First published in 1848, Christian Discourses is a quartet of pieces written and arranged in contrasting styles. Parts One and Three, "The Cares of the Pagans" and "Thoughts That Wound from Behind--for Upbuilding," serve as a polemical overture to Kierkegaard's collision with the established order of Christendom. Yet Parts Two and Four, "Joyful Notes in the Strife of Suffering" and "Discourses at the Communion on Fridays," are reassuring affirmations of the joy and blessedness of Christian life in a world of adversity and suffering. Written in ordinary language, the work combines simplicity and inwardness with reflection and presents crucial Christian concepts and presuppositions with unusual clarity.Kierkegaard continued in the pattern that he began with his first pseudonymous esthetic work, Either/Or, by pairing Christian Discourses with The Crisis, an unsigned esthetic essay on contemporary Danish actress Joanne Luise Heiberg.

Historical Introduction Introduction IThe Care of Poverty IIThe Care of Abundance IIIThe Care of Lowliness IVThe Care of Loftiness VThe Care of Presumptuousness VIThe Care of Self-Torment VIIThe Care of Indecisiveness, Vacillation, and Disconsolateness Pt. 2States of Mind in the Strife of Suffering IThe Joy of It: That One Suffers Only Once But Is Victorious Eternally IIThe Joy of It: That Hardship Does Not Take Away But Procures Hope IIIThe Joy of It: That the Poorer You Become the Richer You Are Able to Make Others IVThe Joy of It: That the Weaker You Become the Stronger God Becomes in You VThe Joy of It: That What You Lose Temporally You Gain Eternally VIThe Joy of It: That When I "Gain Everything" I Lose Nothing at All VIIThe Joy of It: That Adversity Is Prosperity Pt. 3Thoughts That Wound from Behind - for Upbuilding IWatch Your Step When You Go to the House of the Lord II"See, We Have Left Everything and Followed You; What Shall We Have?" (Matthew 19:27) - and What Shall We Have? IIIAll Things Must Serve Us for Good - When We Love God IVThere Will Be the Resurrection of the Dead, of the Righteous - and of the Unrighteous VWe Are Closer to Salvation Now - Than When We Became Believers VIBut It Is Blessed - to Suffer Mockery for a Good Cause VIIHe Was Believed in the World Pt. 4Discourses at the Communion on Fridays Preface ILuke 22:15 IIMatthew 11:28 IIIJohn 10:27 IVI Corinthians 11:23 VII Timothy 2:12-13 VII John 3:20 VIILuke 24:51 The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress Addendum: Phister as Captain Scipio Supplement Editorial Appendix Notes Bibliographical Note Index