ABSTRACT
The lexical meaning of Taalmod (from the Old Danish tolmodh) and Taalmodighed (from the Old Danish tholmodughet, tolmodighed) is patience, but it is associated with endurance as well.1
Kierkegaard’s most direct and comprehensive considerations of patience are in his early upbuilding discourses, where one can find it in “To Gain One’s Soul in Patience,”2 “To Preserve One’s Soul in Patience,”3 and “Patience in Expectancy”4all of which were published under his own name between December 1843 and March 1844. Otherwise, his considerations of patience are comparatively brief and contextualized within other themes, notably in Either/Or,5 Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits,6 and Works of Love.7 While Kierkegaard’s understanding of patience underwent minimal change throughout his authorship, over time his attention did shift from the patience of human beings to that of God.8 This article focuses primarily on the former, due to its greater prevalence, and concludes with a brief analysis of the latter.
