International Kierkegaard Commentary Volume 24: The Book on Adler

The Book on Adler is Kierkegaard's most revised manuscript, his longest unpublished book, and the book of which he left the most drafts. The ostensible subject is the claim by a pastor of the Danish State Church, Adolph Peter Adler, that he had received a private revelation from Jesus in which He had dictated the truth about the origin of evil. The content of this revelation was quoted verbatim in the preface to one of Adler's several books of sermons. Such a claim to a private revelation was then and still is in conflict with the concepts of revelation and authority in Christian churches. Kierkegaard considered Adler's revelation claim to be an extreme but still typical example of the religious confusions of the age. The essays in this volume address the issue of revelation, subjectivity, and related topics that remain problematic to this day and are perhaps even more acute in a postmodern age.