Soren Kierkegaard

without doubt,” Goldschmidt asserted, “one of the greatest intellects Den-
mark has produced, but he died a timely death because his most recent
activities had begun to gain him precisely the sort of popularity that he
could never have harmonized with his personality. The most dangerous
part of his actions against the clergy and the official Church is now only
just beginning, because his fate undeniably has something of the martyr
about it.”
As might have been expected, Grundtvig looked upon the matter entirely
differently. He preached the day Kierkegaard was buried, speaking with
rapture about the good news that one of the icicles hanging from the under-
side of the Church roof had now melted and fallen to the ground. In a letter
to Pastor Holten written shortly thereafter, Grundtvig wrote of “S. K.’s sin
unto death”: On the one hand, Kierkegaard had presented “the only true
Christianity as the most inhuman of things and as the most impossible thing
under the sun for a human being,” and in this way Kierkegaard had helped
confirm the unbelieving world in its unbelief. On the other hand, Kierke-
gaard had branded as a bald-faced liar and hypocrite every believer who
would not “renounce his Lord and his name as a Christian.” So, invoking
a peculiar logic of edification, Grundtvig concluded, “I do not wonder that
he was surprised by death, for as long as the day of the Antichrist has not
yet come, those who tinker with [God’s] masterpiece will always come to
grief, and quickly, just like false Messiahs.”
During the final years of his life Kierkegaard had resided in the parish of
the Church of Our Lady. His family, for many years attached to Mynster,
therefore thought it only natural that the funeral should take place at the
Church of Our Lady. On November 15 a family council was held at the
home of Henrik Ferdinand Lund, where they discussed the practical prob-
lems connected with the funeral and attempted to find a way out of the
dilemma that everyone seated around the oval table was aware of: If the
funeral were to take place in the quietest, most private manner possible, it
would indirectly dishonor the deceased by appearing to consign him to
historical oblivion, while if the funeral were permitted to take place in the
usual manner, it could be viewed as a provocation. What in all the world
should they do with that little corpse? Finally, Peter Christian pulled himself
together and decided that the funeral would take place on Sunday, Novem-
ber 18, at 12:30P.M. He would deliver the eulogy himself and he wanted
everything to be as normal as possible.
People started flocking to the church from quite early in the morning.
According toBerlingske Tidende, “a great many people were there, certainly
as many as the church could hold,” andFædrelandettold of “the thousands
who filled every spot in the Church of Our Lady,” whileMorgenpostenso-