Soren Kierkegaard

is to be presented to the congregation. The Dean whose job it is to do this
is more than an ordinary person; he not only has... an unprejudiced eye
for worldly profit, he also has a speculative eye on world history, something
he cannot keep to himself, but also shares with his congregation.” Ironically
enough, the text the dean has chosen was taken from the words of the
apostle Peter about abandoning everything and following Christ. Then it is
From’s turn to preach, and strange to say, the text of the day is the one
about seekingfirstthe Kingdom of God. “‘A very good sermon,’ says the
bishop, who was present in person, ‘a very good sermon, and it produced
a proper effect, that whole part about “first” the Kingdom of God, the way
in which he emphasized thatfirst.’”
This satirical short story was full of grotesque exaggeration, and it thus
might seem puzzling that Kierkegaard stressed, almost as the moral of the
story, that it was “so true, so true, so true.” The explanation might be that
not only had he seen the beam in his brother’s eye, he also enjoyed putting
it on display. For in 1850, Peter Christian had been permitted to resign the
call to the parish of Thorslunde-Ishøj when, at the absolute last moment,
he had realized that the income attached to that appointment had been
incorrectly stated, for it was possible that “the tithe income was smaller by
yet another twenty barrels of barley.” This sort of shortfall had been enough
to give Peter Christian cold feet. Neither can it be ruled out that Kierke-
gaard was here alluding to H. P. Kofoed-Hansen, who after serving as a
schoolteacher in Odense had sought a position at the Church of Our Savior
in Christianshavn. He, too, had had the frightful experience of discovering
that the income attached to the position was less than what he had expected,
which prompted him to seek an immediate discharge from the call. Never-
theless, not unlike Ludvig From, Kofoed-Hansen ended up reconciling
himself to his fate, and on September 9, 1849, the slightly perplexed theo-
logical graduate was installed in his office by Archdeacon Tryde. Kierke-
gaard was familiar with this muddled affair, and he recounted it in a journal
entry that was less critical of Kofoed-Hansen than of Tryde, because Tryde,
despite his familiarity with the details of Kofoed-Hansen’s decision, had
chosen to orate “movingly about how, in these times, the servants of the
Lord must reflect quite specifically on the fact that this is a matter in which
one’s life is at stake. Sure. No thanks.” It is not particularly important
whether it was Peter Christian or Kofoed-Nielsen who served as the model
in Kierkegaard’s satirical workshop, for both of them surely felt stung by
the piece—and Kierkegaard had thus managed to hit two greedy little eccle-
siastical flies at one blow.
Similar marksmanship was on display when Kierkegaard punctured such
ecclesiastical balloons as baptism, confirmation, and marriage. In a bizarre