Kierkegaard, a poet of ideals and practitioner of the indirect method, also had a direct and polemical side. He revealed this in several writings throughout his career, culminating in The Moment, his attack against the established ecclesiastical order.Kierkegaard was moved to criticize the church by his differences with Bishop Mynster, Primate of the Church of Denmark. Although Mynster saw in Kierkegaard a complement to himself and his outlook, Kierkegaard challenged Mynster to acknowledge the emptying and estheticizing of Christianity that had occurred in modern Christendom. For three years Kierkegaard was silent, waiting. When Mynster died, he was memorialized as "an authentic truth-witness" in the "holy chain of truth-witnesses that stretches through the ages from the days of the apostles." This struck Kierkegaard as blasphemous and inspired him to write a series of articles in Fædrelandet, which he followed with ten numbers of the pamphlet The Moment. This volume includes the articles from Fædrelandet, all numbers of The Moment, and several other late pieces of Kierkegaard's writing.

Historical Introduction IWas Bishop Mynster a "Truth-Witness," One of "the Authentic Truth-Witnesses" - Is This the Truth? IIThere the Matter Rests! IIIA Challenge to Me from Pastor Paludan-Muller IVThe Point at Issue with Bishop Martensen, as Christianly Decisive for the, Christianly Viewed, Dubious Previously Established Ecclesiastical Order VTwo New Truth-Witnesses VIAt Bishop Mynster's Death VIIIs This Christian Worship or Is It Making a Fool of God? VIIIWhat Must Be Done - It Will Happen either through Me or through Someone Else IXThe Religious Situation XA Thesis - Just One Single One XI"Salt"; Because "Christendom" Is: the Decay of Christianity; "a Christian World" Is: a Falling Away from Christianity XIIWhat Do I Want? XIIIOn the Occasion of an Anonymous Proposal to Me in No. 79 of This Newspaper XIVWould It Be Best Now to "Stop Ringing the Alarm"? XVChristianity with a Royal Certificate and Christianity without a Royal Certificate XVIWhat Cruel Punishment! XVIIA Result XVIIIA Monologue XIXConcerning a Fatuous Pompousness in Regard to Me and the Conception of Christianity to Which I Am Calling Attention XXFor the New Edition of Practice in Christianity This Must Be Said; So Let It Be Said XXIThat Bishop Martensen's Silence Is (1) Christianly Indefensible; (2) Ludicrous; (3) Obtuse-Sagacious; (4) in More Than One Regard Contemptible The Moment, 1-2 What Christ Judges of Official Christianity The Moment, 3-7 The Changelessness of God The Moment, 8-9 AppendixThe Moment, 10 Supplement Key to References Background Material Pertaining to Faedrelandet [Newspaper] Articles Original Front Page of Faedrelandet, December 18, 1854, and Original Title Pages of This Must Be Said; So Let It Be Said; The Moment, No. 1; What Christ Judges of Official Christianity; The Changelessness of God Selected Entries from Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers Pertaining to the Articles and The Moment and Late Writings Editorial Appendix Acknowledgments Collation of Faedrelandet [Newspaper] Articles, The Moment, and Late Writings in the Danish Editions of Kierkegaard's Collected Works Notes Bibliographical Note Index