A Kierkegaard Anthology Chapter Summary & Analysis - Chapter 15, Two Discourses at the Communion of Fridays, Chapter 16, The Journals (1850-1854) Summary

Chapter 15, Two Discourses at the Communion of Fridays, Chapter 16, The Journals (1850-1854) Summary and Analysis

The Two Discourses is very short but complements the Works of Love and analyzes the same text. Kierkegaard focuses here on "the divine initiative" but in the Works he focuses on the human response to this initiative. Kierkegaard is interested in the relationship between both parts, and so aims to reduce the gap between the orthodox and the modern. In the Preface, Kierkegaard says that this piece is a reflection of his movement from Either/Or to "rest at the foot of the alter" where he realizes that he teaches without authority.

The Journals cover the period from 1851 to 1854, when Kierkegaard writes nothing at all. He is running out of funds and wants to wait until Bishop Mynster dies to publish again. These three years of thinking found in the Journals grow in their degree of polemic to prepare to attack the very idea of Christendom. The anthology...
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