Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits

by Kierkegaard, Soren; Hong, Howard Vincent; Hong, Edna Hatlestad

• ISBN13: 9780691032740
• ISBN10: 0691032742
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-07-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

In his praise for Part I of Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, the eminent Kierkegaard scholar Eduard Geismar said, "I am of the opinion that nothing of what he has written is to such a degree before the face of God. Anyone who really wants to understand Kierkegaard does well to begin with it." These discourses, composed after Kierkegaard had initially intended to end his public writing career, constitute the first work of his "second authorship."
Characterized by Kierkegaard as ethical-ironic, Part One, on the theme of "Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing," offers a penetrating discussion of double-mindedness and ethical integrity; the irony lies in the relation between factuality and ideality. Part Two, "What We Learn from the Lilies in the Field and from the Birds of the Air," is humorous for Kierkegaard in that it exposes an inverted qualitative difference between the learner and the teacher. In Part Three, "The Gospel of Sufferings, Christian Discourses," the philosopher explores the theme of joy, as in "The Joy of It That the School of Sufferings Educates for Eternity."

Table of Contents

Historical Introduction
Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits
An Occasional Discourse	p. 3
Preface	p. 5
On the Occasion of a Confession Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing	p. 7
What We Learn from the Lilies in the Field and from the Birds of the Air	p. 155
Preface	p. 157
[To Be Contented with Being a Human Being]	p. 159
[How Glorious It Is to Be a Human Being]	p. 183
[What Blessed Happiness Is Promised in Being a Human Being]	p. 201
The Gospel of Sufferings Christian Discourses	p. 213
Preface	p. 215
[What Meaning and What Joy There Are in the Thought of Following Christ]	p. 217
[But How Can the Burden Be Light If the Suffering Is Heavy?]	p. 230
[The Joy of It That the School of Sufferings Educates for Eternity]	p. 248
[The Joy of It That in Relation to God a Person Always Suffers as Guilty]	p. 264
[The Joy of It That It Is Not the Road That Is Hard but That Hardship Is the Road]	p. 289
[The Joy of It That the Happiness of Eternity Still Outweighs Even the Heaviest Temporal Suffering]	p. 306
[The Joy of It That Bold Confidence Is Able in Suffering to Take Power from the World and Has the Power to Change Scorn into Honor, Downfall into Victory]	p. 321
Supplement	p. 343
Key to References	p. 344
Original Common Title Page and Part Title Pages	p. 346
Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers
Pertaining to Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits	p. 354
Editorial Appendix	p. 397
Acknowledgments	p. 399
Collation of Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard's Collected Works	p. 401
Notes	p. 405
Bibliographical Note	p. 423
Index	p. 425
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