Kierkegaard in Golden Age Denmark

" ... the most important contribution to Kierkegaard studies to be published in English in recent years... Not only is it a fascinating, surprising, and perceptive study of Kierkegaard within his time and world, Kirmmse has produced a research resource, a reference work, that is simply without parallel or equal." Michael Plekon "It is a rare work of philosophy that not only clarifies its subject but also places it within an intellectual and historical context. In his study of 19th-century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard, Kirmmse accomplishes both, setting a standard ... " Library Journal " ... an outstanding contribution to Kierkegaard research ... The book is intellectual history of the highest calibre." Soren Kierkegaard Newsletter "This excellent book is recommended for all collections on Kierkegaard ... For all readers." Choice "This richly researched and readable book supplies an important contribution to the widespread reappropriation of Kierkegaard's thought currently taking place." Theology Today "This book is a tour de force in intellectual history." Review of Metaphysics "Kirmmse's book is a major work of scholarship that confers on Kierkegaard's social and intellectual universe a depth and a richness of detail that will permanently alter the familiar stereotypes about Kierkegaard's isolation from his fellow Danes and his supposedly fanatical campaign against philistine Denmark and its corrupt state church." American Historical Review

• Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart One: Kierkegaard's DenmarkSection I: Political, Economic, and Social Trends1. Historical Background and the Rise of the Peasantry to 18202. Religious Currents until 18203. The Peasant Awakenings of the 1820's and After4. The Rise of Liberalism in the 1830's5. The Peasant Movement to the Late 1840's6. The National Question in Southern Jutland7. 1848 and AfterSection II: Politics and Religion in "Golden Age" Culture8. The Social Orientation and Intellectual Origins of the Golden Age9. "The Rare Few": Adam Oehlenschlager and the First Generation of the Golden Age10. Piety and Good Taste: J.P. Mynster's Religion and Politics11. Johan Ludvig Heiberg12. H.L. Martensen13. N.F.S. Grundtvig and History's Flock: National Popular Culture in the Service of Religion14. H.N. Clausen and Orla Lehmann: The Liberal Alternative to the Golden Age Mainstream15. The Golden Age and Its AlternativesPart Two: Denmark's Kierkegaard16. Soren Kierkegaard: Life and Literary Career to February 184617. A Literary Review18. Edifying Discourses in Various Spirtis19. Works of Love20. The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress21. Two Minor Ethico-Religious Essays22. Christian Discourses23. The Sickness Unto Death24. Training in Christianity25. Autobiographical Pieces, "Two Notes" Concerning "the Individual," and the "Open Letter" to Dr. Rudelbach26. Two Series of Discources "Recommended to the Present Age"27. The Attack on ChristendomEpilogue: The Response to the Attack on ChristendomNotesSelect BibliographyIndexIllustrations follow page 247