Nietzsche, Jesus and a Critique of Christendom. Part I

I'm just finishing a class on Ethics and Morality in the Western World.  We've covered Immanuel Kant, Aristotle, J.S. Mill and Friedrich Nietzsche.  I'm going to write a four part series describing, analyzing and critiquing these four works in light of a Christian worldview.  I'll begin with Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a 19th century German philosopher who is known especially for his ideas of the "Overman" (Übermensch), "the death of God," and the "will to power."  His ideas have been all but ignored within theological circles, not least because of his scathing attacks on Christianity and Jesus.  Although most of his theological ideas were developed out of misreadings of the Bible, much of what he hated about Christianity came not from the texts but from the beliefs and actions of the common 19th century German Christian.  In the following paragraphs I'm going to look at two of Nietzsche's ideas: 1) His proclamation of the "death of God" and 2) his criticisms of Christian guilt and the apathy resulting from a misguided belief in the afterlife.

His "death of God" critique is usually seen as some sort of atheistic manifesto, but it is, in actuality, a mere description of what Nietzsche saw in the Christians of his day.  Many who were professing faith in the Christian God were living as if he didn't exist.  And since, for Nietzsche, God didn't exist outside of the deeds of human beings, when their deeds no longer bore witness to him, they had, in a sense, caused his death.  "God is dead.  God remains dead.  And we have killed him" (The Gay Science; Tr. Walter Kaufmann; italics added for emphasis).  Nietzsche wasn't simply making an atheistic proclamation; he was critiquing German Christendom.

Nietzsche thought that religion, especially the Christianity of 19th century Germany, was absolutely irreparably vile.  First, he thought that Christianity's claim that humans are so despicable that a god had to die for them was the source of the greatest guilt imaginable, and thus the source of both a denial of life and a rejection of the body and the world.  Although an accurate (contextual) reading of the New Testament shows that Nietzsche was confused in his interpretation of the text, his theology was the same as many Christians of his day--and ours.  Many see the cross as a source of great guilt, increasing their shame and mistrust with each passing day.  "And you did that again, after all Jesus has done for you?!  Shame on you!"  This thinking, even if primarily unconscious, was and is all too common.

Many Christians today see Jesus' death on the cross not as something which frees them from sin and guilt and shame, but--without recognizing God's love and grace and the victory of the cross--as something which heaps even greater shame and guilt upon them.

Second, Nietzsche saw the desire for the afterlife as a form of escapism leading to the cowardly rejection of life and an excuse for apathy and deadness of spirit.  He was, in many (descriptive) respects, correct.  For far too long Christians have turned a blind eye to the issues of the world and made comments like, "Oh well, I'm glad heaven is coming. I won't have to see all this garbage anymore."  In a sense, that statement holds some truth; every tear will be wiped away, there will be no more sex trafficking, no more AIDS, no more death, no more divorce, no more abused children.

And what a day that will be.  

But that does not mean that Christians ought to check out of this life and sit by 'til heaven.  In fact, I'm going to venture that individuals and communities who live with their backs to the world will be greatly disappointed when that Day comes.  "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16).

Nietzsche loathed the apathy and lack of vigor that he saw in the Christianity all around him.  His ideal man, the "Übermensch," was always overcoming, always vigorous in the face of trial, always fighting against his own, internal weaknesses.  He put this beautifully in a commonly misunderstood aphorism (and one much loved by the Nazis) in Thus Spoke Zarathustra: "You should love peace as a means to new wars--and the short peace more than the long" (Tr. Kaufmann).  He's urging his readers to avoid apathy in matters of the spirit, and although his ideal spirit is very different from that of Jesus', a Christian would do well to heed his call to vigorous life. 

Paul encouraged something similar, even with an allusion to war: "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops" (2 Timothy 2:3-6).

Paul was in a constant struggle with himself and the world.  Not out of shame; not to prove himself worthy, but because he knew his God and wanted desperately to make him known to others.  However, the struggle for the Christian, unlike that of Nietzsche's Übermensch, is not done in the power of the self.  It is not a self-overcoming.  The Christian struggle is energized by the surpassing power of God, the power that defeated death in the resurrection of the son of God.  This power is made available to the Christian through the Holy Spirit. (For more on the Holy Spirit, see Francis Chan's Forgotten God.)

Nietzsche did write horrific anti-Christian statements and he slandered Jesus himself, but we would do well to mind the critiques of Christendom which he put forward.