Training in Christianity (Vintage Spiritual Classics)

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Jakob Mynster (1775-1854), who was Bishop Primate of the Church of Denmark, as well as a friend of Kierkegaard's father, Michael, called Practice in Christianity "a profane game with the holy". He and Kierkegaard never reconciled. It was an uneasy relationship that Kierkegaard had with the Bishop, since he was both very fond of him, possessing a familial affection for him, even while he knew that Mynster typified complacent and established "Official Christianity". I can't really review Kierkegaard because I'm entirely biased. If I had never read his "Either/Or" as a freshman in college this statement may not be true, but it is regardless: I believe almost everything Kierkegaard writes, even before I've read him. It's almost to the point where if you tell me what one of his works is on, I can tell you what I think on the subject and it will be almost exactly what Kierkegaard says. That first reading of him a few years ago forever changed the trajectory of my thought and faith, and now I am almost in-synch with him. Section 7 is entitled "The Object of Faith is the God-Man Precisely Because the God-Man is the Possibility of Offense".

Just as the concept "faith" is an altogether distinctively Christian term, so in turn is "offense" an altogether distinctively Christian term relating to faith. The possibility of offense is the crossroad, or it is like standing at the crossroad. From the possibility of offense, one turns either to offense or to faith, but one never comes to faith except from the possibility of offense.... Offense...relates to the God-man and has two forms. It is either in relation to the loftiness that one is offended, that an individual human being claims to be God, acts or speaks in a manner that manifests God...or the offense is in relation to lowliness, that the one who is God is this lowly human being, suffering as a lowly human being.... The God-man is the paradox, absolutely the paradox. Therefore, it is altogether certain that the understanding must come to a standstill on it (p. 81f.). Section B is entitled "The possibility of essential offense in relation to loftiness, that an individual human being speaks or acts as if he were God, declares himself to be God, therefore in relation to the qualification 'God' in the composition God-man". There are passages in the Gospels where Christ strongly implies either his deity or his absolute relation to the deity of God. There are other passages where Christ acts as if he is deity, for example when he allows a man to worship him, or when he claims to forgive the offense of one man against another. He claims to be the true shepherd, the true bread, living water, etc. The offense taken by the Jewish religious leaders is a standard motif in the Gospels. At the conclusion to part two, Kierkegaard adds a section entitled, "The Categories of Offense, That Is, of Essential Offense". There he provides seven factors which seek to analyze the necessity and nature of offense. These factors all center around indirect communication. The God-man cannot communicate directly; he remains incognito. For those who can understand what he does and who he is, he and his works are a sign. They are self-interpretative. Section 1 is entitled "The God-Man Is A Sign". This sign is primarily one of contradiction. D. Anthony Storm's Commentary on Kierkegaard Fifth Period: Direct Communication (1848-51) Practice In Christianity This was my first foray into Kierkegaard and I must say, despite the difficult passages, I found many fresh insights that challenged me theologically and practically. The book is a strong reaction against the "established church" and how it is devoid of the suffering/incarnational components of Christian life. Soren critiques out tendency to promote becoming an admirer of Christ as opposed to an imitator.Practice in Christianity was reprinted in 1855. On May 16, 1855 Kierkegaard published an article in The Fatherland entitled "With regard to the new edition of Practice in Christianity".

That a human being falls into the power of his enemies and does nothing, that is human. But that the one whose almighty hand had done signs and wonders, that he now stands there powerless and paralyzed—precisely this is what brings Peter to deny him (p. 104). The first Kierkegaard I've read and a good one to start on. After seeing several authors I love regularly cite his works and reading up on Christian existentialism, I figured I would enjoy his works. Kierkegaard described this book (also known as "Practice in Christianity") as his "most perfect and truest book." Another important contribution that Kierkegaard makes to psychology is his emphasis on passion and emotional commitment in the life of faith. For Kierkegaard, faith is not simply an intellectual matter, but involves a deep emotional commitment to God and to others. He holds that true faith implies a complete surrender of the individual, and that only through passion and surrender can we experience divine truth and grace. The above ideas have been enormously influential in Western culture. They not only dealt a severe blow to the rationalism prevalent in Christian theology in the 19th century — and, in fact, still prevalent nowadays in certain varieties of Christianity (e.g., evidential apologetics) — but were also important in the development of Christian Existentialism and Postmodern Christianity, as well as of Existentialism and Postmodernism in general.Kierkegaard’s influence on Karl Barth's early theology is evident in The Epistle to the Romans. The early Barth read at least three volumes of Kierkegaard’s works: Practice in Christianity, The Moment, and an Anthology from his journals and diaries. Almost all key terms from Kierkegaard which had an important role in The Epistle to the Romans can be found in Practice in Christianity. The concept of the indirect communication, the paradox, and the moment of Practice in Christianity, in particular, confirmed and sharpened Barth’s ideas on contemporary Christianity and the Christian life. The book discusses in detail notions like " leap of faith" (or, to be more precise, "leap to faith") and "indirect communication". In other words, Kierkegaard emphasizes the idea that belief in God cannot and should not be rational in the sense that it cannot possibly be proved conclusively that God exists or that Christianity is true. In fact, Kierkegaard discounts the idea that a systematic Christian theology is possible. In this sense Kierkegaard (to the extent we could claim that he shared the views of the book's pseudonymous author) shared the anti-rationalist stance of Kant, the influential 18th-century philosopher. Section 4 is entitled "In Christ the Secret of Sufferings is the Impossibility of Direct Communication". Kierkegaard emphasizes that the sufferings of Christ were primarily of inwardness. Lccn 91009575 Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-alpha-20201231-10-g1236 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9047 Ocr_module_version 0.0.12 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA18514 Openlibrary_edition

An idol is something static. It can be seen and believed directly. The ineffable incarnated God cannot be known directly. Therefore he must be approached in faith, which is a motion of the inward man. Treating the ineffable God directly is paganism.Although I gave this book only three stars, there was a lot that was great about this work. Most of Practice in Christianity is centered around the verse from John 12:32: And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself." Kierkegaard writes under the name Anti-Climacus although he names himself as the editor. In other words, Kierkgaard agrees 100% with Anti-Climacus, but does not want the reader to get the impression that he is an ideal Christian. Kierkegaard is also trying to learn from Anti-Climacus. The problem in Kierkegaard's Danish State Church (and certainly in our own churches) is that being Christian is like being Danish. It is a label and nothing more. Christianity is preached on Sunday and people attend church every Sunday, but people are more interested in admiring Christ rather than imitating him. Anti-Climacus argues that the problem is that people are no longer contemporaneous with Christ. Following Jesus means accepting the suffering and possibly martyrdom that comes along the way. A sign is not what it is in its immediacy, because in its immediacy no sign is, inasmuch as "sign" is a term based on reflection. A sign of contradiction is that which draws attention to itself and, once attention is directed to it, shows itself to contain a contradiction (p. 125).