The Reformation of Ritual Book

Some of the clearest of Kierkegaard's writings, in bite-sized pieces. With his typical humor and style that is not exactly preachy, but even the opposite: repeatedly striking out against pastors and all other comforts of the world, and especially against Christendom (contrasted with the true Christianity of the New Testament). That's the major theme of each edition of The Moment, and it does get a bit repetitive, but obviously people were not hearing it, so it needed reiterating.

K calls pastors crocodiles, cannibals (for subsisting on deceived churchgoers), deceivers, career-oriented, and suggests repeatedly that they don't help Christianity, but in fact harm it. They wear silk and velvet robes and live in comfort. But in K's view of Christianity, which he maintains is the true Christianity of the New Testament, where there is truth there is suffering, and where there is untruth there is comfort. The pastors preach comfort and the masses are deceived and lap up what they want to hear, and are encouraged to give their money to the pastor generously. For the pastors to preach true Christianity, they would preach about suffering and discomfort in this world (which is what it means to imitate Christ), but they would soon be out of the job. And that's K's point: the pastor is just a jobseeker, an office-holder, a government employee (the Danish Lutheran Church is state-supported).

It's sad that most of K's remarks are so very relevant for our world today. Nothing much has changed. It's really hard to read without conjuring up images in your head of the weird perverted American Evangelicalism of today. Of the megachurches and the Joel Osteens of this world.