- Hans Lassen Martensen. “I recognized immediately that his was not an ordinary intellect but
that he also had an irresistible urge to sophistry, to hairsplitting games, which showed itself at every
opportunity and was often tiresome.” This was how Martensen remembered the young Søren Aabye,
who, at his father’s expense, had hired as his private tutor this remarkably competent man who would
have a meteoric career. In the battle about what constituted a genuine witness to the truth, Martensen
spoke publicly only once, after which he entrenched himself in a silence that Kierkegaard called “inde-
fensible from a Christian point of view,” “ludicrous,” “stupid-shrewd,” and “contemptible.” The attack
made a profound impression on Martensen, which is clear from his autobiography, where he labels
Kierkegaard an “accusing angel” and calls his campaign an “experience of the most unpleasant sort.”
romina
(Romina)
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