Jesus Christ In Der Antichrist By Nietzsche

Secular humanists have not infrequently criticized the beliefs andpractices of the Christian religion, and its harmful effects oncivilization and culture. Unfortunately, their voice is seldom heard. Theproponents of the Christian world-view vastly outnumber secularists bothin number and in activity. While humanists wonder what they they can doto more effectively convey their criticisms of religion, most of them havenever read, and indeed have barely even heard of, a book written exactlya century ago containing the most devastating and complete philosophicalattack on Christian psychology, Christian beliefs and Christian valuesever written: Nietzsche’s Der Antichrist.1888was the final productive year of the life of Friedrich Nietzsche,but it was a year of incredible activity. He wrote five books during asix-month period in the latter part of that year. After that, he wrotenothing. Nietzsche’s works of1888have not received enough attention,especially given the inclination of many to concentrate primarily on theflamboyant and somewhat confusing Also Spracht Zarathustra, a book ofintricate allegories and parables which requires that one alreadyunderstand the principal elements of Nietzschean thought in order todecipher its hidden relationships and meanings. Zarathustra will beclearer if it is read at the end of a course of study of Nietzsche, notat the beginning.The first book of1888was The Case of Wagner, in which Nietzsche set forthhis aesthetic and philosophical objections to the music and the writingsof his former close friend Richard Wagner, which was then leading apowerful rising tide of German ultra-nationalism and anti-Semetism. Nextcame The Twilight of the Idols (in German, Die Gotzen-dammerung, anobvious parody of Wagner’s Die Gotterdammerung,"The Twilight of theGods"), in which he criticizes romanticism, Schopenhauer’s pessimism,German culture, Socrates’ acceptance of death as a "healing" of thedisease of life, Christianity, and a good many other things. Then, inSeptember of1888, Nietzsche wrote Der Antichrist.Unlike Zarathustra, there can be no mistaking the language or theintention of Der Antichrist, a work of exceedingly clear prose andseldom-equalled polemics. Even today, the depth of Nietzsche’s contemptfor everything Christianity represents will surprise and shock manypeople, and not only devout Christians. Unlike other critics of religion, Nietzsche’s attack extends beyond religious theology toChristian-derived concepts that have spread out far beyond theirecclesiastical origins, to the very core of the value-system of Western,Christianized society.Der Antichrist begins with a warning that "This book belongs to the veryfew," perhaps to no one yet living. Nietzsche hints that only those whohave already mastered the obscure symbolism of his Zarathustra couldappreciate this work. Warnings aside, he begins by sketching the idea ofdeclining vs. ascending life and culture. An animal, a species, or anindividual is "depraved" or "decadent" when it loses its instincts forthat which sustains its life, and "prefers what is harmful to it.". Lifeitself presupposes an instinct for growth, for sustinence, for "the willto power", the striving for some degree of control and mastery of one’ssurroundings. Christianity sets itself up in opposition to thoseinstincts, and hence Christianity is an expression of decadence, anegation of the will to life...