Soren Kierkegaard

AnotherpastorappointedtotheChurchofOurSaviorwasCarlHolger
Visby, who also served as prison pastor at the Copenhagen city jail, at the
prison called the Blue Tower, and at the House of Punishment, Rasping,
andBetterment.Visbywasunquestionablythemostsociallyengagedpastor
of the day. He was responsible for organizing countless educational and
philanthropic projects, including a schoolfor criminals and an educational
institution for neglected boys, and he held a great many positions of trust,
includingserviceaschairmanoftheChristianshavnAssociationforthePro-
vision of Meals and as educational director for the Institute for the Blind.
He was an energetic contributor to public debate and was frequently in
conflictwithecclesiasticalandcivilauthorities.Hewasalsoresponsiblefor
a wide-ranging literary output, ranging from articles about the military’s
“SupplyofMaterialNeeds”toalittleessay“OntheCultivationofPotted
Plants.”ButVisby’sprimaryconcernwaswiththeimprovementofcondi-
tions in Danish prisons, an issue that in the spring of 1845 became the
subject of a rather heated debate with J.M.F.H. Stilling, the newly ap-
pointed prison pastor. Kierkegaard followed the battle in the pages of
Fædrelandetanddraftedalengthy(thoughneverpublished)newspaperarti-
cleinwhichhetookVisby’smoreliberalsideandexpressedregretatVisby’s
terriblyskimpysalary(threehundredrixdollars)andterribleworkingcondi-
tions, which sometimes required him to preach three times on the same
Sunday. In this connection Kierkegaard touched upon Visby’s qualities as
apreacherandhiscapacityforpsychologicalempathy:“Thisisnottheplace
whereIwanttoexpressmythanksforwhatIasalistenerowethewonder-
fullytalentedPastorVisby.Ontheotherhand,IbelievethatthingsIhave
oftenthoughtabout—hisoriginalityasaspeaker,hispresenceofmind,his
success in saying just the right thing, his seasoned knowledge of mental
states,theunpretentiousnesswithwhichhepossessesallofthesequalities—
are exactly what is needed in a penal institution....Ofallthepastors in
Copenhagen, it is perhaps Visby who is the quickest and cleverest in this
respect.AndwithinthewallsoftheprisoninChristianshavn,Visbyisalso
remembered; even the most hardened criminals remember at least one
thing, that Visby managed to make an impression.” When H. P. Holst, a
friendof Kierkegaard’sfrom thedaysof theiryouth, encounteredKierke-
gaardoneSundaymorningwithahymnalinhishandandaskedhimwhich
pastorhepreferred,theimmediateresponsewas:“Visby,andIwilltellyou
why. When one of the other pastors has written his sermon counting on
sunshine,hewilltalkaboutsunshine,evenifitpoursrain,butwhenVisby
preaches, and a ray of sunshine comes into the church, he grasps that ray
and speaks about it at such length, and so beautifully and edifyingly, that