av福利社

For over a century, the Danish thinker S酶ren Kierkegaard (1813鈥�55) has been at the center of a number of important discussions, concerning not only philosophy and theology, but also, more recently, fields such as social thought, psychology, and contemporary aesthetics, especially literary theory.

Despite his relatively short life, Kierkegaard was an extraordinarily prolific writer, as attested to by the 26-volume av福利社 edition of all of his published writings. But Kierkegaard left behind nearly as much unpublished writing, most of which consists of what are called his 鈥渏ournals and notebooks.鈥� Kierkegaard has long been recognized as one of history’s great journal keepers, but only rather small portions of his journals and notebooks are what we usually understand by the term 鈥渄iaries.鈥� By far the greater part of Kierkegaard鈥檚 journals and notebooks consists of reflections on a myriad of subjects鈥攑hilosophical, religious, political, personal. Studying his journals and notebooks takes us into his workshop, where we can see his entire universe of thought. We can witness the genesis of his published works, to be sure鈥攂ut we can also see whole galaxies of concepts, new insights, and fragments, large and small, of partially (or almost entirely) completed but unpublished works. Kierkegaard鈥檚 Journals and Notebooks enables us to see the thinker in dialogue with his times and with himself.

Kierkegaard wrote his journals in a two-column format, one for his initial entries and the second for the extensive marginal comments that he added later. This edition of the journals reproduces this format, includes several photographs of original manuscript pages, and contains extensive scholarly commentary on the various entries and on the history of the manuscripts being reproduced.

Volume 8 of this 11-volume series includes five of Kierkegaard鈥檚 important 鈥淣B鈥� journals (Journals NB21 through NB25), which cover the period from September 1850 to June 1852, and which show Kierkegaard alternately in polemical and reflective postures.

The polemics emerge principally in Kierkegaard鈥檚 opposition to the increasing infiltration of Christianity by worldly concerns, a development that in his view had accelerated significantly in the aftermath of the political and social changes wrought by the Revolution of 1848. Kierkegaard understood the corrupting of Christianity to be in the interest of the powers that be, and he directed his criticism at politicians, the press, and especially the Danish Church itself, particularly church officials who claimed to be 鈥渞eformers.鈥�

On the reflective side, Kierkegaard delves into a number of authors and religious figures, some of them for the first time, including Montaigne, Pascal, Seneca, Savonarola, Wesley, and F. W. Newman. These journals also contain Kierkegaard鈥檚 thoughts on the decisions surrounding the publication of the 鈥淎nti-Climacus鈥� writings: The Sickness unto Death and especially Practice in Christianity.

Kierkegaard鈥檚 reader gets the sense both of a gathering storm鈥攂y the close of the last journal in this volume, the famous 鈥渁ttack on Christendom鈥� is less than three years away鈥攁nd a certain hesitancy: What needs reforming, Kierkegaard insists, is not 鈥渢he doctrine鈥� or 鈥渢he Church,鈥� but 鈥渆xistences,鈥� i.e., lives.