Christian Discourses () is a book by Søren Kierkegaard which was originally published in Danish in 1848. Kierkegaard asked how a burden can be light if suffering is heavy in his 1847 book, Edifying Discourses in Diverse Spirits, and (paradoxically) that the happiness of eternity outweighs even the heaviest temporal suffering. A year later, he said that 1848 was the richest and most fruitful year he had experienced as an author.Lowrie's Introduction to Christian Discourses 1940 Kierkegaard makes similar statements in Christian Discourses, which was published on April 26, 1848; hardship procures hope, the poorer one becomes the richer one makes others, adversity is prosperity. He writes about an eminent pagan killing God and flying high over an abyss, and spiritual communism. Kierkegaard's twenty-eight discourses are divided into four groups of seven, moving the reader from paganism to the suffering Christian. After becoming polemical in the third section, he brings the individual before God in the final section.
Structure
The book consists of four parts, each with seven discourses of ascending levels of religious development.Kierkegaard's way to the truth: an introduction to the authorship of Søren Kierkegaard by Malantschuk, Gregor p. 64 Kierkegaard used the term "discourse" rather than "sermon" because a sermon presupposes authority, and does not deal with doubt. He said repeatedly that the "author does not have authority to preach and by no means claims to be a teacher".Two Upbuilding Discourses (1843) They are Christian discourses offered with the right hand, instead of pseudonymous writings offered with the left hand.Kierkegaard: an introduction by Hermann Diem 1966 p. 31 Kierkegaard used Matthew 6:24-34 as his text for the introduction and part one. Part two deals with how a Christian handles adversity and suffering. Part three is more polemical, and aims to "wound from behind". Part four combines simplicity and earnestness with reflection, presenting crucial Christian concepts. Kierkegaard's goal is to awaken interest in the things of the spirit in his first and second discourses, moving to Christianity in his later discourses.See: Kierkegaard's authorship; a guide to the writings of Kierkegaard by George E Arbaugh 1967 p. 40-41
Part 1: The Cares of the Pagans Part 2: States of Mind in the Strife of Suffering Part 3: Thoughts That Wound from Behind Part 4: Discourses at the Communion on Fridays The Care of Poverty The Joy of it: That One Suffers Only Once But Is Victorious Eternally Watch Your Step When You Go to the House of the Lord Luke 22:15 The Care of Abundance The Joy of it: That Hardship Does Not Take Away But Procures Hope "See, We Have Left Everything and Followed You; What Shall We Have?" Matthew 11:28 The Care of Lowliness The Joy of it: That the Poorer You Become the Richer You Are Able to Make Others All Things Must Serve Us for Good When We Love God John 10:27 The Care of Loftiness The Joy of it: That the Weaker You Become the Stronger God Becomes in You There Will Be the Resurrection of the Dead, of the Righteous and of the Unrighteous I Corinthians 11:23 The Care of Presumptuousness The Joy of it: That What You Lose Temporally You Gain Eternally We are Closer to Salvation Now-Than When We Became Believers II Timothy 2:12f The Care of Self-Torment The Joy of it: That When I "Gain Everything I Lose Nothing at All But It Is Blessed-to Suffer Mockery for a Good Cause I John 3:20 The Care of Indecisiveness, Vacillation, and Disconsolateness The Joy of it: That Adversity is Prosperity He Was Believed in the World Luke 24:51
Introduction The bird and the lily are compared with the pagan and the Christian in an attempt to show them the "schoolmasters and how we learn from the birds to relinquish all our troubled concerns."Kierkegaard's way to the truth: an introduction to the authorship of Søren Kierkegaard by Gregor Malantschuk 1963 p. 64 These teachers were introduced by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. The bird and the lily judge and condemn no one, and an individual can learn from them what it means to instruct.See: Kierkegaard's authorship; a guide to the writings of Kierkegaard by George E Arbaugh 1967 p. 276 Kierkegaard's text is Matthew 6:24-34; he wants to "make clear what is required of the Christian",Christian Discourses, Hong, pp. 9-10 and asks if a Christian country can return to paganism: "The upbuilding discourse is fighting in many ways for the eternal to be victorious in a person, but in the appropriate place and with the aid of the lily and the bird."Christian Discourses, Hong, p. 12
Part One: The Cares of the Pagans
Kierkegaard uses Matthew 6:24-34 as "The Gospel for the Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity", noting the concerns of earthly life (beginning with material needs). He thinks that one should begin with paganism instead of orthodoxy when instructing in Christianity. Kierkegaard discusses "universally human and unavoidable" suffering,Kierkegaard's thought by Malantschuk, Gregor 1971 p. 321 comparing the concerns of the lily and the bird with those of the pagan and the Christian. Christ said in his Sermon on the Mount not to worry about food or drink. The first two discourses (the cares of poverty and abundance) deal with this theme. The bird (like the simple wise man of antiquity) seems to be ignorant of these cares, but both pagan and Christian must deal with them in their own way.
Lowliness and loftiness are dealt with next. The lowly Christian exists before God and has Christ (the prototype) as an example, but the lowly pagan is "without God in this world" and desires to become something in the world.Christian Discourses, Hong, pp. 42-43 The bird knows nothing of loftiness. The Christian (like Socrates) is ignorant of loftiness and is equal before God; the lofty pagan "flies high over the abyss", with the others below him.Christian Discourses, Hong, p. 56
Self-importance makes an individual presumptuous and concerned about the future; the fifth and sixth discourses deal with this theme. The lily or the bird knows nothing about eminence; the eminent Christian is "satisfied with God's grace", since all Christians are equal in this regard. The eminent pagan wants to "kill God" and take over the vineyard in an attempt to "add one foot to his growth." The Christian knows that God cannot be killed (only the thought of God), and fights to keep the thought of God alive.Christian Discourses, Hong, pp. 66-68
Anxiety about "the next day" is the theme of Kierkegaard's sixth discourse. A bird knows nothing about the next day; a Christian knows that each day has its own troubles, so "the next day does not exist for him."Christian Discourses, Hong, p. 74 The self-tormentor forgets today in anxious concern for the next day. This section is reminiscent of The Concept of Anxiety:
Kierkegaard's seventh discourse deals with choosing whether or not to be a Christian. "No one can serve two masters", and the pagans seek all things. The bird seems to have no will of its own, but the pagan and the Christian have two wills. The pagan is "a mind in rebellion", and wants to "get rid of the thought of God ... The Christian denies himself in such a way that this is identical with obeying God."Christian Discourses, Hong, pp. 81, 86, 89, 91
Part Two: States of Mind in the Strife of Suffering
Part 2 deals with hardships and sufferings which, paradoxically, bring joy to the striving Christian. According to Michael Strawser, the book might have been called The Joy of Christian Irony.Both/and: reading Kierkegaard from irony to edification by Michael Strawser (1997), pp. 219-220 The Christian must learn to look at everything turned around; adversity is prosperity, suffering is victory, and hardship brings hope. One becomes rich by becoming poor, and strong through weakness.
Kierkegaard says that "the upbuilding discourse is a good in itself",p. 95 but before the upbuilding comes the "terrifying".pp. 95-96 Suffering is a transition to eternity; hardship is not to be feared, and is difficult for the lower nature which sleeps. The sleeper must awaken and continue into adulthood.p. 108Kierkegaard and human values, edited by Niels Thulstrup and Marie Mikulova Thulstrup (1980), pp. 88-89
His second discourse says, "Hope recruits hope." According to Thomas Croxall, this discourse merits more than a passing reference.Kierkegaard studies: with special reference to (a) the Bible (b) our own age, by Thomas Henry Croxall (1948), p. 148 Striving is a determined effort in anticipation of eternal bliss, which follows a personal decision.Kierkegaard's view of Christianity, Edited by Niels Thulstrup and Marie Mikulova Thulstrup (1978), p. 100Simon Podmore said in Kierkegaard and the self before God: anatomy of the abyss (2011), p. 188, "In a discourse in Christian Discourses entitled "The Joy of It: That Hardship Does Not Take Away But Procures Hope", Kierkegaard laments that the phrase 'It is impossible!' is hardly ever said in relation to the forgiveness of sins: 'Scarcely anyone turns away offended and says, ‘It is impossible; even less does anyone say it in wonder'. Nor does anyone utter these words from a desire to believe what they dare not believe".
His third discourse deals with material and spiritual goods. Karl Marx published his Communist Manifesto on February 29, 1848, and Kierkegaard his Christian Discourses on April 26 of that year. Marx's book deals with the material world rather than the spiritual one; Kierkegaard's book deals with the world of the spirit.Marx analyzed this conflict between groups as a class conflict based on the struggle for economic and political power, but Kierkegaard saw a more fundamental struggle for human self-identity. Kierkegaard and Christendom by John W. Elrod (1981), pp. 104ff Marx says that the economic world order is the highest; Kierkegaard, concerned with the religious, nudges the individual toward developing spiritual goods.Discourse III, "The Joy of It: That the Poorer You Become the Richer You Are Able to Make Others", pp. 114ff (Hong) Spiritual goods are easier to share than material goods which are shared grudgingly; they are a communication, and benefit everyone.SeeKierkegaard and radical discipleship, a new perspective by Vernard Eller (1968) pp. 256ff for a discussion of this discourse. Spiritual goods make everyone rich; the poorer you become in the external sense, the richer you can make your neighbor through the internal goods of the spirit.
The fourth discourse discusses the paradox of weakness becoming strength. The weaker one becomes, the stronger God becomes in one; "everything depends on how the relationship is viewed."p. 126 Kierkegaard continues his theme of suffering and self-renunciation in his fifth discourse about the temporal and eternal. What you lose temporally, you gain eternally. The temporal is certain for many, but to the Christian the eternal is certain. It can be lost, however, by being reduced to the temporal.p. 137
The sixth discourse discusses gain and loss. Kierkegaard says that the Christian must "die to the world"pp. 146-147 because much of what is possessed is "the false everything":p. 145
In the final discourse, Kierkegaard says that adversity is prosperity. The Christian needs to "have an eye for turned-aroundness" and revisit the "distinction between adversity and prosperity".pp. 151-155 There are two goals: temporality and eternity. The reader began with temporality in Part One, and reaches eternity at the end of Part Two. "As long as you do not believe it, adversity remains adversity. It does not help you that it is eternally certain that adversity is prosperity; as long as you do not believe it, it is not true for you."p. 158
Part Three: Thoughts that Wound from Behind