Part 10
Nothing is more certain. Coming close to God brings catastro phe. Everyone whose life does not bring relative catastrophe has never even once turned as a single individual to God; it is just as impossible as it is to touch the conductors of a generator with out getting a shock.
All striving of a more noble character always meets with oppo sition. If you hold only to God, the attack and contempt and the storm of opposition will help you discover things you other wise would never discover; they will add new strings to your lyre. Every person is like an instrument which no doubt can be disturbed and damaged by the world's wretchedness – but if you hold on to God, it can help you to an ever new melody.
Everything that helps us along the way we are to go is prosper ity; but this is exactly what adversity does. Ergo, it is prosperity.
The pathway of tribulation remains just as long and just as dark right to the end – the pathway that gradually becomes lighter must be a different one. Neither do we know when the change will come nor precisely whether we have reached it or how much nearer we have come (for such things cannot be de termined in the dark). But we do believe that the change will come and then with the blessedness of eternity.
When a child in a dark room is waiting for the door to be opened and all the anticipated joy to be restored, at the last
second before the door is opened it is still just as dark as at first. The child still does not know how much longer he has to wait. But one thing is sure, the second the door opens the glory will be revealed. The child may have the sad thought that he has been forgotten. But then the child says to himself: How could I ever think that my parents could do a thing like that. So the child sees it through, for he well knows that to call out in fear of having been forgotten would upset everything.
Oh, how hard it is for us to have to stick it out this way, to stake everything on that last moment. We would far prefer to have the glory revealed gradually – that is, we prefer spoiling it for ourselves by receiving a little beforehand.
Christianity has been made so completely devoid of character that there is really nothing to persecute. The chief trouble with Christians, therefore, is that no one wants to kill them any more!
At the hour of death there is only this one consolation, that one has not avoided opposition but has gone through it and persevered.
What Christianity calls self-renunciation involves precisely a double-danger. The purely human conception of self-renuncia tion is this: give up your selfish desires, longings, and plans – and then you will become appreciated and honored and loved as a righteous person. The Christian conception of self-renun ciation, however, is to give up your selfish desires and longings, give up your arbitrary plans and purposes – and then submit to being treated as a criminal, scorned and ridiculed for this very
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reason. Christian self-renunciation knows in advance that this will happen and chooses it freely. It does not let the Christian get by at half-price.
So many Christians look on the world's opposition as some thing entirely accidental. But this view is altogether unchristian. Nothing should be promised the young that Christianity can not deliver, and Christianity cannot deliver something different from what it has promised from the very first: the ingratitude of the world, opposition, mockery, and always to a higher degree the more dedicated a Christian becomes. This is the final diffi culty in being a Christian, and when you recommend Chris tianity there should be silence least of all about this.
This is the paradox of Christianity – namely, that a kingdom which is not of this world still wants to have a visible place, yet without becoming a kingdom of this world. This is why Chris tian collisions are produced.
It is no good for you to say that the world is immersed in evil, and then slip through it easily. If you do this, your life expresses that it is really a very good world and simply cannot be done without your also being an accomplice in one way or another.
See to it that you take your life's examination, obediently sub mitting to the final test, to be sacrificed. Don't worry about the ill treatment that will be meted out to you by your contempo raries. No, see to it that you take your examination. If you take it, this is eternally and infinitely decisive. Maybe it will then happen, maybe not, that an individual in the next generation
can be inspired by your life to be willing to take his life's exami nation. There will happen to him what happened to you, and perhaps in thinking of you he will find some encouragement.
94 Truth
The law is this: If the proclamation is true, it must produce what it proclaims.
The expression, "Truth is naked," may also be interpreted in this way: truly relating to truth means that all the inner and the outer garments of illusion have to be discarded.
The truth is incessantly subject to fraud, particularly on the part of those closest to it. Since truth is never decided by the "what" but by the "how," it is clear that we will always have false editions of the same truth.
The exact opposite of the truth is "the probable." Truth does not consist of an approximation. That which lies nearest to the truth is not, if you please, closest to the truth – no, this is the most dangerous delusion of all, the most dangerous simply be cause it lies so near to the truth without being the truth.
Let us be honest about it. We are more afraid of the truth than of death.
The truth is a snare: you cannot get it without being caught yourself. In fact, you can never get the truth by catching it your self but only by its catching you.
Christ says, "I will manifest myself to him who loves me" (1 Jn. 14:21). But this is true always. The thing one loves mani fests itself to one; truth manifests itself to whoever loves it. One too easily thinks of the recipient as inactive and that which manifests itself as actively communicating. No, the relationship is that the recipient is the lover and so the thing loved is made manifest to him, for he himself is transformed into the likeness of the thing loved. To become what one loves is the only sure way of understanding. You only understand to the degree in which you become what you love.
If God held all truth enclosed in his right hand, and in his left hand the one and only ever-striving drive for truth, even with the corollary of erring forever and ever, and if he were to say to me: Choose! – I would humbly fall down to him at his left hand and say: Father, give! Pure truth is indeed only for you alone!
Only the truth that builds up is truth for you.
"Authority" does not mean to be a king, but by a firm and con scious resolution to be willing to sacrifice everything, one's very life, for a cause. It means to articulate a cause in such a way that a person is at one with himself, needing nothing and fearing nothing. This infinite recklessness is authority. Those with au thority always address themselves to the conscience, not to the understanding. True authority is present when the truth is the
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cause. The reason the Pharisees spoke without authority, al though they were indeed authorized teachers, was precisely be cause their talk, like their lives, was in the power of endless finite concerns.
In order to swim you must take off all your clothes. In order to aspire to the truth you must undress in a far more inward sense, divest yourself of all your inward clothes, of thoughts, concep tions, selfishness. Only then are you sufficiently naked.
95 Venturing and Risk
It is dangerous business to arrive in eternity with possibilities that you have prevented from becoming actualities. Possibility is a hint from God. A person must follow it. The possibility for the highest is in every soul; you must follow it. If God does not want it, then let him hinder it. You must not hinder it yourself. Trusting in God, I have ventured, but I have failed – there is peace and rest and God's confidence in that. I have not ventured – it is an utterly unhappy thought, a torment for all eternity.
Surely Christianity's intention is that a person use this life to venture out, to do so in such a way that God can get hold of him, and that one gets to see whether or not he actually has faith.
Practicing Christian faith is not very useful and it is highly im practical. Indeed, is there anything more impractical than offer ing one's life for the truth? Is there anything more foolish than not looking to one's own advantage? Is there anything more ri diculous than making one's life difficult and strenuous and be ing rewarded with insults? Is there anything more impractical than being labeled – not with titles and honors – but with abuse and ridicule? For a sailor to die at sea where he risked his life in the hope of profit, for the soldier to fall in battle where he
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risked his life in the hope of becoming a general – that is more like it, that is practical – but to die for the truth!
A person can distress the spirit by venturing too much. Yet there is comfort in knowing that discipline will surely come and will help him if he honestly humbles himself under it. But a person can also distress the spirit by venturing too little. Alas, but this comes home to him only after a long time, perhaps af ter many years when he is living in the security he sought by avoiding danger. Now he must experience the truth that he was untrue to himself. Perhaps it does not come until old age, per haps not until eternity. In any case, the thing to do about ven turing too little is to admit humbly before God that you are coddling yourself.
Unless you do this, you will begin to imagine that what you are doing is mighty clever – alas, for then you are lost forever. At that very moment the eternal flickers out, your relationship with God closes up, the truth in you dies, and you become un true. If, on the other hand, you make the humble admission – perhaps you are sick and therefore despondent, perhaps you are too hard on yourself in judging yourself – you at least preserve your relationship to God. Your admission will keep you awake and alert, and will not permit you to become happy in a dearly purchased security, distanced from danger. Perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in a year, faith and confident boldness will rise up in you and you will once again be able to venture.
We delude ourselves into thinking that to refrain from ventur ing is modesty, and that it must please God as humility. No, no! Not to venture means to make a fool of God – because all he is waiting for is that you go forth.
During the first period of a person's life the greatest danger is to not take the risk. When once the risk has been taken then the greatest danger is to risk too much. By not risking you turn aside and serve trivialities. By risking too much, you turn aside to the fantastic, and perhaps to presumption.
To venture the truth is what gives human life and the human situation pith and meaning. To venture is the fountainhead of inspiration. Calculating is the sworn enemy of enthusiasm, the mirage whereby the earthly person drags out time and keeps the eternal away, whereby one cheats God, himself, and his generation.
The servant in the gospel who hid his talent in the earth was wise and farsighted. Yet his master rejected him. Imagine a dif ferent scenario where a servant comes and says,"Lord, I wanted so much to gain something from the talent you entrusted me, so I took a risk – I suppose too much of a risk, because I have gained nothing and lost my one talent." Now, which servant will find forgiveness?
A bold venture is not a high-flown phase, not an exclamatory outburst, but arduous work. A bold venture, no matter how rash, is not a boisterous proclamation but a quiet dedication that receives nothing in advance but stakes everything.
We all know what it is to play warfare in mock battle. It means to mimic everything, just as it is in war. The troops are drawn up, they march into the field, seriousness is evident in every eye,
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but also courage and enthusiasm, the orderlies rush back and forth intrepidly, the commander's voice is heard, the signals, the battle cry, the volley of shooting, the thunder of cannon – everything exactly as in war, lacking only one thing: the danger.
So it is with playing Christianity, that is, imitating by way of Christian preaching in such a way that everything, absolutely everything is included in as alluring a form as possible. Only one thing is lacking – the danger.
Imagine a mighty spirit who promised to a certain people his protection, but upon the condition that they should make their appearance at a definite place where it was dangerous to go. Suppose that these folks waited to make their appearance, and instead went home to their living rooms and talked to one an other in enthusiastic terms about how this spirit had promised them his potent protection. No one would be able to harm them. Is not this ridiculous?
So it is with today's Christianity. Christ taught something perfectly definite by believing; to believe is to venture out as de cisively as it is possible, breaking with everything one naturally loves. But to him who believes, assistance against all danger is also promised. But today we play at believing, play at being Christians. We remain at home in the old grooves of finitude – and then we go and twaddle with one another, or let the preach ers twaddle to us, about all the promises that are found in Christ. Is this not ridiculous?
Preserve me, Lord, from the deceit of thinking that by being prudent and looking after my own interests I am necessarily us ing my talents aright. He who takes risks for your sake may ap
pear to lose, but he is accepted by you. He who risks nothing appears to gain by his prudence, but he is rejected by you. But let me not think that by avoiding risk I am better than the other. Grant me to see that this is an illusion, and save me from such a snare.
96 Witness
There was a time when one could almost be afraid to call him self a disciple of Christ, because it meant so much. Now one can do it with complete ease, because it means nothing at all.
You can be Christian only in opposition, can confess Christ only in opposition. There is always danger bound up with con fessing Christ.
When a fisherman wants to make a good catch he has to know where the fish are – but the fish swim against the current – consequently he has to go to that side.
Christianity is also a revolt, that is, as soon as it is set forth in all its truth people will revolt against it.
You can always accomplish something by giving witness to joy.
Act just once in such a manner that your action expresses that you fear God alone – you will in some measure or another, in stantly cause a scandal.
What is a witness? A witness is a person who directly demon strates the truth of what he proclaims – directly, yes, in part by its being truth in him and blessedness, in part by volunteering his life and saying: Now, see if you can force me to deny this truth.
Let this propensity to preach that there is joy in suffering in sult be met with insults, and then we will see what becomes of the speaker. The essentially Christian makes witnesses, and so good night to eloquence.
A witness to the truth is a person who in poverty witnesses to the truth. For him there is never promotion, except in an in verse sense, downward, step by step.
When Christianity came into the world the task was simply to preach. Among "Christian nations," however, the situation is different. What we have before us is not Christianity but a pro digious illusion, the people are not pagans but live in the bliss ful conceit that they are Christians. So if in this situation Christianity is to be introduced, first of all the illusion must be debunked. But since this vain conceit, this illusion, is to the ef fect that we are all Christians, it looks indeed as if introducing Christianity amounts to taking Christianity away. Nevertheless this is precisely what must be done, for the illusion must go.
Anyone who knows even a little bit about bird-life knows that there is a kind of understanding between wild geese and tame geese, regardless of how different they are. When the flight of the wild geese is heard in the air and there are tame geese down on the ground, the tame geese are instantly aware of it and to a
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certain degree they understand what it means. This is why they also start up, beat their wings, cry out and fly along the ground a bit in awkward, confused disorder – and then it is over.
There was once a wild goose. In the autumn, about the time for migration, it became aware of some tame geese. It became enamored by them, thought it a shame to fly away from them, and hoped to win them over so that they would decide to go along with it on the flight. To that end it became involved with them in every possible way. It tried to entice them to rise a little higher and then again a little higher in their flight, that they might, if possible, accompany it in the flight, saved from the wretched, mediocre life of waddling around on the earth as re spectable, tame geese.
At first, the tame geese thought it very entertaining and liked the wild goose. But soon they became very tired of it, drove it away with sharp words, censured it as a visionary fool devoid of experience and wisdom. Alas, unfortunately the wild goose had become so involved with the tame geese that they had gradually gained power over it, their opinion meant something to it – and gradually the wild goose became a tame goose.
In a certain sense there was something admirable about what the wild goose wanted. Nevertheless, it was a mistake, for – this is the law – a tame goose never becomes a wild goose, but a wild goose can certainly become a tame goose. If what the wild goose tried to do is to be commended in any way, then it must above all watch out for one thing – that it hold on to itself. As soon as it notices that the tame geese have any kind of power over it, then away, away in migratory flight.
Christianity is not exactly like this. True, a Christian who is under the Spirit is as different from the ordinary man as the wild goose is from the tame goose. But Christianity teaches conversion and what a person can become in life. Consequently
there is always hope that a tame goose might become a wild goose. Therefore, Christians must remain with them, these tame geese, but only with one thing in mind – wanting to win them for the transformation. But for heaven's sake watch out for one thing. As soon as you see that the tame geese begin to have power over you, away, away in migratory flight, so that it does not all end with your becoming like a tame goose, bliss fully sunk in wretched mediocrity.
It happened that a fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to inform the public. They thought it was just a jest and applauded. He repeated his warning, they shouted even louder. So I think the world will come to an end amid general applause from all the wits, who believe that it is a joke.
I wonder if a person handing another person an extremely sharp, polished, two-edged instrument would hand it over with the air, gestures, and expression of one delivering a bouquet of flowers? Would not this be madness? What does one do, then? Convinced of the excellence of the dangerous instrument, one recommends it unreservedly, to be sure, but in such a way that in a certain sense one warns against it. So it is with Christianity.
Just as in a large shipment of herring the outermost layer gets crushed and ruined, just as the outermost fruit gets bruised and damaged by the crate, so in every generation there are a few who stand farthest out and suffer from the crate, who alone guard those who are in the middle.
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Most people are really only sample copies. Of them it may be said: They derive benefit out of living, but the world has no benefit out of their having lived.
Being a Christian is, without a doubt, neither more nor less than being a martyr. Every Christian, that is, every true Chris tian, is a martyr. But I hear one of those shabby pastors say (by shabby I mean one who accepts a nice salary, prestige with rec ognition, and such – in order to betray Christianity): "But, of course, we cannot all be martyrs." To this God would reply: "Stupid man, do you think I don't know how I have arranged the world." The point is this – becoming a Christian is an ex amination given by God. In every age it must continually be equally difficult to become Christian.
Just as all the nerves converge in the fingertips, so the entire nervous system of Christian faith converges in the reality of martyrdom. If this is reversed, you have what we are now stuck in – a nice world where reforming means coming out un scathed and on top.
No doubt there is an infinite difference between a tyrant and a martyr; yet they have one thing in common: the power to con strain. The tyrant constrains by force; the martyr, uncondition ally obedient to God, constrains by suffering. The tyrant dies, and his rule is over; the martyr dies, and his rule begins.
Suffering for the truth is the only possible awakening. An ap palling, all-engulfing web of knowledge and sophistication such
as now envelops the generation cannot be exploded by words; greater powers are needed. And martyrs are the only ones who can do it.
In our human speech we often say of a child that he looks like an angel. Christianly speaking, a dying person does. To die is to be born again. When the world shuts itself against a witness, heaven opens for him. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, bears witness to this fact. They saw his face as if it had been the face of an angel. Someone will say: "Angels? Nobody has ever seen an gels. That is something for children." Answer: "Stuff and non sense! Hold your tongue! See to it that you become like Stephen, that your face is an angel's face – then we will have an angel to look at."
Today's martyrs will not bleed, as formerly, because they are Christians – yes, it is almost insane! They will be put to death because they are not "Christians." Frightful drama! And how alone the martyr will stand!
97 Works
It is not our effort that brings atonement. No, joy over being reconciled, over the fact that atonement has already been made, produces an honest striving. It is not good works that make a good person but the good person who does good works. And one becomes good by faith alone. Consequently, faith first of all. It is by faith that one does truly good works.
The very fact that I am saved by faith and that nothing at all is demanded from me should in itself cause me to strive.
God cannot stand good works in the sense of earning merit. Yet good works are required. They shall be and yet shall not be. They are necessary and yet one ought humbly to ignore their significance or at least forget that they are supposed to be of any significance. Good works are like a child giving his parents a present, purchased, however, with what the child has received from his parents. All the pretentiousness which otherwise is as sociated with giving a present disappears when the child under stands that he has received from his parents the gift which he gives to them.
Imagine a girl in love: for a time she will find it sufficient to ex press her love in words, but there will come a moment when
this will no longer satisfy her, when she will long to embrace her beloved. So also with the believer in relation to God – express ing his gratitude in words. He will finally reach a point where he must say: I cannot stand it, this no longer satisfies my need. You must, oh God, permit me a far stronger expression for my grati tude – works.
In every human being there is an inclination either to want to be proud when it comes to works or, when faith and grace are emphasized, to want to be free from works as far as possible. Christianity's requirement is that your life should express works as strenuously as possible. Then one thing more is re quired – that you humble yourself and confess: I am saved nev ertheless by grace. Luther wished to take meritoriousness away from works. In typical fashion, we have not only taken merito riousness away, but also the works.
True ethical enthusiasm consists in willing to the uttermost of one's capability, but also, uplifted in divine jest, in never think ing that one thereby achieves something.
If a person of talent is actually to become spirit, he must first of all acquire a distaste for all the satisfactions the talent has to of fer. He should be like the apprentice in the pastry trade who has permission from the start to eat as many cakes and cookies as he wants – in order to acquire a distaste for cakes and cookies.
A human being is only an instrument and never knows when the moment will come when he will be put aside. If he himself does not at times evoke this thought, he is a hireling, an un
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faithful servant, who is trying to free himself and to cheat the Lord of the uncertainty in which he comprehends his own nothingness. Even the highest mission in the spiritual world is only an errand.
Father in heaven, awaken conscience within us. Teach us to open our spiritual ears to your voice and to pay attention to what you say, so that your will may sound purely and clearly for us as it does in heaven, unadulterated by worldly cunning, undeadened by the voice of passions. Keep us vigilant in fear and trembling to work out our salvation. But also – when the law speaks loudest, when its demands terrify us, when it thun ders from Sinai – let there be a soft voice which whispers to us that we are your children, so that we may cry out with joy: Abba, Father.
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God is worshipped not by moods but by action. But this, too, has the problem of so easily turning into pettiness and tempta tion in the form of self-righteousness. Only the childlike heart that wholly loves God can do this rightly.
God is spirit and thus finds no additional pleasure in our hymn singing any more than in the smell of incense. What is most pleasing to him is that we genuinely need him.
One cannot serve God as one serves another Majesty who, hu manly speaking, has a cause. Action is indeed true worship, but it is true worship only when it is freed from all busyness, as if God had a cause. To give up everything – not because God must make use of you as an instrument, no, by no means – to give up everything! This is what it means to worship and serve God.
Christ has desired only one kind of gratitude: the praise that comes from the transformed individual.
Beware, lest your jubilating thanks to Christ is not loving him but loving yourself.
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It is no good for us to bow and scrape before God in words and phrases and in such activities as building churches and binding Bibles in velvet. God has a particular language for addressing him – the language of action, the transformation of the mind, the course of one's life.
The only art Christians should practice is worship. Not with words and chatter – no, with action in unconditional obedience.
God is a spirit; consequently worship of God should be in spirit and in truth. The customary Sunday service these days, how ever, is rather strongly designed for a sensate effect. Even more so, on the great festival days of the Church, on precisely these days the worship service moves even farther from the spiritual. Trumpets and every possible appeal to the senses are used – this is because it is one of the great festival days of the Church. What nonsense, what an anticlimax!
In the world the theater is worship – in Christendom the churches are. Is there a difference?
We are able to tell from a person's behavior that he is in love. Likewise, we are able to tell when someone is in the power of a great thought. How then should we not be able to tell that someone is in the presence of God?
You can worship only by becoming weak. Woe to the presump tuous person who in his proud strength is audacious enough to worship God! The true God can be worshipped only in spirit
and in truth – but precisely this is the truth, that you are en tirely weak. In fact, you are nothing.
Imagine that geese could talk – and that they had planned things in such a way that they, too, had their divine worship ser vices. Every Sunday they gathered together and a goose preached. The gist of the sermon was as follows: What a high destiny geese have, to what a high goal the creator – and every time this word was mentioned the geese curtsied and the gan ders bowed their heads – had appointed geese. With the help of their wings they could fly away to distant regions, blessed re gions, where they really had their homes, for here they were but alien sojourners.
It was this way every Sunday. Afterwards, the assembly dis persed and each one waddled home to his family. And so to church again next Sunday, and then home again – and that was the end of it. They flourished and grew fat, became plump and delicate, were eaten on St. Martin's Eve – and that was the end of it.
Yes, that was the end of it. Although the Sunday discourse was so very lofty, on Monday the geese would discuss with each other what had happened to the goose who had wanted really to use his wings according to the high goal set before it – what happened to it, what horrors it had to endure. Of course the geese would not talk about it on Sunday; that, after all, was not appro priate. Such talk would make a fool of God and of themselves.
Still, there were a few individual geese among them who looked poorly and grew thin. The other geese said among them selves: There you see what happens when you take seriously this business of wanting to fly. Because they harbor the idea of want ing to fly, they get thin, and do not prosper, do not have God's
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grace as we have it, and become plump, fat, and delicate. For by the grace of God one becomes plump, fat, and delicate.
So it is with our Christian worship services. We, too, have wings, we have imagination, intended to help us actually rise aloft. But we play, allow our imagination to amuse itself in an hour of Sunday daydreaming. In reality, however, we stay right where we are – and on Monday regard it as a proof that God's grace gets us plump, fat, delicate. That is, we accumulate money, get to be a somebody in the world, beget children, become suc cessful, and so forth. And those who actually get involved with God and who therefore suffer and have torments, troubles, and grief, of these we say: Here is proof that they do not have the grace of God.
The preacher says: It is good to be here in God's house. Would that we could remain here, but we must go out again into the confusion of life! Lies and nonsense! The most difficult thing of all would be to remain day after day inside of God's house.
Oh God, even though I am very little before you, this little – this being nothing before thee – is for me infinitely much. All else is to me worth nothing, absolutely nothing!
At the altar what counts above everything else is to hear his voice. It is true that a sermon should also bear witness to God, proclaiming his word, and his teaching, but for all that a ser mon is not his voice. If you do not hear his voice, you have come in vain to the altar. Even if the Lord's minister speaks ev ery word precisely as it was handed down from the fathers; even if you hear precisely every word, if you do not hear his voice,
you have come in vain to the altar. Even though you are seri ously resolved to take the preacher's word to heart and to order your life accordingly – if you do not hear his voice, you have come in vain to the altar. It must be his voice you hear. For at the altar there can be no talk about him; there he himself is per sonally present, it is he that speaks – if not, then you are not at the altar.
Jesus says, "When you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your enemy has something against you, go and be reconciled to your enemy, and then come and offer your gift." Ah, what sacrifice do you think is dearest to him, the sacri fice you offer by being reconciled with your enemy, that is, by sacrificing your anger to God – or the gift you could offer upon the altar? The sacrifice of reconciliation is dearest to God and to Christ, and it is there that the altar is.
True worship of God consists in doing God's will. But this sort of worship is not to our taste. Generation after generation, people have busied themselves with a worship that consists in having one's own will, but doing it in such a way that the name of God is brought into conjunction with it. For example, a per son is inclined to want to support himself by engaging in activi ties that involve killing people. Now he sees from Scripture that this is not permissible, that God's will is, "You shall not kill.""All right," he thinks, "but that sort of teaching doesn't really suit me, but neither do I want to be an ungodly man." So what does he do? He gets hold of a minister who in God's name blesses the sword. What a clever trick!
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Learn first how to be alone, and you will doubtless also learn the true worship of God, which is to think highly of God and humbly of yourself. Not as if you ought to make yourself hum bler than your neighbor, as if that would lend you dignity; for remember that you are before God. Not to make yourself more humble than your enemy, as if that would make you better; for remember that you are before God. But true worship is to think humbly of yourself.
Index of Parables and Stories
Abraham and Isaac 89–90
Bowlegged Dancing Master, The 64
Builder vs. the Love, The 113
Call to Come Home, The 298
Child and the Dark Room, The 389–390
Child's Walk, The 272–273
Clown and the Fire, The 404
Complaining Horses, The 150
Constipating Effect, The 16
Dancer, The 120–121
Dash of Cinnamon, A 368–369
Double Swindle 117
Drunken Peasant, The 138–139
Empty Nuts 239, 248
Fire Chief, The 173–175
Fisherman and the Net, The 233–234
Fugitive and the Criminal, The 41
Giordano Bruno 284–285
Habit and the Preying Creature 123
He Who Prays to an Idol – In Truth! 60–61
"Hyphen," The 119–120
In the Mirror 219
Innkeeper, The 179
Jumper's Spot, The 215–216
King and Young Maiden, The 93–94
Law and the Tightening Bowstring 309–310
Light as a Feather 160
Lilies of the Field 142–145
Living in the Basement 134–135
Lover's Burden, The 159
Love's Element 326
Christendom and Counterfeit Christianity
Missing Jewel, The 46–47
My Beloved's Letter 80–84
New Commandment, The 227
Nicodemus the Admirer 87
North Pole Expedition, A 176–177
Parenthesis Man, The 228
Pastor and the Novice 356–357
Pastor of the Temperance Society, The 190–192
Pegasus and the Old Nag 337–338
Reading, Cookies, and Pictures 230–231
Replacing the Fallen Angels 339
Rowing Backwards and Eternity 212
Royal Coachman, The 151
Run-Away Locomotive, The 229
Scholars and Spotlights 199
Self-Denial and the Snuffbox 351–352
Soldier's Choice, The 249
Spongy Bog, The 270
States' Bid, The 341
Sunday Morning Geese 412–413
Taming the Wild Geese 402–404
Tax Collector, The 183–184
Skater and the Jewel, The 335–337
Theological Candidate, The 193–195
Thinker's Castle, The 135
To Fly Like a Crow 314
Tricky Pupil, The 230
Two Artists, The 106
Two Balls Collide 121
Violinist, The 275
Walking Backwards, Looking Forward 14–15
Well Spring, The 297
Widow's Two Pennies, The 362
Wood Dove, The 146–148
Youth and Fairy Stories 206
Sources
Abbreviations for Sources
AC Kierkegaard's Attack Upon "Christendom" 1854–1855, trans., with intro duction, Walter Lowrie. Princeton University Press, 1944.
CA The Concept of Anxiety, trans. Reidar Thomte in collaboration with
Albert B. Anderson. Princeton University Press, 1980.
CD Christian Discourses, trans. Walter Lowrie. London: Oxford University
Press, 1952.
CUP Concluding Unscientific Postscript, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and
Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1989.
E/O Either/Or, trans. Walter Lowrie, 2 vols. New York: Doubleday & Com
pany, Inc., 1959.
EUD Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and
Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1990.
FT Fear and Trembling. Trans. Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin Books, 1985.
J The Journals of Søren Kierkegaard, ed. & trans. Alexander Dru (Oxford University Press: London, 1938).
JP Søren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. 7 volumes.
M Meditations from Kierkegaard, by T.H. Croxall. London: James Nisbet and Company, LTD, 1955.
P Parables of Kierkegaard, edited by Thomas C. Oden. Princeton Univer sity Press, 1978.
PA The Present Age, trans. Alexander Dru and Walter Lowrie. London: Oxford University Press, 1949.
PC Practice in Christianity, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1991.
PF Philosophical Fragments and Johannes Climacus, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1985.
PH Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, trans. & intro. Douglas V. Steere.
Harper Torchbooks. The Cloister Library. New York: Harper & Row, 1956.
Sources
PK The Prayers of Kierkegaard, edited by Perry D. LeFevere. Chicago: Uni versity of Chicago Press, 1956.
S Selections from the Writings of Søren Kierkegaard, by Thomas S. Kepler. Nashville: The Upper Room, 1952.
S/J For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1990.
SD The Sickness Unto Death, trans. & introduction by Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin Books, 1989.
SK Søren Kierkegaard: The Mystique of Prayer and Pray-er, trans. By Lois S. Bowers and edited by George K. Bowers. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 1994
SLW Stages on Life's Way, trans. by Walter Lowrie. London: Oxford Univer
sity Press, 1940.
TA Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age: A Literary Review, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1978.
TD Two Discourses of God and Man, Søren Kierkegaard. Minneapolis: Bur
gess Publishing Company.
UD Upbuilding Discourse in Various Spirits, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong
and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1993.
WL Works of Love: Some Christian Reflections in the Form of Discourses,
trans. Howard and Edna Hong, preface R. Gregor Smith. Harper Torchbooks, The Cloister Library. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.
Sources
1. Dare to Decide: EUD, 347–375
2. Either/Or: UD, 203–208
3. Under the Spell of Good Intentions: WL, 91–95
4. The Greatest Danger: JP-III, 120,121; 178–179; JP-IV, 319–320
5. The Task: JP-II, 397–433; JP-III, 334–352; PH, 185
6. Against the Crowd: JP-III, 305–311
7. Suspending the Ethical: FT, 83–98
8. To Need God Is Perfection: EUD, 297–326
9. Purity of Heart: PH, 53–87
10. Emissaries from Eternity: PH, 38–51
11. God Has No Cause: JP-I, 104–106
12. An Eternity in Which to Repent: AC, 246–247
13. Truth Is the Way: PC, 123–124, 201–211
14. The Road Is How: UD, 289–291
15. Two Ways of Reflection: CUP, vol. I, 192–203
16. The Weight of Inwardness: CA, 138–141, 205–206
17. Christ Has No Doctrine: CUP, 325–327, 371–373
18. Faith: The Matchless Lack of Logic: PC, 24–35
19. Paradox and Passion: CUP, 203–230
20. The Folly of Proving God's Existence: PF, 39–47; CUP, 545–546
21. Answering Doubt: S/J 67–68, 190,191, 197; JP-IV, 536ff
22. Alone with God's Word: S/J, 26–35
23. Followers, not Admirers: PC, 237–252
24. Fear and Trembling: M, 112–113
25. God's Triumphant Love: PF, 26-36
26. Neighbor Love: WL, 17–90
27. The Greater Love: WL, 106–130
28. Love the Person You See: WL, 158–174
29. Love's Hidden Need: WL, 8–16
30. Love Builds: WL, 212–224
31. Love's Like-for-Like: WL, 380–386
32. Love Abides – Forever! WL, 305–309
33. When Love is Secure: WL, 34–37, 42–43
34. Nebuchadnezzer: SLW, 331–333
35. The War Within: CD, 129–131
36. Sickness Unto Death: SD, 52–57, 73–74
37. The Dynamics of Despair: SD, 59–65, 80–84, 98–105
38. Consider the Lilies: UD, 167–171
Sources
39. Behold the Birds of the Air: UP, 174–178
40. The Royal Coachman: S/J, 76–87
41. The Invitation: PC, 11–22
42. When the Burden Is Light: UD, 233–247
43. In the School of Suffering: UD, pp, 252–261
44. To Suffer Christianly: PC, 108–121, 173
45. The Offense: WL, 199–200
46. What Says the Fire Chief?: AC, 193–196
47. Christianity Does Not Exist: JP-IV, 341–344
48. What Madness: AC, 29–35
49. The Echo Answers: AC, 278–279
50. The Tax Collector: CD, 371–375
51. Gospel for the Poor: JP-IV, 410–411
52. How God Relates Inversely: JP-III, 412–416
53. Undercover Clergy: JP-III, 433–435
54. "First the Kingdom of God": AC, 208–211
55. Childish Orthodoxy: CUP, 591–605
56. Kill the Commentators!: JP-I, 83–88; JP-III, 270–273
57. Church Militant: PC, 209–227
58. Anxiety and Despair: JP-III, 739; EUD, 428–429; CD, 352–353; CD, 75; CD, 75–77; JP-IV, 45
59. Becoming Christian: JP-I, 214; JP-II, 420; JP-I, 364–365; JP-I, 216; CUP, 363; CUP, 363–366; JP-I, 226–227; JP-VI, 569; JP-IV, 569–570; J-VI, 570; AC, 229; CD, 221–222; JP-I, 206; JP-I, 112; JP-I, 432; JP-II, 413; AC, 293; M, 38–39; PC, 107
60. The Bible: S/J, 25–26; S/J, 43–44; JP-II, 418–419; JP-IV, 551–552; JP-III, 279; S/J, 13–14; JP-I, 88; JP-IV, 40
61. Christ: JP-I, 125; JP-I, 125; JP-I, 125; JP-I, 128; JP-I, 132; JP-III, 160; JP-I 134– 136; J, 355; JP-I, 139; PC, 126; JP-I, 150; PK, 91; JP-I, 151; JP-II, 326; JP-IV, 591; PA, 88–89; JP-I, 143–144
62. Christendom and Counterfeit Christianity: JP-I, 158; AC, 135; JP-II, 238; JP-III, 113-115; JP-I, 224; JP-I 227–228; JP-I 437; JP-II, 147–148; JP-II, 237– 238; JP-II, 302–303; JP-II, 369; J, 356; AC, 139–141; JP-III, 10–11; JP-IV, 439;
JP-III, 357; JP-IV, 232; JP-IV, 338–339; JP-IV, 478; J, 347; JP-I, 219–221; AC, 74–76; AC, 168; JP-I, 386–388; JP-I 244; JP-I 179; JP-III, 214–215; JP-I, 208– 211
63. The Cross: JP-I, 148; J, 57; J, 63; J, 300; M, 65; M, 46; JP-I, 246; J, 78; JP-I, 124; JP-I, 127; J, 361
64. The Crowd: JP-II, 296; JP-II, 297; JP-II, 306–310; JP-II, 373; JP-II, 375–376; JP-II, 420–422; JP-II, 438; JP-III, 168; JP-III, 297–298; JP-III, 318; JP-III, 323–324; JP-III 325; JP-III, 333; JP-III, 338–339; JP-III, 339; JP-III, 350–351; JP-III, 488; JP-IV, 139; JP-IV, 141; JP-IV, 522–523; JP-IV, 160–161; JP-IV, 147– 148; JP-III, 320–321; JP-IV, 540–541
65. Decisiveness: J, 20; J, 268; J, 366; EUD, 363; EUD, 349–350; EUD, 349; PH, 40; PH, 113; UD, 330; M, 31–32; PH, 199; CUP, vol. 1, 226; JP-I 174–175; JP-I 177; JP-IV, 508–509; JP-IV, 241; JP-I, 312; AC, X; P, 16; SLW, 114; AC, 81–82; JP-III, 550; EUD, 335; E/O, vol. II, 171–173
66. Doctrine and Theology: JP-I, 168; JP-I, 190–191; JP-I, 463; JP-III, 360; JP III, 656; JP-I, 44; JP-III, 723–4; SK, 22; JP-III, 635; JP-IV, 21; JP-IV, 462; J, 9; JP-III, 639
67. Doubt and Skepticism: JP-I, 201; JP-I 359; JP-III, 346–347; JP-II, 368; JP-I, 359; JP-I, 99; JP-II, 536; JP-III, 533; JP-VI, 243–244; S/J, 70; CUP, 23–24; JP I, 133–134; JP-II, 13–14; M, 113–114
68. The Eternal: JP-I, 131; JP-I, 447; JP-I, 448; JP-IV, 477; AC, 100; FT, 49; SD, 225, P, 37–38; JP-I, 415; JP-IV, 476–477; PH, 139; CUP, 173–177; CD, 212; AC, 248–249
69. Existence and the Existential: JP-I, 450; J, 57; JP-I, 452–453; JP-I, 460; JP-I, 467; JP-II, 420–422; JP-II, 537–538; JP-IV, 39; JP-IV, 275; J, 15–16; J, 219; JP II, 164–166; WL, 88; CUP, 370; CUP, 380; CUP, 393; CUP, 454; CUP, 162– 163; CUP, 348; CUP, 560; JP-IV, 347; JP-IV, 287–288; PA, 10; CUP, 281–282; CUP, 394; TD, 28
70. Faith and Reason: JP-III, 719–720; JP-III, 717; PC, 95–96; JP-IV, 513–514; JP-III, 663–664; JP-I, 366; FT, 20; JP-II, 25; JP-II, 335–336; JP-II, 534; JP-III, 665–666; JP-II, 89; JP-II, 21–22; JP-II, 315; JP-III, 196; JP-III, 198–199; JP III, 591; J, 91; S/J, 18; UD, 218; EUD, 12; EUD, 19; PC, 141; JP-II, 408–409; JP-IV, 602; FT, 37; FT, 58–66; FT, 58–66; PC, 62–63
71. Following Jesus: JP-I, 123; JP-II, 317; JP-II, 322–323; JP-II, 350; JP-I, 162; JP I, 420; JP-II, 323–324; JP-II, 335; JP-II, 338; JP-II, 340; JP-II, 367; JP-II, 471; CUP, 465; JP-III, 404; JP-VI, 558–559; JP-VI, 560; UD, 225–229; PC, 249; PC, 233; UD, 217; UD, 222; JP-IV, 570–571
Sources
72. Forgiveness: M, 65–66; JP-I, 24–25; JP-II, 45–46; JP-II, 45; JP-II, 46; JP-II, 46; JP-II, 49; JP-II, 50–52; JP-II, 52, JP-II, 53; JP-II, 126–127; WL, 273–278; JP-III, 63–64; JP-III, 70; UD, 246; UD, 247; EUD, 433; CD, 385; CD, 385– 386; JP-II, 88; JP-II, 512; M, 130; CD, 297; J, 217;
73. Freedom: JP-II, 61–62; JP-II, 68; JP-II, 69; JP-II, 68–69; JP-II, 74; JP-II, 70– 72; J, 454; J, 474; CA, 108; CA, 203; AC, 290; S/J 67; UD, 327; M, 164; JP-II, 58; CD, 187
74. God: JP-II, 113; JP-II, 114–116; JP-II, 118; JP-II, 138–139; JP-II, 117–118; JP-II, 155–156; JP-II, 304; JP-IV, 36; EUD, 393; S, 13–14; JP-II, 123; JP-II, 145; JP-II, 153; JP-IV, 293; SK, 11; CA, 160; EUD, 299; M, 147–148; M, 148; M, 147–148; CD, 197; SK, 49; JP-II, 101–102; JP-IV, 297–299
75. God's Love: JP-II, 132–133; J, 238; J, 394; J, 529; J, 535; CD, 132; CD, 379; CD, 288; J, 374–375; SK, 39–40; SK, 55; M, 61–62; J, 72; JP-VI, 40
76. Grace: JP-II, 175–176; JP-II, 176–177; JP-II, 134–137; JP-II, 334; JP-II, 359– 350; JP-IV, 114; J, 482; M, 155–156; SK, 46; JP-II, 166
77. The Human Condition: FT, 41; PA, 6; JP-I, 393; JP-II, 110–111; JP-IV, 312– 314; JP-IV, 334–335; JP-IV, 383–384; WL, 39; CA, 152; EUD, 18; JP-I, 437– 438; J, 250; SLW, 217; J, 220; S, 14–15; JP-III, 716
78. The Individual: JP-I, 100; JP-II, 401–402; JP-II, 282; JP-II, 425; JP-II, 437; AC, 162–163; JP-III, 487–488; JP-III, 488–489; JP-III, 631; J, 370; CUP, 123 & 129–130; PH, 211; JP-IV, 248; JP-II, 280; JP-III, 361; WL 86–88; JP-I, 260– 293
79. Inwardness and Subjectivity: JP-IV, 359–360; JP-I, 157–158; JP-IV, 346; JP IV, 354; CUP, 52–53 & 57; CUP, 73; CUP, 91–92 J, 17; CUP, 46–47; CUP, 54; JP-IV, 36; JP-III, 50; JP-III, 517;
80. Love: JP-I, 128; JP-I, 394; JP-I, 394–395; JP-II, 316–317; JP-III, 40–41; JP-III, 47; JP-I, 413; WL, 47; WL, 105–106; JP-III, 46; WL, 175; WL, 273–278; WL, 175–177; WL, 110–111; WL, 248–249; WL, 172–173; WL, 252; JP-VI, 313; CUP, vol. I, 396; JP-III, 267; JP-IV, 395; S, 12; M, 52; UD, 55–57
81. Obedience: JP-II, 74–75; JP-I, 315; JP-III, 267–268; JP-III, 277; JP-III, 283; JP-III, 273–274; EUD, 369; JP-III, 680; M, 163
82. Passion: JP-I, 340; JP-IV, 282; JP-IV, 251–252; JP-VI, 549–550; J, 342; AC, 185–186; PA, 8–11; PA, 60; CUP, 35–36;JP-III, 699–700; CUP, 311–312; CUP, 350–351; PC, 190; FT, 145–146; JP-I, 380–381; JP-II, 18; CUP, 322; S, 19; CUP, 230
83. Politics and the State: JP-IV, 194–195; JP-III, 200; JP-III, 200; JP-III, 200; JP-IV, 200; JP-IV, 189; JP-IV, 203; AC, 139–140; JP-IV, 203; JP-IV, 479
84. Prayer: J, 154; PH, 51; JP-II, 403–405; EUD, 383; JP-III, 547; EUD, 43; CUP, 446; JP-IV, 274; J, 124; SK, 37–38; J, 250; EUD, 394; CD, 323; EUD, 427; EUD, 442; EUD, 79; M, 150
85. Preaching and Proclamation: JP-I, 275–276; JP-I, 285–287; JP-II, 371–372; JP-III, 601; JP-III, 602; JP-III, 607; JP-III, 606; JP-III, 607; JP-III, 617; JP III, 620–622; S/J, 10–11; PC, 107; JP-I, 204–205; PC, 234–235; JP-VI, 189; JP I, 309; JP-III, 221–222; JP-III, 586; JP-III, 601; JP-III, 619–620; JP-IV, 177; AC, 172–173; AC, 181; JP-III, 452–453; AC, 139–141; AC, 268–270; JP-III, 453; JP-I, 154
86. Purity: TD, 31; JP-IV, 288; PH, 176–177; JP-IV, 288–289; PH, 184; PH, 201– 202; PH, 203; PH, 31–32; WL, 294; PH, 60; JP-III 346; JP-I, 215
87. Repentance: JP-III, 761; JP-III, 761; JP-IV, 258; JP-IV, 116; JP-III, 199; JP-II, 455; JP-III, 550; JP-IV, 194; M, 138–139; M, 151; PH, 152; WL, 155; PH, 50–51; CD, 201; PC, 110; TD, 18; SK, 50; JP-VI, 452; JP-III, 549–550; M, 134; M, 139
88. Sacrifice and Self-Denial: JP-I, 154; JP-IV, 4; UD, 223; UD, 224; JP-I, 219; JP-VI, 457–458; JP-IV, 157; JP-I, 331–332; M, 39; JP-II, 119–120; JP-II, 281; JP-III, 59–60; UD, 218
89. Silence and Solitude: JP-II, 408; PH, 108; JP-IV, 225; J, 538; S/J, 47–48; S/J, 49–50; PA, 49; M, 59; CD, 323; PH, 62; PH, 218; PA, 82; PA, 82–85
90. Sin: JP-IV, 101; JP-I, 129–130; JP-I, 130; JP-IV, 101; PC, 68; JP-I, 179; JP-IV, 106; JP-IV, 106; JP-IV, 108; JP-IV, 118; JP-IV, 350; CA, 15; CA, 119; S/J, 66; M, 159–160; JP-I, 405; JP-IV, 119; JP-IV, 238; JP-IV, 238–239; CUP, 420; M, 49; JP-III, 111; JP-III, 684; J, 37; SD, 82
91. Spiritual Trial: JP-II, 125–126; M, 60–61; JP-II, 454; JP-II, 455; JP-IV, 110; CA, 174; JP-IV, 257; JP-IV, 315; JP-IV, 34; CA, 174–175; CD, 293; EUD, 31; M, 37–38
92. Suffering: JP-II, 41; JP-II, 41–42; JP-III, 212; JP-IV, 376; JP-IV, 388; JP-IV, 394; JP-IV, 426–427; JP-IV, 427–428; JP-IV, 465; JP-IV, 460; JP-IV, 378; JP-IV, 417; M, 47; JP-IV, 550; JP-VI, 436; J, 473; UD, 252; PC, 108; JP-II, 493; SK, 34
93. Tribulation and Persecution: JP-I, 194–195; JP-I, 198–199; JP-II, 306–310; JP-II, 328; JP-II, 444–446; JP-IV, 373–374; JP-II, 498; JP-IV, 375; SK, 23; WL, 93; WL, 188; WL, 187 & 191; JP-I, 249; JP-IV, 591–592;
94. Truth: JP-III, 609; JP-IV, 364–365; JP-IV, 496; JP-IV, 502–503; JP-IV, 503; JP-IV, 503; J, 274; CUP, 106; CUP, 252–253; JP-I, 73; J, 542–543
95. Venturing and Risk: JP-III, 535–536; JP-III, 538–540; JP-III, 542; JP-IV, 535; JP-IV, 543–544; J, 381; EUD, 382; M, 123–124; CUP, 149; AC, 180; AC, 191; M, 124
Sources
96. Witness: JP-I, 163; JP-I, 250–251; JP-II, 498; JP-II, 602; JP-II, 494; JP-II, 703; JP-IV, 558–559; JP-IV, 561; AC, 7; AC, 97; JP-III, 389–390; E/O, vol. I, 30; WL, 191; JP-III, 150; JP-I, 474–475; JP-I, 190; JP-III, 97–99; JP-III, 158– 159; JP-III, 159–160; M, 30; JP-I, 208
97. Works: JP-I, 428–429; JP-II, 19; JP-II, 10; JP-IV, 335; S/J, 16–17; CUP, 135; JP-IV, 253; EUD, 282; JP-III, 548
98. Worship: JP-I, 9; JP-II, 127; JP-II, 152–253; JP-II, 190–191; JP-III, 51–52; JP IV, 525; JP-IV, 526; JP-IV, 602–603; JP-VI, 6; J, 358–359; CD, 137; JP-III, 390–392; JP-III, 583; M, 55; CD, 276–281; CD< 276–281; AC, 219; TD, 30
Kierkegaard's Writings: An Annotated Bibliography
Christian Discourses: The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1992. A collection of discourses on anxiety, suffering, and temptation.
The Concept of Anxiety, trans. Reidar Thomte in collaboration with Albert B. Anderson. Princeton University Press, 1980. A tough-going book that deals psychologically with the human condition and sin in terms of anxiety.
Concluding Unscientific Postscript, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1989. An attack on Hegel with an indepth treatment on the themes of subjectivity, truth, paradox, faith, and how Christianity differs from the religious sphere in general. Difficult and more philosophical.
Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1990. Kierkegaard's early religious discourses on love, God's goodness, the expectancy of faith, and related themes.
Either/Or, abridged & trans. By Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin Books, 1992. A comparison between the aesthetic and ethical life with the recogni tion that neither are satisfactory. Literary in nature and an example of Kierkegaard's indirect method.
Fear and Trembling. Trans. Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin Books, 1985. A reflection on Abraham as an example of faith and how the religious sphere of existence transcends the ethical. Shorter and very readable.
For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1990. A collection of discourses that contain some of Kierkegaard's best-known parables and stories.
Søren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. 7 volumes. Princeton University Press, 1967–1978. Topically and alphabetically arranged, this is the most complete collection in English of Kierkegaard's journal writings. Very readable.
Annotated Bibliography
Kierkegaard's Attack Upon "Christendom" 1854-1855, trans., with introduction, Walter Lowrie. Princeton University Press, 1944. A collection of short essays in which Kierkegaard directly attacks the Danish Church and Christendom in general. Spirited and impassioned.
Papers and Journals: A Selection (Penguin Classics), trans. Alastair Hannay. Reprint edition. London: Penguin Books, 1996. A shorter but very readable selection of Kierkegaard's journal writings. Highly recommended.
Philosophical Fragments and Johannes Climacus, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1985. An argument against the idea of "innate truth" and the Christian solution of the incarnation – the eternal entering time. Difficult but extremely significant.
The Point of View of My Work as an Author: A Report to History and Related Writings, trans. Walter Lowrie, newly edited with a preface by Benjamin Nelson: Harper & Row, 1962. Outlines the meaning of Kierkegaard's method as an author and the relationship between his various works.
Practice in Christianity, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1991. A more direct attack against established Christianity with special emphases on faith, in contrast to reason, and on following Christ, not just admiring him.
Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing, trans. & intro. Douglas V. Steere. Harper Torchbooks. The Cloister Library. New York: Harper & Row, 1956. A marvelous meditation on purity of heart with special attention given to excuses and evasions.
The Sickness Unto Death, trans. & intro. by Alastair Hannay. London: Penguin Books, 1989. A profound exploration of the human condition and of sin in terms of despair. Not an easy read, but extremely illuminating.
Stages on Life's Way: Studies by Various Persons, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1989. Similar to Either/Or, but with a full length discussion on religious sphere of existence. An example of Kierkegaard's indirect method.
Two Ages: The Age of Revolution and the Present Age: A Literary Review, trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1978. A prophetic discussion on the herd mentality of the modern era.
Upbuilding Discourse in Various Spirits, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton University Press, 1993. One of the best places to start in trying to understand the heart of Kierkegaard. Includes themes such as purity of heart, the lilies of the field, and the school of suffering.
Works of Love: Some Christian Reflections in the Form of Discourses, trans. Howard and Edna Hong, preface R. Gregor Smith. Harper Torchbooks, The Cloister Library. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. Addresses the nature of Christian love. Very readable.