“It is of this sort of divine service I used the expression that, in comparison with the Christianity of the New Testament, it is playing Christianity. The expression is essentially true and characterizes the thing perfectly. For what does it mean to play, when one reflects how the word must be understood in this connection? It means to imitate, to counterfeit, a danger when there is no danger, and to do it in such a way that the more art is applied to it, the more delusive the pretense is that the danger is present.”

— Sören Kierkegaard

Source: 1850s, Attack upon Christendom (1855), p. 121

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Sören Kierkegaard 309

Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism 1813–1855

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Sören Kierkegaard 309

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