Although he has long been known primarily as the object of Søren

Kierkegaard?s disdain, Hans Lassen Martensen (1808-84) was a

celebrated figure in his own time. Recognized as a brilliant scholar

and highly successful churchman, Martensen worked in a number of

different areas of theology and philosophy, producing an impressive

literary corpus over a period of several decades. His authorship is

remarkably varied, including philosophical treatises, theological tracts,

sermons, eulogies, book and theater reviews, as well as polemical and

occasional pieces. During his lifetime, he saw his works translated

into German, Swedish, English, French, Hungarian and Dutch.

These works were widely read and frequently reprinted in numerous

editions throughout the second half of the century. It is unfortunate

that to international research he was known for many years only as a

central figure in Kierkegaard?s attack on the Danish State Church.

In the past few decades there has, however, been a renewed

appreciation for Martensen as an important thinker in his own

right. The present anthology attempts to bring together the works

of the leading Danish and international scholars responsible for this

recent surge of interest. In order to capture the different aspects of

Martensen?s thought, the volume has been organized into three main

rubrics: I. Theology, II. Philosophy, and III. Politics and Social Theory.

Collectively, the articles featured here treat Martensen?s main works

from his dissertation, On the Autonomy of Human Self-Consciousness

in 1837 to his monumental, three-volume Christian Ethics from the

1870s. The authors demonstrate that the problems critically addressed

by Martensen in the Danish Golden Age are still very much with us

today in the twenty-first century.

Jon Stewart is Associate Research Professor at the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen.