ABSTRACT
The lexical meaning of the Danish word is to be summoned into a vocation or mission, as from birth. The term connotes meaning with regard to a person’s very life, that is, feeling a need to dedicate one’s life to some duty or purpose. Christian Molbech’s Dansk Ordbog cites several biblical examples of “calling.” These include the experiences of Job, who “heard a voice” calling to him from silence, and Jeremiah, who chastised his people for not answering the Lord, although “I [God] spoke to you persistently.”1 In a more mundane sense, the verb kalde can be used to send for someone (with the preposition på), or to call someone by name. The term figures most prominently in the works, Either/Or and The Book on Adler, but is also found in The Sickness unto Death, the edifying discourse on “Purity of Heart,” For Self-Examination, and with personal relevance to Kierkegaard in The Point of View.
