The indignation of not a few adherents at my procedure will not surprise me; neither do I fear that Grundtvig, arrayed in his Asa-strength, will slay me. Usually he slays his adversary so absolutely. . . . . ]

* It produced for the ear a monotony such as appears to the eye when a person reads the old manuscripts in which the writing continues without any punctuation marks.

So much for Grundtvig in general. Even if the place is only questionably appropriate, and thus the space is as limited as possible, this seems to be the moment to say it, the right moment, now since Grundtvig has come into vogue. Our age, which is so powerfully moved and fermenting, naturally always has use for an extraordinary, a seer, a prophet, a strong man, a man of power, a martyr, etc. And when it so fortunately happens that one man can take on this whole repertoire of extraordinariness with equal brilliance—and Grundtvig, whose life has never suffered from monotony, can do that in a way that must completely satisfy our age—no wonder he is appreciated. At times with the transfigured countenance of apostolic saintliness, at times unrecognizable in Old-Norse shagginess, always a boisterous individuality, godly, worldly, Old-Norsely, Christian, high priest, Holger the Dane,24 at times jubilating, at times weeping, always prophetic, even when it so ironically happens that he becomes contemporary with the fulfillment first glimpsed in the distant times—is not Grundtvig a remarkable phenomenon? Another question is whether it has benefited Christian orthodoxy to be defended for dear life by such a fabulous character who in the role of defender of orthodoxy can easily cause offense. [VI B 29:112] Every more quiet concern about the religious, every more inward understanding that in fear and trembling is disciplined by self-concern, readily feels painfully disturbed by this unconstraint that nonchalantly is busy only with great visions and matchless discoveries. And the person who thinks that he should learn by living and that to exist is an art will not exactly be delighted by the Grundtvigian achievement: that one can become sixty-five years old and yet be just as intrinsically undialectical, just as extroverted, just as noisy as in youth, consequently that one can be a genius and become an oldster without existentially learning the least thing from life, even if one is courteous enough to assume that the genius has taught all the other people, a relationship that essentially is reserved only for God: that he teaches others without learning himself—and now Grundtvig.

So, then, Grundtvig correctly perceived that the Bible could not possibly withstand the invading doubt, but he did not perceive that the reason for this was that the attack . . . . . —Pap. VI B 29 n.d., 1845

Continuation of passage deleted from draft (Pap. VI B 29 [2.25-26]):

. . . . . that the slain one survives completely unharmed and untouched, for in order to hit, especially in order to hit perilously, it always takes a little relativity in the death-dealing blow. [VI B 30:112] On the other hand, I would be sorry if someone whose judgment I respect were to misunderstand me, as if, because there simply is nothing to be found in the Grundtvigian ideas, there was no reason even to say it. [VII B 30 113] With a troubled and profound countenance, at times weeping, at times heralding, at times warning, at times ecstatic over the fulfillment of prophecy, Grundtvig everywhere pushes himself to the front as a boisterous religious individuality who would more than willingly let himself be called Rabbi and Master (Matthew 23:10). But just as a mocker of religion can at times be dangerous, so also a character like this can be dangerous for the opposite reason, because he really lends himself to causing offense. Every more quiet concern about the religious, every more inward understanding that in fear and trembling applies ethical categories to itself in self-concern, readily feels painfully disturbed by world-historical ale-Norse unconstraint that nonchalantly is busy only with great visions and matchless discoveries, readily feels painfully affected by the Grundtvigian inept unruliness [ubehændige Ubændighed], a strange mixture of a remarkable poet-individuality and a vaudeville character.—Pap. VI B 30 n.d., 1845

Continuation of passage deleted from draft (Pap.