Contents include:ForewordEditor's PrefaceIntroduction by the EditorPrefaceIntroductionBOOK ONE: The Objective Problem Concerning the Truth of ChristianityIntroductory RemarksChapter I: The Historical Point of View1. The Holy Scriptures2. The Church3. The Proof of the Centuries for the Truth of ChristianityChapter II: The Speculative Point of ViewBOOK TWO: The Subjective Problem, The Relation of the Subject to the Truth of Christianity, The Problem of Becoming a ChristianPART ONE: Something About LessingChapter I: An Expression of GratitudeChapter II: Theses Possibly or Actually Attributable to Lessing1. The subjective existing thinker has regard to the dialectics of the process of communication2. The existing subjective thinker is in his existential relation to the truth as negative as he is positive; he has a much humor as he has essential pathos; and he is constantly in processof becoming, i.e. he is always striving3. Lessing has said that accidental historical truths can never serve as proofs for eternal truths of the reason; and that the transition by which it is proposed to base an eternal truth uponhistorical testimony is a leap4. Lessing has said that, if God held all truth in His right hand, and in His left the lifelong pursuit of it, he would choose the left handA. A logical system is possibleB. An existential system is possiblePART TWO: How the Subjectivity of the Individual Must be Qualified in Order that the Problem May Exist for HimChapter I: The Task of Becoming Subjective. The conclusion that would be forced upon ethics if the attainment of subjectivity were not the highest task confronting a human being—Considerations left out of account in connection with the closer understanding of this—Examples of thinking directed towards becoming subjectiveChapter II: The Subjective Truth, Inwardness; Truth is SubjectivityAppendix. A Glance at the Contemporary Effort in Danish LiteratureChapter III: Real or Ethical Subjectivity—The Subjective Thinker1. Existence and Reality2. Possibility as higher than Reality—Reality as higher than Possibility—Poetic and Intellectual Ideality—Ethical Ideality3. The Simultaneity of the Individual Factors of Subjectivity in the Existing Subject—The Constrast between this Simultaneity and the Speculative Process4. The Subjective Thinker—his Task, his Form, his StyleChapter IV: The Problem of the Fragments: How can an Eternal Happiness be based upon Historical Knowledge?Section I. For Orientation in the Plan of the Fragments1. That the point of departure was taken in the pagan consciousness, and why2. The importance of a preliminary agreement concerning what Christianity is, before there can be any question of mediating between Christianity and speculative thought. The absence of suchan agreement favors the proposal of medication, while at the same time making any mediation illusory; the presence of such an agreement precludes mediation3. The problem of the Fragments viewed as a problem, introductory not to Christianity, but to becoming a ChristianSection II. The Problem Itself. The eternal happiness of the individual is decided in time through the relationship to something historical, which is furthermore of such a character as to oinclude in its composition that which by virtue of its essence cannot become historical, and must therefore become such by virtue of the absurdA. Existential Pathos1. The Initial Expression for Existential Pathos: the absolute direction (respect) toward the absolute telos, expressed in action through the transformation of the individual's existenceAesthetic Pathos—The deceptiveness of the principle of mediation—The medieval monastic movement—The simultaneous maintenance of an absolute relationship to the absolute telos and arelative relationship to the relative ends2. The Essential Expression for Existential pathos: Suffering—Fortune and misforutne as the expression for an aesthetic view of life, in constradistinction to suffering as the expression of areligious view (illustrated by reference to the religious discourse)—The Reality of suffering (humor)—The reality of suffering in the last instance as evidence for the possession bythe existing individual of a relationship to an eternal happiness—The illusion of religiosity—The category of Anfechtung—The primary ground and significance of the religioussuffering: The dying away from the life of immediacy while still remaining in the finite—An edifying divertisement—Humor as an incognito for religiosity3. The Decisive Expression for existential pathos: Guilt—That the investigation goes backward instead of forward—The eternal recollection of guilt is the highest expression for the relationbetween the consciousness of guilt and an eternal happiness—Lower expressions for the consciousness of guilt, and corresponding forms of satisfaction—Self-imposted penance—Humor—Thereligiosity of hidden inwardnessIntermediate Clause between A and BB. The Dilectical1. The dialectical contradiction which constitutes the breach: to expect an eternal happiness in time through a relationship to something else in time2. The dialectical constradiction that an eternal happiness is based upon something historical3. The dialectical contradiction that the historical fact here in question is not a simple historical fact, but is constituted by that which only against its nature can become historical,hence by virtue of the absurdAppendix to B. The retroactive effect of the dialectical upon the pathetic, and the factor simultaneously present in the pathos(a) The consciousness of sin(b) The possibililty of offense(c) The smart of sympathyChapter V. Conclusion. About Childish ChristianityAppendix. For an Understanding with the ReaderFirst and Last DeclarationNotesIndexOriginally published in 1941.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.