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Hans Lassen Martensen’s “The Present Religious Crisis”

  • Jon Stewart
Published/Copyright: December 22, 2017
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Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
From the journal Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Volume 2017 Issue 1

Abstract

This article provides an English translation of Hans Lassen Martensen’s “The Present Religious Crisis” from 1842. In this work Martensen outlines two important trends that were much discussed at the time. The first part of his article is dedicated to the Anabaptist movement in Denmark, which was in open conflict with the Danish State Church about the question of infant baptism. In the second part, Martensen treats the work of the left Hegelian David Friedrich Strauss and his followers, who regarded the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus as, by and large, myths. Although polar opposites, these two movements are, for Martensen, symptoms of the religious confusion of the day. Martensen attempts to defend the Danish State Church in the face of these criticisms. Kierkegaard seems to refer to Martensen’s article in his “Public Confession,” where he refers to the rise of sects in Denmark and makes explicit reference to both the Anabaptists and the Straussians. Like Martensen, he is at pains to distance himself from Strauss and his followers. Martensen’s article also represents a landmark in the history of the Danish Hegel reception since it signals the alarm about the new Straussian trend.

Published Online: 2017-12-22
Published in Print: 2017-12-20

© 2017 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelei
  2. Preface
  3. Contents
  4. Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard: Problems and Perspectives
  5. Unfinished Business: The Time and Space of Irony
  6. Textual Immediacy and Sexual Intimacy: Kierkegaard’s Diary of a Failure
  7. The Politics of Selfhood with Constant Reference to Kierkegaard
  8. Der Mensch als Selbst. Zum Begriff des präreflexiven Selbstbewusstseins in Kierkegaards Krankheit zum Tode (1849)
  9. Prayer as God-knowledge (via Self)
  10. Le phénomène de la souffrance comme élément constitutif de la théophilosophie affirmative de Kierkegaard
  11. Re-reading the Religious – Aesthetically: A Literary Analysis of “The Woman Who Was a Sinner” and The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air
  12. De te fabula narratur. A Re-active Interplay with Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  13. Section 2: Sourcework Studies
  14. “Everything Has Its Time.” Kierkegaard’s Reading of Ecclesiastes
  15. Schelling in the Kierkegaardian Project: Between Kantian Critique and the Second Ethics
  16. On Kierkegaard’s Reaction to H.N. Clausen
  17. “Philosophy and Christianity can never be united”: The Role of Sibbern and Martensen in Kierkegaard’s Reception of Schleiermacher
  18. On the Origins of Kierkegaard’s Climacus Writings and Paradox Christology
  19. Section 3: Kierkegaard Reception
  20. Kierkegaard’s Reception in Lithuania
  21. The Voice of Conscience, Kierkegaard’s Theory of Indirect Communication, and Buber’s Philosophy of Dialogue
  22. A Promise Kept, a Self Repeated? Reading Gjentagelsen with Ricoeur
  23. «Être sans destin»: Imre Kertész, ou le concept d’existence constamment rapporté à Kierkegaard
  24. Section 4: Primary Texts in Translation
  25. Hans Lassen Martensen’s “The Present Religious Crisis”
  26. Section 5: Bibliography
  27. Kierkegaard Literature from 2005 to 2013. A Descriptive Bibliography
  28. Abbreviations
  29. List of Contributors
https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2017-0018

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titelei
  2. Preface
  3. Contents
  4. Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard: Problems and Perspectives
  5. Unfinished Business: The Time and Space of Irony
  6. Textual Immediacy and Sexual Intimacy: Kierkegaard’s Diary of a Failure
  7. The Politics of Selfhood with Constant Reference to Kierkegaard
  8. Der Mensch als Selbst. Zum Begriff des präreflexiven Selbstbewusstseins in Kierkegaards Krankheit zum Tode (1849)
  9. Prayer as God-knowledge (via Self)
  10. Le phénomène de la souffrance comme élément constitutif de la théophilosophie affirmative de Kierkegaard
  11. Re-reading the Religious – Aesthetically: A Literary Analysis of “The Woman Who Was a Sinner” and The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air
  12. De te fabula narratur. A Re-active Interplay with Kierkegaard’s Authorship
  13. Section 2: Sourcework Studies
  14. “Everything Has Its Time.” Kierkegaard’s Reading of Ecclesiastes
  15. Schelling in the Kierkegaardian Project: Between Kantian Critique and the Second Ethics
  16. On Kierkegaard’s Reaction to H.N. Clausen
  17. “Philosophy and Christianity can never be united”: The Role of Sibbern and Martensen in Kierkegaard’s Reception of Schleiermacher
  18. On the Origins of Kierkegaard’s Climacus Writings and Paradox Christology
  19. Section 3: Kierkegaard Reception
  20. Kierkegaard’s Reception in Lithuania
  21. The Voice of Conscience, Kierkegaard’s Theory of Indirect Communication, and Buber’s Philosophy of Dialogue
  22. A Promise Kept, a Self Repeated? Reading Gjentagelsen with Ricoeur
  23. «Être sans destin»: Imre Kertész, ou le concept d’existence constamment rapporté à Kierkegaard
  24. Section 4: Primary Texts in Translation
  25. Hans Lassen Martensen’s “The Present Religious Crisis”
  26. Section 5: Bibliography
  27. Kierkegaard Literature from 2005 to 2013. A Descriptive Bibliography
  28. Abbreviations
  29. List of Contributors
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