ABSTRACT
During the last year of his life, Kierkegaard launched a fierce attack on the Danish State Church and the ecclesiastical figures representing it. He accuses bishops and pastors of corruption and hypocrisy and of distorting the Christian message. The need to expose the true situation of the State Church leads Kierkegaard to resort to incendiary language. He intends to undermine the authority of the church and force the reader to question obedience to the clergy, so that the reader may be able to recognize and appropriate the true Christianity of the New Testament. The question is whether his radical criticism is an incidental aberration or the logical conclusion and culmination of his thought. The interpretations of Kierkegaard’s attack on the church vary widely. Although there are undeniable connections between his earlier and later writings, Kierkegaard’s criticism of the church cannot be considered a mere restatement of positions previously defended. The issues addressed in the earlier and later writings reveal a multiplicity of evolving viewpoints.
KEYWORDS
Christianity; Protestantism; Church; Pastors; Anticlericalism