Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
The Human Condition 43
THE ABSURD 45
VACILLATION 50
BEGINNING AND RISKING 53
Stages in Becoming Oneself 57
AESTHETIC EXISTENCE 59
ETHICAL EXISTENCE 63
RELIGIOUS EXISTENCE 69
Inwardness 75
INCONGRUITIES 77
SUFFERING 80
FINDING AND LOSING ONESELF 84
DEATH 88
Christianity 93
BECOMING A CHRISTIAN 95
INCARNATION AND ATONEMENT 99
OFFENSE AND PARADOX 103
ETERNAL HAPPINESS IN TIME 107
Theology 111
GOD 113
EXPLAINING HEGEL TO GOD 117
THE HAZARDS OF REGNANT THEOLOGY 120
IMMORTALITY 124
"Christendom" 127
SIN 129
PRAYER 134
THE STATUS OF CHRISTIANITY WITHIN MODERNITY 138
THE BIBLE 143
THE CLERGY 147
REPENTANCE 154
DENMARK 158
Relationships 161
THE HAZARDS OF LOVE 163
LOVE AND DUTY 167
MARRIAGE AND THE SINGLE STATE 170
THE VULNERABILITY OF THE MALE 174
THE STRENGTH OF WOMAN 179
CHILDREN AND YOUTH 186
Truth and Communication 191
LITERARY AND ARTISTIC CRITICISM 193
COMEDY AND CONTRADICTION 197
LAUGHTER AS THE TEST OF TRUTH 203
THE VOCATION OF AUTHORSHIP 208
The Culture of Modernity 217
THE PRESENT AGE 219
OBJECTIVE KNOWLEDGE AND SCIENCE 222
MEDICINE 226
AUTHORITY AND ESTABLISHMENT 229
WORLD HISTORY 232
Sociological and Cultural Analysis 235
CHEAP TALK ON A GRAND SCALE 237
JOURNALISM AND THE PRESS 241
PUBLIC OPINION AND THE CROWD 248
ADVERTISING AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT 251
POLITICS, REVOLUTION, AND REFORM 254
EQUALITY 261
ECONOMICS 267
Psychological Analysis 271
BEHAVIOR CHANGE 273
ANXIETY, GUILT, AND BOREDOM 277
Contradictions within Academia 283
EDUCATION AND THE UNIVERSITIES 285
PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS 290
PURE THOUGHT 296
DOUBT 300
SPECULATION AND IDEALISM 305
SOCRATES 308
TEACHING 313
Appendix: How Comic Episodes Correlate with the Stages 317
Bibliography 323
Index 329
