Kierkegaard's Writings, XX, Volume 20

Practice in Christianity

Søren Kierkegaard, Howard V. Hong,Edna H. Hong

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781400847037
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy of Religion

Of the many works he wrote during 1848, his "richest and most fruitful year, " Kierkegaard specified Practice in Christianity as "the most perfect and truest thing." In his reflections on such topics as Christ's invitation to the burdened, the imitatio Christi, the possibility of offense, and the exalted Christ, he takes as his theme the requirement of Christian ideality in the context of divine grace. Addressing clergy and laity alike, Kierkegaard asserts the need for institutional and personal admission of the accommodation of Christianity to the culture and to the individual misuse of grace. As a corrective defense, the book is an attempt to find, ideally, a basis for the established order, which would involve the order's ability to acknowledge the Christian requirement, confess its own distance from it, and resort to grace for support in its continued existence. At the same time the book can be read as the beginning of Kierkegaard's attack on Christendom. Because of the high ideality of the contents and in order to prevent the misunderstanding that he himself represented that ideality, Kierkegaard writes under a new pseudonym, Anti-Climacus.

EDITORIAL APPENDIX

Acknowledgments

Collation of Practice in Christianity in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard’s Collected Works

Notes

Bibliographical Note

Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Preparation of manuscripts for Kierkegaard’s Writings is supported by a genuinely enabling grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant includes gifts from the Dronning Margrethes og Prins Henriks Fond, the Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs, the Augustinus Fond, the Carlsberg Fond, and the Lutheran Brotherhood Foundation.

The translators-editors are indebted to Grethe Kjær and Julia Watkin for their knowledgeable observations on crucial concepts and terminology.

Per Lønning, Wim Scholtens, and Sophia Scopetéa, members of the International Advisory Board for Kierkegaard’s Writings, gave valuable detailed criticism of the translation. Jack Schwandt, Theodore N. Hong, and Julia Watkin helpfully read the manuscript. Kathryn Hong, associate editor for KW, scrutinized the manuscript. Regine Prenzel-Guthrie, associate editor for KW, scrutinized the manuscript and prepared the index.

Acknowledgment is made to Gyldendals Forlag for permission to absorb notes to Søren Kierkegaards samlede Værker.

Inclusion in the Supplement of entries from Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers is by arrangement with Indiana University Press.

The book collection and the microfilm collection of the Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College, and Gregor Malantschuk’s annotated set of Kierkegaards samlede Værker have been used in preparation of the text, notes, Supplement, and Editorial Appendix.

The manuscript was typed by Dorothy Bolton, Kennedy Lemke, and Cynthia Lund. Francesca Lane Rasmus did the processing of the final manuscript and prepared the composition tape. The volume was guided through the press by Cathie Brettschneider.

COLLATION OF PRACTICE IN CHRISTIANITY IN THE DANISH EDITIONS OF
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