Taylor Lynch final blog post

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