back to their schooldays, and who had married Mynster’s eldest daugh-
ter in 1841. Mynster, Martensen, and Paulli were thus a powerful theologi-
cal triumvirate. Paulli was the most liberal of the three, and like Tryde he
had some sympathy for the Grundtvigians and for their demand for more
liberal ecclesiastical arrangements. As time passed Kierkegaard became in-
creasingly critical of Paulli as a preacher: “What is that? Gibberish. He him-
self is evidently the victim of an illusion....Oh,madness,” he noted indig-
nantly on June 8, 1851, after having heard Paulli preach on “The Joy in the
Holy Spirit.” Nonetheless he later made another effort, but Paulli did not
impress him that time, either—indeed, Kierkegaard thought, for all the
good it would do, Paulli could have stood there and preached for “170,000
years” without producing anything other than “a bit of lyric poetry.” For
his part, Paulli viewed pastoral care as the most important part of his work
and therefore was frequently in contact with quite ordinary people who
were in spiritual and material need. During the cholera epidemic of 1853,
when just about everyone who possibly could fled Copenhagen, Paulli re-
mained at his post and did a noteworthy job.
Kierkegaard also attended Trinity Church, where W. H. Rothe had an
appointment, though his journals contain no comments on Rothe or on
E. V. Kolthoff, who had been appointed to Holy Spirit Church in 1845.
On the other hand, on a number of occasions he attended the Church of
Our Savior in Christianshavn and heard H. P. Kofoed-Hansen preach. As
a young teacher in Odense, Kofoed-Hansen, who was about the same age
as Kierkegaard, had been affected by Kierkegaard’s writings and had written
one of the few reviews ofEither/Orwith which Kierkegaard was satisfied.
The two men spoke together now and then, on one occasion about the sin
against the Holy Spirit, on another about the Tower of Babel, which God
had broken up, just as Kierkegaard said he wanted to break up the masses
and the public. The best time, however, was September 8, 1850, when
Kofoed-Hansen not only preached on Kierkegaard’s “beloved Gospel”—
that no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24–34)—but also had chosen
Kierkegaard’s favorite hymn, Poul Gerhardt’s “Commit Whatever Grieves
Thee.” “How festive,” Kierkegaard exclaimed in his journal, thinking of
the happy coincidence—for September 8, 1850, was of course the tenth
anniversary of his engagement to Regine!