Published in the midst of the politically tumultuous and revolutionary year 1848, Kierkegaard’s Christian Discourses occupies a unique and inspirational position in European literature. With its simplicity and reflective inwardness, the four sections of discourses both invoke Kierkegaard’s collision with the established order of Christendom, but at the same time serve as reassuring affirmations of the blessedness of Christian life – in the midst of a world that seemed to be governed by suffering, uproar, and fundamental change.

Marx had published his Communist Manifesto on February 29 1848, Denmark had just gotten its first Prime Minister on March 22 and would get its first Constitution a year later. Kierkegaard’s Christian Discourses was published on April 25 1848. This was amid the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history, also known as The Springtime of Nations, and a mere month after the fall of the absolute monarchy in Denmark (March 21st). But Kierkegaard recognized only one danger: the religious danger. On March 27, 1848, he wrote in his journal: “So here I sit. Outside everything is in movement, nationalism surges high in all, everyone talks of sacrificing life and blood, is perhaps ready to do it, but supported by the omnipotence of public opinion. And here I sit in a quiet room (I will doubtlessly soon be in ill repute for indifference to the national cause); I recognize only one danger: the religious danger.” (NB 4:118).

The Christian Discourses consists of twenty-eight discourses that are divided into four equal sections of seven discourses each, on Biblical texts. The work is arranged in contrasting styles. Whereas Parts One, The Cares of the Pagans, and Three, Thoughts That Wound from Behind--for Upbuilding, are polemical and can be read as invoking Kierkegaard’s collision with the established order of Christendom, Parts Two, Joyful Notes in the Strife of Suffering, and Four, Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, are reassuring for the single individual, affirming the joy and blessedness of a Christian life.

The work is written in a simple style, accessible for everyone, and it presents key Christian themes and concepts in a clear and simple way, thus serving as one of the best introductions to the Christendom of Kierkegaard. It is furthermore here that he introduces his Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, a completely novel genre that came to play a significant role in Kierkegaard’s later writings.

The work was published in four parts, with separate title-pages and with half-titles stating First to Fourth section. The work is almost always found in one volume, as it also appeared, but the four parts also appeared separately.

Himmelstrup 110.