Christian Dogmaticsreached beyond the narrow circle of specialists in the
field, and although the first printing had been larger than was normal for
such a work, a second printing became necessary even before the year was
out,whichofcoursewasacauseof someannoyanceforKierkegaard,whose
The Sickness unto Deathsoldbadly anddid noteven getreviewed. Martensen
lived to see four printings of the Danish edition, and as theDogmatics
marched triumphantly across Europe, he also witnessed the appearance of
editions in Swedish, English, French, and German; indeed, in Germany,
the book had no fewer than seven printings. In his old age Martensen re-
ported that the work was also the subject of study in the Roman Catholic
andGreekCatholic churches;“probablyinorderto refuteit,”heconceded,
but then added “still, in doing so they revealed their respect for it.”
Martensen was a success and had been nothing but a success since he had
been appointed to the university ten years earlier. At that time it had been
the consensus that with Martensen an entirely new era would begin, while
Mynster would soon be nullified and pushed aside by the Hegelian system.
To avert this, Mynster, in his role as a member of the governing board of
the university, arranged for Martensen to be appointed extraordinary pro-
fessor of theology. Not long after that, Mynster proposed Martensen as a
member of the Scientific Society, an enormous honor. And when there
were rumors to the effect that the industrious and serious fellow felt a need
to give sermons, Mynster had him made court chaplain in 1845. In this
capacity Martensen was obligated to preach only every sixth Sunday, but
when he did the Castle Church was filled with the snobbish bigwigs of
Copenhagen, while Kierkegaard went somewhere else. Mynster had also
succeeded in getting Martensen, at the age of only thirty-nine, made a
Knight of the Dannebrog. All this preferential treatment from Mynsterhad
to pay off, and indeed, in Martensen’sDogmatics, Mynster is accorded the
elevated status of the most frequently cited authority. As a consequence of
this, theDogmatics, was regular evening reading at the bishop’s residence for
quite some time, and Martensen was invited there more frequently.
Kierkegaard followed all this at some distance, and he not only hated
Martensen’s good fortune, he especially hated that it had come at the behest
of Mynster, who had so publicly made Martensen into his protege ́and
favorite. Kierkegaard’s reactions displayed every indication of disgust: “Oh,
but it must be dreadful to be a fool like Martensen: to preach Christianity
... for the aristocrats and for the fools who tag along only because it is
aristocratic. What a satire! Martensen is a preacher, so he is of course a
disciple of the teacher, Our Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom the world
spat....ButMartensen must either be terribly worldly minded (so that a
minor title and some distinction can be so important to him) or very stupid.