From JOURNALS AND PAPERS (1850)
On Judas Iscariot--and Christendom.
“For this I shall use the words of the Passion story: Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place. And then show that this is the treason of all "Christendom"—it knows Christianity, is informed about it, but by means of this becomes treasonable. In addition, every single human being has a constant inclination toward this treason: to be satisfied with knowing the place—the betrayer also knew the place.”
Kierkegaard’s late polemics against the Danish state church frequently centered on the distinction between knowing and doing. As he saw it, the church was aware of what Christ demanded—namely, that his disciples would strive imitate to his life—but refused to put its knowledge into practice. In this 1850 journal entry, Kierkegaard sketches out a Lenten sermon, comparing the state church (“Christendom”) to the figure of Judas Iscariot. “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him” (Jn. 13:1-2). Treason, Kierkegaard suggests, is to hand over the truth for worldly gain.