Søren Kierkegaard never shared the cultured public's enthusiasm for Hans Lassen Martensen, whom it identified as its chosen one. This volume examines the Kierkegaard-Martensen relationship, establishing ways in which the speculative theologian Martensen was a source for Kierkegaard's thought. Kierkegaard's relationship with Martensen was multidimensional and volatile. He functioned as Kierkegaard's personal acquaintance and occasional conversation partner, tutor, teacher, dissertation committee evaluator, representative of Golden Age Danish culture, book writing and selling competitor, fellow Lutheran and bishop. While the two never saw things eye-to-eye, and Kierkegaard's dislike for Martensen received expression in his writings, this spiteful ridicule and derision was directed toward one upon whom Kierkegaard was significantly dependent. Kierkegaard's intellectual life and work underwent extensive development during the two decades of his literary output from 1834 to his death in 1855. These developments can be better grasped by investigating developments that Martensen himself was going through. Martensen's career progressed from an early concern with philosophy of religion addressed to the public of the academy, to dogmatic theology addressed to the public of the church, to practical theology addressed to the public of society. The questions and issues preoccupying Martensen changed with these progressions, and these changes did not go unnoticed by Kierkegaard. The case is here argued that Kierkegaard followed Martensen's intellectual development very closely and that Martensen's shifting theological agenda in fact notably shaped the evolving agenda of Kierkegaard's own developing religious thought.

Although he has long been known primarily as the object of Søren Kierkegaard's disdain, Hans Lassen Martensen (1808-84) was a celebrated figure in his own time. Recognised as a brilliant scholar and highly successful churchman, Martensen worked in a number of different areas of theology and philosophy, producing an impressive literary corpus over a period of several decades. His authorship is remarkably varied, including philosophical treatises, theological tracts, sermons, eulogies, book and theatre reviews, as well as polemical and occasional pieces. During his lifetime, he saw his works translated into German, Swedish, English, French, Hungarian and Dutch. These works were widely read and frequently reprinted in numerous editions throughout the second half of the century. It is unfortunate that to international research he was known for many years only as a central figure in Kierkegaard's attack on the Danish State Church. In the past few decades there has, however, been a renewed appreciation for Martensen as an important thinker in his own right. The present anthology attempts to bring together the works of the leading Danish and international scholars responsible for this recent surge of interest. In order to capture the different aspects of Martensen's thought, the volume has been organised into three main rubrics: I. Theology, II. Philosophy, and III. Politics and Social Theory. Collectively, the articles featured here treat Martensen's main works from his dissertation, On the Autonomy of Human Self-Consciousness in 1837 to his monumental, three-volume Christian Ethics from the 1870s. The authors demonstrate that the problems critically addressed by Martensen in the Danish Golden Age are still very much with us today in the twenty-first century.

This broad, interdisciplinary work explores the little recognised contributions of women to the cultural life of the Danish Golden Age. Featuring chapters on the novelist Thomasine Gyllembourg, the actress Johanne Louise Heiberg and the feminist writer Mathilde Fibiger, this text spans three generations of women from the early to the late Golden Age and indeed beyond. Further it treats the notions about what was considered the proper role of women in Danish society at the time, including the views of male authors such as Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Lassen Martensen. This work provides a fascinating panorama of personalities, literary texts, theatre performances, art works and social-political debates, which collectively give the reader a rich appreciation of the importance of women for the age.

The Danish Golden Age spanned a period of time that saw a number of different kinds of crisis: political, economic and cultural. Events such as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the national bankruptcy in 1813, the Revolution of 1848 and the first Schleswig War radically transformed Danish society. The many changes that took place at this time made it a dynamic period in which artists, poets, philosophers, and religious thinkers were constantly enjoined to reassess the current situation. Some of Denmark's greatest luminaries, such Johan Ludvig Heiberg, Hans Lassen Martensen and Søren Kierkegaard, articulated the nature of the crisis and proposed different solutions to it. The present work traces the different aspects and dimensions of this crisis by means of a series of case studies. It shows how the perception of the crisis was a kind of spirit that haunted many of the intellectuals and artists of the period. But far from being something negative or destructive, it was a motivating and stimulating force that helped to make the Golden Age what is was. It made artists and thinkers more willing to break with the past and seek new solutions and approaches. Thus it is argued that the crisis can be seen as one of the central defining elements of what we know as Danish Golden Age culture. But the present work is not a purely historical study since it is shown that many of the key elements of the crisis can still be found in our modern world today. Heiberg's diagnosis of the period as suffering from relativism, subjectivism and nihilism sounds strikingly familiar to the modern reader. When seen in this manner, the Danish Golden Age becomes profoundly interesting and relevant for the broad spectrum of problems of modernity.

This book is the first anthology of writings to be devoted to Icelandic theologian and religious writer Magnús Eiríksson (180681). A contemporary of Kierkegaard, Eiríksson made a name (and enemies) for himself by being an outspoken advocate of tolerance and freedom of thought and conscience in matters of religion. This book aims to resurrect Eiríkssons thought for a new era, with contributions covering the key topics of his writings and offering insight into his historical and cultural background. By explaining Eiríkssons frequent disagreements with his contemporaries -- including Kierkegaard -- the contributors shed light on the period as a whole and offer a new perspective on religious thought in the Danish Golden Age.

This is the third volume of a three-volume work dedicated to exploring the influence of G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophical thinking in Golden Age Denmark. The work demonstrates that the largely overlooked tradition of Danish Hegelianism played a profound and indeed constitutive role in many spheres of the Golden Age culture.This third tome covers the most exciting and dynamic time in the Danish Hegel reception from 1842 to 1855. This heterogeneous period saw the emergence of several new figures, many of whom were associated with the left-Hegelian school. This period is best known for the publication of the pseudonymous works of Søren Kierkegaard. The present tome places these famous works in the context of other contemporary Danish discussions about Hegel’s philosophy. It shows that many of Kierkegaard’s criticisms had been raised by other Danish thinkers before him and that a large part of his polemical campaign was aimed at the leading figures of the previous periods of the Danish Hegel reception, namely, Johan Ludvig Heiberg and Hans Martensen.

Poul Martin Møller (1794–1838) was a well-known figure in Golden Age Denmark, and his versatile intelligence was acknowledged by his contemporaries. Møller was a philologist, novelist, poet, theologian and philosopher, and his work included poems, translations, philosophical essays, aphorisms, reviews, and the fragment of a novel. His sudden death in 1838 interrupted what could have been a brilliant intellectual career. This anthology offers a series of articles written by leading scholars specialized in the Danish Golden Age; the aim is to shed light on different aspects of Møller’s thought and to show how his ideas may still be relevant to us.

Søren Kierkegaard never shared the cultured public's enthusiasm for Hans Lassen Martensen, whom it identified as its chosen one. This volume examines the Kierkegaard-Martensen relationship, establishing ways in which the speculative theologian Martensen was a source for Kierkegaard's thought. Kierkegaard's relationship with Martensen was multidimensional and volatile. He functioned as Kierkegaard's personal acquaintance and occasional conversation partner, tutor, teacher, dissertation committee evaluator, representative of Golden Age Danish culture, book writing and selling competitor, fellow Lutheran and bishop. While the two never saw things eye-to-eye, and Kierkegaard's dislike for Martensen received expression in his writings, this spiteful ridicule and derision was directed toward one upon whom Kierkegaard was significantly dependent. Kierkegaard's intellectual life and work underwent extensive development during the two decades of his literary output from 1834 to his death in 1855. These developments can be better grasped by investigating developments that Martensen himself was going through. Martensen's career progressed from an early concern with philosophy of religion addressed to the public of the academy, to dogmatic theology addressed to the public of the church, to practical theology addressed to the public of society. The questions and issues preoccupying Martensen changed with these progressions, and these changes did not go unnoticed by Kierkegaard. The case is here argued that Kierkegaard followed Martensen's intellectual development very closely and that Martensen's shifting theological agenda in fact notably shaped the evolving agenda of Kierkegaard's own developing religious thought.

Although he has long been known primarily as the object of Søren Kierkegaard's disdain, Hans Lassen Martensen (1808-84) was a celebrated figure in his own time. Recognised as a brilliant scholar and highly successful churchman, Martensen worked in a number of different areas of theology and philosophy, producing an impressive literary corpus over a period of several decades. His authorship is remarkably varied, including philosophical treatises, theological tracts, sermons, eulogies, book and theatre reviews, as well as polemical and occasional pieces. During his lifetime, he saw his works translated into German, Swedish, English, French, Hungarian and Dutch. These works were widely read and frequently reprinted in numerous editions throughout the second half of the century. It is unfortunate that to international research he was known for many years only as a central figure in Kierkegaard's attack on the Danish State Church. In the past few decades there has, however, been a renewed appreciation for Martensen as an important thinker in his own right. The present anthology attempts to bring together the works of the leading Danish and international scholars responsible for this recent surge of interest. In order to capture the different aspects of Martensen's thought, the volume has been organised into three main rubrics: I. Theology, II. Philosophy, and III. Politics and Social Theory. Collectively, the articles featured here treat Martensen's main works from his dissertation, On the Autonomy of Human Self-Consciousness in 1837 to his monumental, three-volume Christian Ethics from the 1870s. The authors demonstrate that the problems critically addressed by Martensen in the Danish Golden Age are still very much with us today in the twenty-first century.

This broad, interdisciplinary work explores the little recognised contributions of women to the cultural life of the Danish Golden Age. Featuring chapters on the novelist Thomasine Gyllembourg, the actress Johanne Louise Heiberg and the feminist writer Mathilde Fibiger, this text spans three generations of women from the early to the late Golden Age and indeed beyond. Further it treats the notions about what was considered the proper role of women in Danish society at the time, including the views of male authors such as Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Lassen Martensen. This work provides a fascinating panorama of personalities, literary texts, theatre performances, art works and social-political debates, which collectively give the reader a rich appreciation of the importance of women for the age.

The Danish Golden Age spanned a period of time that saw a number of different kinds of crisis: political, economic and cultural. Events such as the French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the national bankruptcy in 1813, the Revolution of 1848 and the first Schleswig War radically transformed Danish society. The many changes that took place at this time made it a dynamic period in which artists, poets, philosophers, and religious thinkers were constantly enjoined to reassess the current situation. Some of Denmark's greatest luminaries, such Johan Ludvig Heiberg, Hans Lassen Martensen and Søren Kierkegaard, articulated the nature of the crisis and proposed different solutions to it. The present work traces the different aspects and dimensions of this crisis by means of a series of case studies. It shows how the perception of the crisis was a kind of spirit that haunted many of the intellectuals and artists of the period. But far from being something negative or destructive, it was a motivating and stimulating force that helped to make the Golden Age what is was. It made artists and thinkers more willing to break with the past and seek new solutions and approaches. Thus it is argued that the crisis can be seen as one of the central defining elements of what we know as Danish Golden Age culture. But the present work is not a purely historical study since it is shown that many of the key elements of the crisis can still be found in our modern world today. Heiberg's diagnosis of the period as suffering from relativism, subjectivism and nihilism sounds strikingly familiar to the modern reader. When seen in this manner, the Danish Golden Age becomes profoundly interesting and relevant for the broad spectrum of problems of modernity.

This book is the first anthology of writings to be devoted to Icelandic theologian and religious writer Magnús Eiríksson (180681). A contemporary of Kierkegaard, Eiríksson made a name (and enemies) for himself by being an outspoken advocate of tolerance and freedom of thought and conscience in matters of religion. This book aims to resurrect Eiríkssons thought for a new era, with contributions covering the key topics of his writings and offering insight into his historical and cultural background. By explaining Eiríkssons frequent disagreements with his contemporaries -- including Kierkegaard -- the contributors shed light on the period as a whole and offer a new perspective on religious thought in the Danish Golden Age.

This is the third volume of a three-volume work dedicated to exploring the influence of G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophical thinking in Golden Age Denmark. The work demonstrates that the largely overlooked tradition of Danish Hegelianism played a profound and indeed constitutive role in many spheres of the Golden Age culture.This third tome covers the most exciting and dynamic time in the Danish Hegel reception from 1842 to 1855. This heterogeneous period saw the emergence of several new figures, many of whom were associated with the left-Hegelian school. This period is best known for the publication of the pseudonymous works of Søren Kierkegaard. The present tome places these famous works in the context of other contemporary Danish discussions about Hegel’s philosophy. It shows that many of Kierkegaard’s criticisms had been raised by other Danish thinkers before him and that a large part of his polemical campaign was aimed at the leading figures of the previous periods of the Danish Hegel reception, namely, Johan Ludvig Heiberg and Hans Martensen.

Poul Martin Møller (1794–1838) was a well-known figure in Golden Age Denmark, and his versatile intelligence was acknowledged by his contemporaries. Møller was a philologist, novelist, poet, theologian and philosopher, and his work included poems, translations, philosophical essays, aphorisms, reviews, and the fragment of a novel. His sudden death in 1838 interrupted what could have been a brilliant intellectual career. This anthology offers a series of articles written by leading scholars specialized in the Danish Golden Age; the aim is to shed light on different aspects of Møller’s thought and to show how his ideas may still be relevant to us.