From JOURNALS AND PAPERS (1851)
On Christianity and politics.
“I have frequently talked to Mynster somewhat as follows and told him what he in part is able to see very well himself. The danger is the numerical, that everything disintegrates into parties and sects. Furthermore, the danger is the coalition between political and religious movements. The danger is so great that we run the risk of eventually coming to vote on Christianity.”
It is well known that, over the last year of his life (Dec. 1854 - Sept. 1855), Kierkegaard published a series of writings condemning the Danish state church. At the center of his “attack upon Christendom” was former Bishop of Zealand Jakob Peter Mynster (1775-1854), whom Kierkegaard saw as representative of the decay of established Christianity. Mynster was a traditionally-minded primate, who nevertheless believed that the church’s position would be best served by acquiescing to cultural élites—a stance that Kierkegaard would ultimately deem hypocritical. Yet, it is occasionally overlooked that these two figures, whose differences would one day garner academic study, also shared a number of commonalities. In this 1851 journal passage, Kierkegaard recalls trying to forge an alliance with Mynster, particularly over the question of what might be termed “populist religion.” As Kierkegaard saw it, modernity’s preference for “the numerical,” for determining truth by popularity, not only threatens apostolic teaching but, even more dangerously, threatens turn to Christianity into something one debates rather than performs. That Mynster and Kierkegaard could have allied over this issue remains one of the great “what ifs” of modern intellectual history.