Soren Kierkegaard

all the trumpet blasts from his rented rooms. Likewise, he would have had
the opportunity to read about the event inBerlingske Tidende, where he
could also have studied the texts of the cantatas and songs, which were
published in the paper. On February 13, in this same newspaper, he could
read the following under the rubric “Literature”: “Dr.H. Martensenhas
published in printed form the sermon he delivered in Christiansborg Castle
Church on the fifth Sunday after Epiphany; basing his sermon on the text
of Hebrews 13:7–8, he erected a beautiful and fitting monument to the
departed bishop.”
The aforementioned sermon could be acquired for the sum of sixteen
shillings, but for Kierkegaard it was virtually priceless. The sermon itself
was in fact merely a rather turgid and overblown commemoration of the
deceased, but Martensen had gone to considerable lengths, and his remarks
included the following: “From this man, whose precious memory fills our
hearts, our thoughts are led bac kto the whole series of witnesses to the
truth, stretching across the ages, from the days of the Apostles up to our
own times....Ourdeparted teacher also served as a lin kin this holy chain
of witnesses to the truth, to the honor of God Our Father.”
Kierkegaard had scarcely finished reading Martensen’s sermon before he
began composing the statement of protest that would form the beginning
of the most remarkable one-man revolution ever. Kierkegaard, however,
did not wish to get involved in the controversy surrounding the appoint-
ment of Mynster’s ecclesiastical successor, so he delayed his protest. The
conservatives wanted Martensen appointed, the liberals favored H. N.
Clausen, while King Frederic kVII himself had plans of appointing J. N.
Madvig, a professor of classics. Foreign Minister C. A. Bluhme tried to
dissuade the king from taking such a step, pointing out that Madvig was
not a trained theologian, to which the king, displaying equal amounts of
amazement and pique, replied, “What difference does that make?”--a re-
mar kthat was a source of some amusement in the more intellectual circles.
The king’s wife, Countess Danner, was pressing for yet another candidate,
which did not make the decision any easier. In the end, the conservative
ministry prevailed upon the king to appoint Martensen, and shortly after
the church service on Easter Sunday, Prime Minister A. S. Ørsted went to
the Castle Church to give Martensen the happy news in person. The eve-
ning of that same day Martensen shared his jubilation in a letter to Gude:
“So now, by the guidance of God—for I myself have done nothing in this
connection—I have been called to this extraordinarily important and holy
office.” In the period from then until his ordination on June 5, Martensen
was stricken with what he called “bishop fever.” The political and ecclesias-
tical situations were chaotic, and he had no doubts about what lay ahead: