Towards the end of Kierkegaard’s life, he made multiple
attacks on the Church of Denmark. He stated that these attacks were
premeditated rather than on the spot. Before he went through with these
attacks, Kierkegaard made sure of two things. First, he waited until both his
father and Bishop Mynster had passed (the two were close). Second, he
wanted to be sure that he was known as a
household name in the world of theology at the time. From there he was then
able to make his attacks through a newspaper called The Fatherland and his own series of pamphlets called The Moment. His first attack was on
Bishop Hans Lassen Martensen for making a speech in which he named the previous
Bishop Jacob Peter Mynster a “truth witness.” This angered Kierkegaard because
he opposed Mynster’s ideas of Christianity. His second attack was on the Church
as a whole. Kierkegaard argued that congregations in the Church distracted
Christians from focusing on each of their own relationship with God. He also
criticized the Church for seeking the utmost power rather than to bring people
to salvation. Because the Church was controlled by the state, Kierkegaard
thought that the state strived only to gain as many members as possible so the
Church would have more power. After these attacks, he eventually fell to his
death. Kierkegaard was walking along the street when he suddenly collapsed. He
died later after being in the hospital for a month. His cause of death is not
clear, but it has been speculated that he died due to a fall from a tree when
he was young.
Here is a clip giving some detail of the end of
Kierkegaard’s life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haZBcoCvhfs
Ironic ending, for a guy who said he always walked away from trouble. But as a peripatetic I'll bet he'd have wanted no better way to go.
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