Gerhard Schreiber

Among the many discussions Kierkegaard had with his Copenhagen contemporaries, his dispute with the Icelandic theologian Magnús Eiríksson over Kierkegaard’s theory of faith is particularly noteworthy. In the various drafts that Kierkegaard developed in response to Eiríksson’s critique, one finds insightful remarks not only on „the absurd“ and „the paradox“ as foundational concepts of Kierkegaard’s theory of faith, but also on the different perspectives of the various pseudonyms in this respect within the intricate tapestry of his writings. Notably, these drafts were omitted from the authoritative Danish edition of Kierkegaard’s works, Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter (SKS), and have remained largely untranslated into other languages. In this workshop report, Kierkegaard’s drafts are made accessible and presented in their entirety for the first time in German translation.

This volume is a revised and improved edition of the auction catalogue of Kierkegaard’s private library. The catalogue has long served as one of the most valuable tools in Kierkegaard studies and has been actively used by commentators, translators and researchers for tracing the various sources of Kierkegaard’s thought. With the catalogue in hand, one can determine with some degree of probability what books he read and what editions he used for his information about specific authors. The present volume represents the fourth printing of the catalogue, and it differs from its predecessors in many respects. The previous editions contained incomplete, erroneous and inconsistent bibliographical information about the works in the catalogue. The primary goal of the present edition was to obtain all of the books and check their title pages for the precise bibliographical information. The result is an accurate and reliable edition of the catalogue that conforms to the needs of Kierkegaard studies in the digital age.

Who are the real targets of Kierkegaard’s critique of characterizing faith as “the immediate”? A decisive factor in answering this question is the interpretation and dating of the note Pap. I A 273 / Papir 92, in which Kierkegaard equates that which Friedrich Schleiermacher calls ‘religion’ and “the Hegelian dogmaticians” call ‘faith’ with “the first immediate.” In order to make a fair attempt to interpret Kierkegaard’s critique and the crucial expression “the first immediate,” I will sketch out its factual context in Section I of this article. In Section II, I will question to what extent this critique of Friedrich Schleiermacher is justified. Sections III-V will look at the problem of identifying the “Hegelian dogmaticians.” Here I hope to show that it is not Philipp Konrad Marheineke nor Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel but rather Kierkegaard’s contemporaries in Copenhagen, Hans Lassen Martensen and Johan Ludvig Heiberg , who should be considered the particular targets of Kierkegaard’s critique