Magnús Eiríksson
Encyclopedia
Magnús Eiríksson was an Icelandic theologian and a contemporary critic of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813–1855) and Hans Lassen Martensen
(1808–1884) in Copenhagen.
Due to his very critical attitude towards the church dogma, especially the dogmas of the Trinity
of God and the Divinity of Christ, in contrast to which he stressed (at least in his late work) the essential unity of God and the leadership of Jesus (merely) as prophet and teacher, Eiríksson often was labeled as a “pioneer” or “precursor” to the Unitarian movement
in Denmark.
at the University of Copenhagen
, where he was deeply influenced by Professor Henrik Nicolai Clausen
(1793–1877), who represented a form of theological rationalism
which appealed to him. After obtaining his degree in 1837, Eiríksson became a tutor
to theology students (manuduktør), among whom he enjoyed considerable popularity.
Eiríksson’s attack on Martensen harmed himself most, particularly financially, as the students, in sympathy with their famous professor, stopped using Eiríksson as a tutor. His financial situation became particularly bad, and he (at least) twice wrote to Søren Kierkegaard asking for help, but Kierkegaard refused.
In 1850 Eiríksson published pseudonymously [Theophilus Nicolaus] his book Er Troen et Paradox og ‘i Kraft af det Absurde’? [Is Faith a Paradox and ‘by Virtue of the Absurd’?] where he criticized Kierkegaard’s account of faith. Eiríksson declared that faith must not be made into a paradox, for “when faith is genuine and strong, it has its firm base and deep root in the immediate intellectual faculty in man, which we call reason.” Faith understood as a paradox “annuls and destroys all independent thought.” In his (albeit unpublished) answer to Theophilus Nicolaus, alias Eiríksson, Kierkegaard claims that Eiríksson has completely misunderstood his works and quite overlooked their main concern. In his zeal to prove that faith was not in any way a paradox, Eiríksson – according to Kierkegaard – had lost Christianity: “Both the paradox and Christianity, jointly and separately, vanished completely” . Therefore instead of inviting Kierkegaard to “take up that matter of the paradox” again, Eiríksson should himself first take up Christianity which, in his zeal, he had lost.
In the face of the continuing silence of "the professionals", a number of laypeople with religious interests, such as the religious author Andreas Daniel Pedrin (1823–1891) and the postal supervisor and author Jørgen Christian Theodor Faber (1824–1886), felt called to take a public stand against Eiríksson’s views..
In Denmark, on the whole, Eiríksson’s late writings provoked a wide spectrum of reactions. These ranged in tone from radical rejection at one extreme, to open professions of sympathy for Eiríksson and his message at the other end.
In his native Iceland, however, Eiríksson’s reception was almost uniformly harsh. There his much-discussed book The Gospel of John (1863) sparked fierce controversy: not only theologians like Sigurður Melsteð (1819–1895), but also the Catholic priests Jean-Baptiste Baudoin
(1831–1875) and Bernard Bernard
(1821–1895) felt compelled to take a stand against him.
In Sweden, by contrast, Eiríksson’s thought found more fertile soil—thanks above all to the "freethinking pastor" Nils Johan Ekdahl
(1799–1870), who translated two of Eiríksson’s books into Swedish.. It is not by chance that, in 1877, Eiríksson’s final publications appeared in Swedish newspapers and periodicals–most prominently in the journal Sanningssökaren ["The Truth-Seeker"].
Had Eiríksson's supporters and friends not arranged a modest annuity to supplement his state pension, Eiríksson would surely have suffered acute financial distress during his final years. In mid-1878, Eiríksson was even provided with funds to make a brief return to Iceland, but his failing health made such a visit impossible. After his death on July 3, 1881, at Frederiks Hospital
in Copenhagen, Eiríksson’s friends set up a mounted bust on his grave in Garnisons Kirkegård.
Hans Lassen Martensen
Hans Lassen Martensen was a Danish bishop and academic.- Early life :Martensen was born in a middle-class Lutheran family in Flensburg, Duchy of Schleswig , as their only son. At that time Schleswig was a duchy between Holstein and Denmark...
(1808–1884) in Copenhagen.
Due to his very critical attitude towards the church dogma, especially the dogmas of the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
of God and the Divinity of Christ, in contrast to which he stressed (at least in his late work) the essential unity of God and the leadership of Jesus (merely) as prophet and teacher, Eiríksson often was labeled as a “pioneer” or “precursor” to the Unitarian movement
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
in Denmark.
Childhood and study of theology
Magnús Eiríksson was born the eldest of the five children of Eiríkur Grímsson († 1812), a farmer, and Þorbjörg Stephánsdóttir († 1841), a pastor’s daughter, in Skinnalón, Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla, on the northeastern tip of Iceland. In 1831, he left for Copenhagen to take the university entrance examination. He then remained in Copenhagen until his death in 1881. Eiríksson studied theologyTheology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
at the University of Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...
, where he was deeply influenced by Professor Henrik Nicolai Clausen
Henrik Nicolai Clausen
Henrik Nicolai Clausen was a Danish theologian and national liberal statesman.-Biography:Henrik Nicolai Clausen was born in the island of Lolland...
(1793–1877), who represented a form of theological rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
which appealed to him. After obtaining his degree in 1837, Eiríksson became a tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
to theology students (manuduktør), among whom he enjoyed considerable popularity.
Eiríksson as an opponent of Martensen
Unlike to Clausen’s rationalism, Eiríksson was very critical to H. L. Martensen’s speculative theology, which he violently attacked in various publications from 1844 to 1850. His basic point was that faith was based on reason, and “only that which can be accepted by reason can and should be accepted by faith” . Martensen refused to become involved in polemic with Eiríksson, and remained completely silent. This silence so irritated Eiríksson that in 1847 he wrote a letter to King Christian VII denouncing Martensen’s silence as “inexcusable, dishonest and dishonorable” and demanding that Martensen be relieved of his professorship at Copenhagen University. His accusations against Martensen were violent and uncontrolled, but at the same time he also attacked the Government’s alleged absolutism. As a result, the public prosecutor was ordered to institute proceedings against him. With the king’s death in 1848, however, and the general amnesty which accompanied his successor, Frederik VII’s, accession to the throne, these were dropped.Eiríksson’s attack on Martensen harmed himself most, particularly financially, as the students, in sympathy with their famous professor, stopped using Eiríksson as a tutor. His financial situation became particularly bad, and he (at least) twice wrote to Søren Kierkegaard asking for help, but Kierkegaard refused.
Eiríksson as an unwelcome ally of Kierkegaard
In his attack on speculative theology, and especially on Martensen’s, Eiríksson thought he had an ally in Søren Kierkegaard and Kierkegaard’s Concluding Unscientific Postscript (1846) supported him in this claim. Kierkegaard, however, vigorously protested against this “unauthorized acknowledgment” of his writings by “that raging Roland” and accused Eiríksson of attributing to him motives of which there is not a trace in the book. Regarding Eiríksson’s efforts to get Martensen dismissed, Kierkegaard comments: “And with the violence and force of the Devil he has involved my ‘Concluding Unscientific Postscript’ in his … campaign. … I do not know either whether M.E. has read the book. But if he has read it, I do know that he has absolutely, mendaciously and presumptuously misunderstood it”In 1850 Eiríksson published pseudonymously [Theophilus Nicolaus] his book Er Troen et Paradox og ‘i Kraft af det Absurde’? [Is Faith a Paradox and ‘by Virtue of the Absurd’?] where he criticized Kierkegaard’s account of faith. Eiríksson declared that faith must not be made into a paradox, for “when faith is genuine and strong, it has its firm base and deep root in the immediate intellectual faculty in man, which we call reason.” Faith understood as a paradox “annuls and destroys all independent thought.” In his (albeit unpublished) answer to Theophilus Nicolaus, alias Eiríksson, Kierkegaard claims that Eiríksson has completely misunderstood his works and quite overlooked their main concern. In his zeal to prove that faith was not in any way a paradox, Eiríksson – according to Kierkegaard – had lost Christianity: “Both the paradox and Christianity, jointly and separately, vanished completely” . Therefore instead of inviting Kierkegaard to “take up that matter of the paradox” again, Eiríksson should himself first take up Christianity which, in his zeal, he had lost.
The periods of silence (1850–1863) and harsh criticism of Christian dogmatic theology (1863-74)
With the exception of a few articles Eiríksson remained silent in the period 1850–1863. In these years he went through a spiritual crisis. He came to see clearly that the Church’s doctrine that God became man in and through Jesus Christ had to be rejected, for it would have the result of leading to the deification of man. German biblical criticism and, in particular, the influence of the Tübingen School caused him to break radically with Johannine and Pauline theology. In Jøder og Christne [Jews and Christians] (1871) Eiríksson drew the ultimate conclusion and explained that Judaism, which in his terminology meant an immediate childlike trust in God, was the only true religion. Jesus had only wanted to purify Judaism, and it is to purified Judaism that we must return.In the face of the continuing silence of "the professionals", a number of laypeople with religious interests, such as the religious author Andreas Daniel Pedrin (1823–1891) and the postal supervisor and author Jørgen Christian Theodor Faber (1824–1886), felt called to take a public stand against Eiríksson’s views..
In Denmark, on the whole, Eiríksson’s late writings provoked a wide spectrum of reactions. These ranged in tone from radical rejection at one extreme, to open professions of sympathy for Eiríksson and his message at the other end.
In his native Iceland, however, Eiríksson’s reception was almost uniformly harsh. There his much-discussed book The Gospel of John (1863) sparked fierce controversy: not only theologians like Sigurður Melsteð (1819–1895), but also the Catholic priests Jean-Baptiste Baudoin
Jean-Baptiste Baudoin
Jean-Baptiste Baudoin was a French Catholic priest and missionary in Iceland.-Life:...
(1831–1875) and Bernard Bernard
Bernard Bernard
Bernard Bernard was a French Catholic priest and missionary in Norway, Iceland and Scotland. He was the first Prefect Apostolic of Norway and Lapland from 1869 to 1887.-Life:...
(1821–1895) felt compelled to take a stand against him.
In Sweden, by contrast, Eiríksson’s thought found more fertile soil—thanks above all to the "freethinking pastor" Nils Johan Ekdahl
Nils Johan Ekdahl
Nils Johan Ekdahl was a Swedish theologian, political writer and cultural historian....
(1799–1870), who translated two of Eiríksson’s books into Swedish.. It is not by chance that, in 1877, Eiríksson’s final publications appeared in Swedish newspapers and periodicals–most prominently in the journal Sanningssökaren ["The Truth-Seeker"].
Had Eiríksson's supporters and friends not arranged a modest annuity to supplement his state pension, Eiríksson would surely have suffered acute financial distress during his final years. In mid-1878, Eiríksson was even provided with funds to make a brief return to Iceland, but his failing health made such a visit impossible. After his death on July 3, 1881, at Frederiks Hospital
Frederiks Hospital
The royal Frederiks Hospital was Denmark's first hospital in the present-day meaning of the word. It was founded by king Frederik V and financed by the earnings from the Norwegian Postal Service....
in Copenhagen, Eiríksson’s friends set up a mounted bust on his grave in Garnisons Kirkegård.
Main Works
- Om Baptister og Barnedaab [On Baptists and Infant Baptism], Copenhagen 1844.
- Tro, Overtro og Vantro [Faith, Superstition and Heresy], Copenhagen 1846.
- Dr. Martensens trykte moralske Paragrapher [Dr. Martensen’s Printed Moral Paragraphs], Copenhagen 1846.
- Speculativ Rettroenhed [Speculative Orthodoxy], Copenhagen 1849.
- [Theophilus Nicolaus], Er Troen et Paradox og “i Kraft af det Absurde”? [Is Faith a Paradox and ‘by Virtue of the Absurd’?], Copenhagen 1850.
- Den nydanske Theologies Cardinaldyder [Modern Danish Theology’s Cardinal Virtues], Copenhagen 1850.
- Om Johannes-Evangeliet [About the Gospel of John], Copenhagen 1863.
- Gud og Reformatoren [God and the Reformator], Copenhagen 1866.
- Paulus og Christus [Paul and Christ], Copenhagen 1871.
- Jøder og Christne [Jews and Christians], Copenhagen 1873.
Secondary Literature on Eiríksson
- Eiríkur Albertsson, Magnús Eiríksson, guðfræði hans og trúarlíf (doctoral dissertation), Reykjavík 1938.
- Stephen Hole Fritchman, Men of Liberty. Ten Unitarian Pioneers. With illustr. by Hendrik Willem van Loon, Boston 1944, pp. 163–180.
- Emanuel Skjoldager, "An Unwanted Ally: Magnus Eiriksson," in: Bibliotheca Kierkegaardiana, vol. 12 (1983), pp. 102–108
- Jóhanna Þráinsdóttir, "Er trúin þverstæða? Gagnrýni Magnúsar Eiríkssonar á trúarskoðunum Kierkegaards í 'Ugg og ótta'," in: Tímarit Máls og menningar, vol. 61 (2000), pp. 35–45.
- Gerhard Schreiber, "Eiríksson, Magnús," in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, vol. 28 (2007), pp. 517–538.
- Gerhard Schreiber, "Ist der Glaube ein Paradox und “kraft des Absurden”? – Kierkegaards Auseinandersetzung mit Magnús Eiríksson," in: Kierkegaard and Faith, ed. by Roman Králik (et al.), Barcelona, Nitra, Málaga, Mexico City 2008, pp. 34-47.
- David D. Possen, "On Kierkegaard’s Copenhagen Pagans," in: ‘Christian Discourses‘ and ‘The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress‘, ed. by Robert L. Perkins, Macon, GA 2008 (International Kierkegaard Commentary, vol 17), pp. 35–59, especially pp. 43–47.
- Gerhard Schreiber: "Eiríksson: An Opponent of Martensen and an Unwelcome Ally of Kierkegaard," in: Kierkegaard and His Danish Contemporaries, Tome II: Theology, ed. by Jon Stewart, Aldershot 2009 (KRSSR 7/II), pp. 49–94.
- Vilhjálmur Árnason: "'Neglect and Misunderstanding'”: The Reception of Kierkegaard in Iceland," in: Kierkegaard's International Reception, Tome I: Northern and Western Europe, ed. by Jon Stewart, Aldershot 2009 (KRSRR 8/I), pp. 219–236.