Soren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard would not shrink from “making use of any means whatever in
order to injure his opponents.”
On Palm Sunday 1855, Mrs. Martensen and Paulli, who was Pastor at
the Castle Church, went to Vartov Church to hear Grundtvig preach.
When they returned they reported that they had heard an “entire sermon
against S. Kierkegaard,” whom Grundtvig had repeatedly called a “scoffer.”
Like Kierkegaard, Grundtvig had of course repudiated “the world’sso-called
Christianity,” that is, all the talk about “millions of Christians, so-called
Christian states, and everything connected with that.” But then Grundtvig
had gone on to say that when “the scoffers cry that therefore, if we wish to
be permitted to call ourselvesChrist’s disciples, we must take leave of the
world, or at least whip ourselves through the world and whip the world into
declaring open hostility to the name, to the faith, and to the congregation of
our LordJesus Christ, then we abandon it to the scoffers themselves.”
Martensen was not displeased with this intelligence. “Both my wife and
Paulli, who chanced to hear this sermon, were most satisfied,” he wrote
enthusiastically to Gude, who, it may be hoped, had sufficient tact to over-
look the obvious lie in the word “chanced.”
It is not clear whether Kierkegaard had heard rumors about this sermon,
or whether it was merely a remarkable coincidence, but in the sixth issue
ofThe Moment, which appeared on August 23, Grundtvig was given a
broadside: “Take Pastor Grundtvig, then....Themost he has fought for
is permission, for himself and for those who want to follow him, to express
what he understands by Christianity. Thus, he wants to remove the yoke
that the State Church has placed upon him. It has made him indignant that
police power would be used to deny him his freedom in religious matters.”
All this was fine enough, as far as it went, Kierkegaard continued, but the
problem was simply that Grundtvig had never thought of declaring war on
the real “illusions” of Christendom: “No. Freedom for himself and for those
who agree with him; freedom to express what he and his supporters under-
stand by Christianity; that is the most he has wanted—and then he will
remain quiet, tranquilized in this life, belonging to his family, and in other
respects live like those who are essentially at home in this world....No,
in comparison with the original passion of Christianity, Grundtvig’s enthu-
siasm is halfheartedness, indifferentism.”
This was quite a serious accusation, and only three days later, on Sunday,
August 26, Grundtvig’s sermon contained a powerful rejoinder: “Yes, it is
shouted into our ear that our Christianity is vanity, just like the Christianity
of the world, which consists only of empty words and ecclesiastical customs.
Yes, it is said of us—who hear Our LordJesus Christ’s own voice, and thank
our heavenly Father for life, for eternal life in the name of his only begotten