Søren Kierkegaard och liljorna på marken

Abstract

Søren Kierkegaard’s favourite gospel was a passage from the Sermon on the Mountain, the well-known parable of the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field (St. Matthew 6:24-34). No less than four times did he write commentaries on this text, three of which are to be found in his Edifying Discourses and the fourth in a posthumous pamphlet, called Judge for Yourselves. Kierkegaard cherished this text because he found it in tune with his own predilection for childish simplicity and sincerity. But first and foremost he used the text to launch violent attacks against the Danish State Church and its indulgence with superficial materialism, against the aesthetic way of life and against the world of learning. The fowls of the air and the lilies of the field represent by their mere existence a more authentic way of life.