Practice in Christianity
One important theme lifted up by Kierkegaard is the idea of �contemporaneity.� He describes this as the condition of being as �contemporary with Christ�s presence as his contemporaries were. This contemporaneity is the condition of faith, and more sharply defined, is faith� (9). This is a central idea to understanding how we are to relate to Christ. Christ is not to be a figure that exists only in the past, and his work is not to be seen as concerning someone other than me. Instead, we are to be related to Christ is such a way that he is present with us, inviting us. This means that adhering to Christ as he existed (24), in his abasement. Kierkegaard is very critical of �Christendom,� which looks to the glorified Christ, and in so doing, admires in stead of imitates him (III. VI, 233f).
Kierkegaard focuses much attention on the idea of invitation and response. He focuses principally on two passages through the book, �Come to me�� (Mat. 11:28f), and ��I will draw all to myself� (John 12:32). He describes these as providing a crossroads. The provide the point where one is either offended, or has faith. It would seem that for Kierkegaard, the idea of Christ drawing all would be in some ways analogous to the Arminian/Wesleyan idea of prevenient grace, given to all enabling them to make a yes or no decision. While this language doesn�t exist in Kierkegaard, there would seem to be a similar focus of thought.
With his focus on invitation and response, Kierkegaard is led to focus on the �inviter� and the �invitation.� It is of central importance to Kierkegaard that the invitation meant that the believer was called by the abased one, and that this meant the one invited would be scorned for accepting the invitation. One of Kierkegaard�s central questions deals with the fact that after Christ invited all who are weary to come to him, not everyone did. �It is certainly to be expected that �all, all who are suffering, would flock to him� (57). His answer deals with the fact that Christ was calling from abasement, and that the suffering he was bringing deliverance from was actually sin (61). This didn�t fit with the human ideas of compassion, so people ignored the invitation.
Response would seem to be especially important to Kierkegaard�s idea of Christianity. This would seem appropriate, since he perceived the church as a group of people who were Christians because they were born into it, and that all were just basically assumed to be Christians, holding faith in �hidden inwardness� (216). Kierkegaard was calling for Christians to stand up, and acknowledge and accept Christ, and living life in devotion to and imitation of Christ. Thus, he was a 19th century reformer of sorts, calling for a return to Christ as the focus of faith and life. It would seem to be a very similar critique to that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer a century later, who called for a rejection of cheap grace, and emphasized the call to come and die.
An important distinction which Kierkegaard makes is between loftiness and lowliness. He understood Christ to be inviting from a position of lowliness, and this proves an important point for him. We are called to come, not to Christ seated on a throne, high and exalted, but to Christ abased and humbled, scorned by the world. It is to this Christ we are called to come with our burdens, it is this Christ that draws. This does not mean, though that we are to forget the loftiness of Christ. For as Kierkegaard writes, �true loftiness is abasement or �abasement is true loftiness� (259).
Kierkegaard ends with a prayer, calling Christ to draw us to himself. This prayer provides a fitting endpoint for Kierkegaard�s deliberations, and also helps to clarify his ideas. He emphasizes repeatedly the theme of �all people� being drawn. This drawing is not for a chosen few. God�s gospel mission is for all people, and God desires all to be saved. Along these same lines, Kierkegaard also prays that �lay Christians� would feel called to draw others to Christ. We are called to be missionaries and workers of Christ in the world, as agents of God�s power. Kierkegaard�s final thought puts his ideas of invitation and response in the context of God�s power, for he says that �you are the only one who is capable of drawing to yourself�� (262). In essence, we are dependent on God for the invitation, and it is on account of God�s power and love that we are invited.
Practice in Christianity is clearly a precursor to his later Attack on Christendom. Kierkegaard makes a stunning critique of the Christianity of his day, and goes right to the heart of it, by centering is comments on Christ. He upholds the need to heed the gospel call, and to live out faith in life. Christianity is not merely a matter of secret inwardness for Kierkegaard, but entails the whole being. We are to be wholly caught up on Christianity. We are to cling to Christ in his abasement, and seek to imitate him. This call is a rigorous corrective to a complacent church. It would seem clear that works righteousness is not what he has in mind, but instead genuine faith, and subsequently the striving for the ideal or �prototype� of Christ in our lives. As his preface makes clear, the work is a �supreme ideality� (7). This does not mean it is useless, but instead that it must be heard, and sought after, if not lived up to. For Kierkegaard, the Christian life is not complacent and lazy, but is striving and pressing on toward the goal, for great is the grace and love of God.
