Friday, May 5, 2023

It is the 5th of May 2023 Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

It’s the 5th of May! Cinco De Mayo! A day best remembered as the birthday of the Melancholy Dane, the so-called father of Existentialism- Søren Kierkegaard. Oh, no? Not for you? Do you have other celebrations?

And, long-time listeners of this show have heard me talk about Kierkegaard before- I will admit, he is on my personal “Mount Rushmore” of favorite theologians. He is also part of an unplanned but fun triple shot of 19th-century Lutherans. Yesterday we had ol’ Fred Wyneken: a father of American Confessional Lutheranism, and tomorrow, the weekend edition finally gets around to another Lutheran pastor- this time in Germany: Johann Blumhardt and the remarkable story of an exorcism that I’ve been waiting to tell for a while. So- three VERY different Lutherans that were living at the same time in different countries!

 So- we might as well set aside May 5th every year for me to tell you something else about this curious Danish author and theologian who wrote cryptically, pseudonymously (that means, with a pseudonym) and writing not as a professor nor as a pastor- an independent author with crippling anxiety whose only refuge was the baffling promise of God in faith in Christ (oh, now it dawns on my why I dig him so much).

His dates are 1813 to 1855. He died, collapsing on the street at the age of 42. He was born to a father vexed by his own past- he had cursed God, he had gotten his maid pregnant, and while a successful businesses man was a gloomy figure, despite his faith and membership in the national church- the Danish Lutheran Church. Søren himself would be critical of the state church- referring to that model as not “Christianity” but “Christendom.”

He entered the University of Copenhagen in 1830 but would take over a decade to finish his degree. His dissertation was “On the Concept of Irony, with Constant Reference to Socrates.” Like Socrates, Søren believed that the world is mad, and the smartest thing is to recognize that you know the least. But, then, in self-examination, attempt to find what is true by drawing it out in examples and stories. In this sense, Kierkegaard was the Christian Socrates.

If I may- it is two works, both from 1843, which help explain Kierkegaard. The first is called Either/Or: A Fragment of Life. It’s baffling and took me years to get. It is the story of a man who bought a desk and found in it the writings of two men- debating philosophical issues. They are person A and person B. Person A agrees with the “aesthetic” life- that is one of pleasure and scratching whatever itch you please. Person B, who is revealed to have been a judge, argues against this- arguing for the transcendence of the ethical life. While Person A seems to be clever and Person B- Judge Wilhelm seems to have the stronger argument- from ethics and right living.

Through the pseudonymous writing, the conclusion is in the fact that they are both wrong- neither the aesthetic nor the ethical life can suffice. Instead, both take us to the “religious life”- that is, faith in Christ.

It is a second work from the same year- Fear and Trembling, that delves deeper into what faith in Christ is. The book is a retelling of the story of the (almost) sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. It is, as he points out, a ridiculous story, and if anyone told you “god told me to kill my boy,” you would call them a monster (in fact, something like this happens with Jeptha and his daughter in the book of Judges, and we rightly call it horrendous).

But Abraham suspends his ethical sense because he has been called by God and believes that he will get back that which he is asked to lose. Is this easy reading? No. Are his suggestions easily palatable and then easily put into practice? Not necessarily. Except for the call to radical faith in Christ, who promises us life by bidding us to come and die. He was a troubled character- sometimes too brash, but all of that was sublimated to the reality of Jesus and his saving work on our behalf. Happy Birthday Søren Kierkegaard the man who wrote that “Hope is passion for what is possible.”He was born 210 years ago today.

The last word for today from the daily lectionary- from Psalm 31- now as good as it is for the hour of our death:

In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;
    let me never be put to shame;
    deliver me in your righteousness.

Turn your ear to me,
    come quickly to my rescue;
be my rock of refuge,
    a strong fortress to save me.

Since you are my rock and my fortress,
    for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,
    for you are my refuge.

Into your hands I commit my spirit;
    deliver me, Lord, my faithful God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 5th of May 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a Lutheran never melancholy- but that might be on account of all the caffeine- go to Gillespie.Coffee, he is  Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man from whom, ironically, Mt. Rushmore is not on the Mt. Rushmore of my favorite mountains- it's carves faces… weird. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.