Attack on "Christendom" is so controversial for reasons that have little to do with Kierkegaard's reasons for writing the book. On the basis of the assumptions of traditional Christendom, it is a flawed book. But in terms of his perception of what it meant to be a Christian, it is a good and deeply challenging work. Again, as with all the writings of Kierkegaard, each book has to be seen as a integral part of the whole of the Kierkegaardian "literature." It is no doubt true that some theoretical distance between his "Works of Love" and the "Attack..." seems unbridged, at points at least. It may also be that tension will always exist between personal commitment to faith in Jesus and the social and organizational relations of members of "Christian" groups. The challenge to the reader to harmonize his beliefs with the practices that comprise his own life may be the chief value of the book. It certainly is a call to unrest.

The first reviewer on this page "a reader" does a prefect job of summarizing "Attack Upon Christendom."

Though deadly serious in his attack, with the utmost reverance and love for faith in Jesus Christ SK comes out swinging. It is hard to imagine how much ridicule he endured for this series of articles and rebutals.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of this collection of writings is SK's absolutely brilliant use of metaphors, and his comical sarcasm.

As a Christian, this is a very difficult book to read, but one that is crucial to understanding Christianity in what SK labels "New Testament Christianity" terms. In the beginning of the book, Valdemar Ammundsen is quoted as giving us this haunting reminder:

"Where Kierkegaard is wrong, that goes on his account. Where Kierkegaard was right, the bill comes to us."

There is so much I would love to quote out of this collection, such as the metaphor of the "Obediant Hound," but I hope that anyone even considering reading this will do so and experience it for themselves.

By backing up all of his claims with consistent citing of the Bible and Christ Himself, SK forces us to consider things that have either been forgotten or overlooked in regards to being a Christian.

SK, one of THE most trenchant minds of history - an authentic Christian hero!

Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic, and religious author, who was the first existentialist philosopher. He wrote many other books, including Fear & Trembling; The Sickness Unto Death,Philosophical Fragments,Attack upon Christendom, etc. [NOTE: page numbers refer to the 260-page Princeton hardcover edition.]

This book (actually a collection of articles and other materials published between 1845-1855), it must be noted, is an attack upon "Christendom," NOT Christianity. Kierkegaard's target is the stodgy, state-supported Lutheran church (and particularly the local prelate, Bishop Jacob Peter Mynster) and its institutions, such as baptism, communion, and church weddings. He even refused on his deathbed to take communion from a Lutheran pastor, on the grounds that such churchmen were merely "royal officials."

He says facetiously in his "eulogy upon the human race," that "In the New Testament the Saviour of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, represents the situation thus: The way that leadeth unto life is straitened, the gate narrow---few be they that find it! Now, on the contrary, to speak only of Denmark, we are all Christians, the way is as broad as it possibly can be, the broadest in Denmark, since it is the way in which we are all walking, besides being in all respects as convenient, as comfortable, as possible; ... wider surely a gate cannot be than that through which we are all going en masse. ERGO the New Testament is no longer truth." (Pg. 105)

He suggests, "A man becomes thinner and thinner day by day; he is wasting away... He does not suffer want. `No, certainly not,' says the physician, `... it comes precisely from eating, from the fact that he eats out of season, eats without being hungry, uses stimulants to arouse a little bit of appetite, and in that way he ruins his digestion, fades away as if he were suffering want.' So it is religiously. The most fatal thing of all is to satisfy a want which is not yet felt... And yet this is what men do in the religious sphere, whereby they really are cheating men out of what constitutes the significance of life, and helping people to waste life. For this is the aim of the whole machinery of the State Church... And this is thought to be the continuation of the work which the Saviour of the human race completed, this bungling of the human race! And why? Because there are now ... royal functionaries who...have to live off this, under the name of ... the cure of souls!" (Pg. 140-141)

He says sarcastically, "Assuming that no God exists, no eternity, no accounting, then the official Christianity is a perfectly charming and elegant invention for very sensibly making this life as enjoyable as possible, more enjoyable than the pagan could have it. For it is well-known that what constantly troubled the pleasure-loving pagan was this thing of eternity; but the official Christianity put such a slant upon this thing of eternity that eternity exists precisely for the sake of giving us a thorough relish and zest for enjoying this life... where the priest ... is willing, for money, to let Christianity ... furnish the music for weddings and christenings, where everything is joy and mirth in this ... glorious world,... a foretaste of the still more joyful eternity which the priest guarantees to those families which by their devotion to him have evinced a sense for the eternal." (Pg. 158)

He points out, "The difference between the theater and the church is essentially this, that the theater honestly and honorably acknowledges itself to be what it is; on the other hand the church is a theater which dishonestly tries in every way to hide what it is. For example. On the theater-board is always plainly written: `Money will not be returned.' The church, this solemn sanctity, would shudder at the scandal, the offensiveness, of writing this over the church door... But yet the church does not shudder at insisting, perhaps more strictly than the theater, that money will NOT be returned.... What the theater says openly, the church does secretly." (Pg. 197)

This books needs to be balanced with Kierkegaard's more "positive" books about Christianity (e.g., Training in Christianity), of course. But for those Christians willing to read severe critiques of the "institutional" church, this book will be of considerable interest.