Verbal Vomit:

                                                         Nietzsche and Christianity

           

I would interpret Nietzsche’s “Madman” as a blatant illustration of himself and the message that he wished to communicate to the world through his work. Nietzsche portrays himself as a madman because he realizes that he is one of few that have become aware of the ideology of human reason, virtue, and morality that occurs within Christianity. The death of God that Nietzsche speaks about is the death of this ideology. More simply put, the death of anthropomorphism. Nietzsche saw that through this ideology of virtue, reason, and morality we make ourselves a slave to them through our worship of them. We then only find a meaningful existence through our acting out of this type of morality, which causes us to lose focus of the true intrinsic value of life, thus life cannot be truly lived. Being one of few able to see this major tragedy within Christendom in his time, Nietzsche knew that he would be the “madman” speaking of things so foreign on critical issues to the listeners of his time. Nietzsche is still the madman today, speaking of things that desperately need to be investigated by today’s Christian, so that they can take up their knife and put God to death. Put anthropomorphism to death so that life can be truly lived.

The path I will take to illustrate my interpretation of Nietzsche’s “madman” will be to first, briefly shed some light on Nietzsche’s personal perspective as it was shaped by his upbringing. Second, I will expound on Nietzsche’s meaning behind the statement “God is dead” with the help of several scholarly sources. Thirdly, I will conclude my interpretation with how I see Nietzsche’s message as being of critical importance to Christianity with how we view and proceed towards reason, virtue, and morality in our attempts to truly live a life of freedom as followers of Christ.

Nietzsche was raised in a strong Christian home in the Lutheran tradition. With several relatives as ministers and his mother’s strength of faith, it is safe to assume that Christian beliefs came naturally to Nietzsche. At age thirteen Nietzsche wrote the following: “I have firmly resolved within me to dedicate myself for ever to His service. May the dear Lord give me strength and power to carry out my intention and protect me on my life’s way.” (Benson, 71) As strong of an influence as his mother was in the practical area of faith, she unfortunately lacked any theological reflection or sophistication entirely.  His aunt Rosalie was a dominant theological figure in Nietzsche’s life that lead him to seek a more rational approach to the Christianity of his time. Through these two dominating pictures of faith in Nietzsche’s life, he became more and more skeptical of Christianity to the point that he rejected it completely. In any case, despite the fact that Nietzsche’s skepticism was a personal phenomenon, it clearly reflected the culture of the time. Whereas belief in God had once been a dominant part of European culture, it was on the wane in Nietzsche’s day. Thus Nietzsche’s loss of faith seems to be the result of a realization that educated people of his day were finding religious belief decreasingly acceptable. His own move from devout faith to disbelief, then, parallels what he sees as the wider cultural shift. (Benson, 72)

It is with this understanding that we can now label who the “we” is in “we have killed him!”. It is clear that he is the madman and the others in the square are his educated peers and other radical thinkers of his time who shared disbelief in God. When the madman, says aloud that God is dead he is met with astonishment. Perhaps it was because although everyone was thinking it, no one was yet comfortable in proclaiming it or hearing it. This is indicated in the prophetic nature of the madman’s words towards the end of the story such as “I came to early”, and “I am not at the right time.” (Pojman, 186) Nietzsche knows that the death of God is the desired outcome of his and his peer’s work, but he feels that he is alone in this knowledge, hence why he dubs himself as the madman.  He puts himself in this role of the madman because he is a foreigner to both Christian and atheist with a great deal to convey to both parties.

Focusing on what Nietzsche has to say to the Christian through this story of the “Madman”, it is clear through statements such as, “Whither do we move?” and “Do we not dash unceasingly? Backwards, sideways, forwards, in all directions?”(Pojman, 186) that he sees that without God, the Christian would have no meaning or identity, which leaves them in a very fearful and unknown position. However, with statements from Nietzsche such as, “My life has no aim and this is evident even from the accidental nature of its origin. That I can posit an aim for myself is another matter. But a state has no aim; we alone give it aim” (Pojman, 188) this state of unknown is the where all humans should in fact realize they are in. It is only in this state that humans can truly be free to posit an aim for themselves. This state in which to posit an aim for our lives can only be accessible through the death of God.

With how Nietzsche was raised and the intellectual climate that he cultivated his knowledge, I interpret the death of God in the story of the “madman” as the death to Christendom. Christendom in Nietzsche’s day was in stark contrast with the New Testament picture of Christianity therefore highly exemplifies our anthropomorphism of God. Nietzsche is right for wanting to put this God to death. We do truly become a slave to our morality once we determine through our human reasoning that the value of our lives is determined through some moral force. We then continuously justify life in this fashion and drastically overlook the life’s true value. For Nietzsche, life is simply valuable in itself; it needs no justification or “meaning”. He thinks that all claims along the lines of “Life is valuable because…” are wrongheaded. Life is intrinsically valuable, so it needs no further justification. (Benson, 83)  This attempt to justify life through this sense of moral value is an attempt to gain power and dominion over this life. The attempt to judge life places one above it. I become superior to life (since I and my reason become its measure), and in affect I take the place of God. (Benson, 83) We are then made slaves through this type of morality and indirectly become slaves to ourselves. When Nietzsche pronounces the death of God, he pronounces the death of what can be only an idol or an ideology. (Benson, 94) It is the death of this God that Christians should eagerly take up their weapons against. Because with the death of this God, humans are truly free to see life’s intrinsic value, posit an aim through which every choice is made their own on this intrinsic value, and where the true God can be worshiped unfettered by false idols.

                                                      Works Cited/Consulted

Benson, Bruce Ellis. Graven Ideologies: Nietzsche, Derrida & Marion on Modern Idolatry. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2002. Print.

Blackham, H. J. Six Existentialist Thinkers. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul LTD, 1952. Print.

Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. Twilight of the Idols, Or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Pub., 1997. Print.

Pojman, Louis P. Who Are We?: Theories of Human Nature. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.

Roberts, Tyler T. Contesting Spirit: Nietzsche, Affirmation, Religion. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1998. Print.