Page:Selections from the writings of Kierkegaard.djvu/38

 against Christ when on earth — and now — as to what constitutes the "offense."

Kierkegaard had hesitated a long time before publishing the "Preparation for a Christian Life." Authority-loving as he was, he shrank from antagonizing the Church, as it was bound to do; and more especially, from giving offense to its primate, the venerable Bishop Mynster who had been his father's friend and spiritual adviser, to whom he had himself always looked up with admiring reverence, and whose sermons he had been in the habit of reading at all times. Also, to be sure, he was restrained by the thought that by publishing his book he would render Christianity well-night unattainable to the weak and the simple and the afflicted who certainly were in need of the consolations of Christianity without any additional sufferings interposed — and surely no reader of his devotional works can be in doubt that he was the most tender-hearted of men. In earlier, stronger times, he imagines, he would have been made a martyr for his opinions; but was he  to become a blood-witness — he who realized more keenly than any one that he himself was not a Christian in the strictest sense? In his "Two Religious Treatises" he de- bates the question: "Is it permissible for a man to let him- self be killed for the truth?"; which is answered in the neg- ative in "About the Difference between a Genius and an Apostle" — which consists in the Apostle's speaking with au- thority. However, should not the truth be the most im- portant consideration? His journal during that time offers abundant proof of the absolute earnestness with which he struggled over the question.

When Kierkegaard finally published "The Preparation for a Christian Life," the bishop was, indeed, incensed; but he did nothing. Nor did any one else venture forth. Still worse affront! Kierkegaard had said his last word, had stated his ultimatum — and it was received with indifference, it seemed. Nevertheless he decided to wait and see what effect his books would have for he hesitated to draw