Three Discourses On Imagined Occasions

''Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions'' (1845) is a book written by Søren Kierkegaard.

Contents

Soren Aaby Kierkegaard published ''Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions'' on April 29, 1845, and ''Stages on Life's Way on'' April 30, 1845. Both books were divided into three sections: confession, marriage and death. David F. Swenson translated the book as ''Thoughts on Crucial Situations in Human Life'' in 1941, and Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong did so again in 1993 under the title, ''Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions''.

Each of these books revolves around the anxiety of making a decision. Kierkegaard also wrote on the subject in his other writings.

What It Means to Seek God

In the book, he suspects that his father Michael suffered from a "sickness of the spirit" due to something he had done as a young man or while grieving the loss of his first wife Lee M. Hollander. He writes that his father was only twelve when he cursed God, and didn't have faith that he would forgive him while he was still young.

Kierkegaard then warns against expressing skepticism because "the most dangerous condition is that of the one who is deceived by much knowledge," Kierkegaard again discussed this in his 1847 book, ''Works of Love'' in an effort to show how useless it is to compare sin for sin and guilt for guilt. Kierkegaard was interested in "how" one comes to acquire knowledge. Adolph Peter Adler's experience may have influenced this writing, as he identified his audience as the "reader" and the "listener". He writes, "No man can see God without purity,” and “no man can know God without becoming a sinner.”

He also wrote greatly about "expectancy" and where it is found. He writes, "Sin is the common lot of the human race".

The Decisiveness of Death

Throughout the book Kierkegaard discusses the "confession of sin before God" and the confession of love for another. Unlike his book ''Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses,'' he describes the earnest confession before God, marriage, and death as teachers of another kind that accompanies generations. Later, he uses the metaphor "lily of the field and the bird of the air" as teachers for what it means to be a human being, referring to them as "divinely appointed teachers".

Criticism

Kierkegaard self-published this book by printing 525 copies, however only 175 were sold by 1847. A second edition was published in 1875, and he had already finished his ''concluding postscript'' and delivered it to his printer in December 1845.

David F. Swenson translated many of Kierkegaard's works into English and helped introduce him to the English reading public in 1916. The translated copy was published in 1941.

Howard V. Hong said Kierkegaard had “seeds for more than six discourses in mind". John Gates scarcely mentioned the Imagined Discourses in his book on the life of Kierkegaard, but he did describe it as a turning point in the development of his vocation and an insight into his manner of writing.Gregor Malantschuk, ''Kierkegaard's Way to the Truth'', 1963 Augsburg Publishing House p. 57

References

External links

*
''Love Conquers All''
Complete text, Swenson translation

Princeton University Press
Thoughts on crucial situations in human life; three discourses on imagined occasions, by Søren Kierkegaard, translated from the Danish by David F. Swenson, edited by Lillian Marvin Swenson
Haithi trust
''Prefaces and Writing Sampler: And, Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions''
edited by Robert L. Perkins Mercer University Press, 2006
David F Swenson, ''The Category of the Unknowable'' (September 14, 1905)
archive.org

{{Authority control

1845 books
Books by Søren Kierkegaard
Epistemology literature
Philosophy of religion literature