ABSTRACT
Julius Müller was a famous nineteenth-century theologian who initially taught at Halle University and made a name for himself especially as dogmatist and scholarly defender of the Protestant Union. Müller’s reputation as dogmatist is based upon his chief work, The Christian Doctrine of Sin. It represents the classic outline of the Protestant doctrine of sin in German-speaking theology of the nineteenth century. Kierkegaard knew Müller’s monograph, which had grown to two volumes in its second edition;1 he dealt with the first one-volume edition2 both critically and approvingly within the scope of his own works regarding the problem of human sin. We will later go into more detail regarding Kierkegaard’s demonstrable references to Müller. However, it would be a mistake to attempt to comprehend Kierkegaard’s reception of Müller’s thinking solely based on the handwritten notes which discuss Müller directly. It is no secret to anyone who has studied Müller’s doctrine of sin as a whole that there are points of overlap between Kierkegaard and him as regards both their fundamental opposition to contemporary speculative theology and philosophy and the emphasis on and exposition of the topic of sin. And whoever follows Müller’s own career from a grammar school pupil to a student of jurisprudence and later, to a theologian, receives, in addition, the impression that-in a similar, however, not so extreme way as with Kierkegaard-the experience of individual sin and guilt and the struggle for the firm ground of individual existence shaped Müller’s path to theology decisively.
