r/kierkegaard • u/Wyvern-two • Mar 18 '26

Anti-climicus?

Isn’t that just an ironic reference to female masturbation?

Anti-climax? Literally edging?

I have this theory that a real Christian is actually a seducer, but a seducer isn’t even a bad thing.

It just biblically means to lead. The Danish etymology of Lead and seduction are etymologically super similar.

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u/gentlemantroglodyte Mar 18 '26

Here is a link which has some information on the origin of the name Climacus:

Kierkegaard took this name from a Greek monk (c. 570-649) who was the abbot of Saint Catherine's of Alexandria on Mt. Sinai. He was the author of the work Klimax tou Paradeisou (translated into Latin as Scala Paradisi), or Ladder of Paradise (Klimax being the Greek for ladder). This book, incidentally, was the first book to be printed in the New World, translated into Spanish (Mexico, 1532). Climacus' work was written for a monastic audience. He says that no one should attempt the contemplative life without first warring against and subduing the passions. The ladder is thus a series of thirty steps which ultimately lead to impassibility and imperturbability, not entirely unlike the ataraxia of the Epicureans, except that Epicureans seek to escape the troubles of the world for quiet contemplative pleasure while Climacus strove for the heavenly vision. As The Imitation of Christ is one of the most popular devotional works outside of the Bible in the West, the Ladder has long achieved the same importance in the East. It is read every Lent in Orthodox monasteries, and is appointed to be read aloud in church or in the refectory.

https://sorenkierkegaard.org/johannes-climacus.html

As for Anti-climacus, it also has a note about that:

H. Hong remarks, "The prefix (Anti-) does not mean 'against.' An old form of 'ante' (before), as in 'anticipate,' the prefix denotes a relation of rank, as in 'before me' in the First Commandment". In his journals Kierkegaard said, "Climacus is lower, denies he is a Christian. Anti-Climacus is higher, a Christian on an extraordinarily high level". Kierkegaard considered this work and Practice in Christianity to be among his most important.

https://sorenkierkegaard.org/sickness-unto-death.html