Something on Nitzsche I quoted on Facebook today and just want to store here. I have come across this idea several times now with those who refuse an external moral code, that speaking of forgiveness is not necessary, either. It is said that it is good to uncover evil, (especially in others), but forgiveness need not be spoken of. That would make confession without absolution. This is something we find all over the place, even in Christian denominations. As Lutherans we stress, that the importance lies on the absolution, in as much as the gospel is what we preach.
Source: "Ideas of the great Philosophers" by William and Mabel Sahakian. p. 51.
Source: "Ideas of the great Philosophers" by William and Mabel Sahakian. p. 51.
Nietzsche accused Judeo-Christian religious leaders of using
religion as a means of turning natural moral values upside down, so that the
master race became the slaves, and the slaves became the masters. The slaves, said he, became priests
representing the omnipotent god and threatened their masters with divine
punishment unless they, the masters, accept a humble, servile role as obedient
servants of the slaves. Nietzsche called
for a revaluation of all values, the repudiation of Judeo-Christian
values. (Note the kinship of this
philosophy to that of Adolph Hitler, although Nietzsche’s aristocrats were to
be found in many nations, not in one only.)
Nietzsche’s superman is a moral giant endowed with physical
superiority. He is a member of a race to
come; no one has yet achieved this high goal, for the best of men have fallen
short. The Nietzschean concept of
Superman would require him to be a being who combined the might and majesty of
Caesar with the moral superiority of Jesus.
Just as man is superior to the ape, so the superman will be distinctly superior
to man. As a morally superior creation,
superman never needs to grant forgiveness [!!!], for he would promptly forget
or ignore any wrongs done him. In fact,
he has forgiven even before he has been wronged. In spirit he is like Jesus on the cross,
asking god to forgive his enemies.
Nietzsche asserted that Jesus was an ideal model for Christians, but
they had failed to imitate that model and, consequently, “there was only one
Christian and he died on the cross.”
4 comments:
I was forced to read Nietzsche for my undergrad degree in philosophy.
I'd rather have my fingernails pulled off slowly then have to read Nietzsche again.
We need to trace this whole development from rationalism to romanticism, to Nietzsche and this whole anti-Christian understanding of man and his possibilities for evolution. Somehow, it is also connected to Eastern religious thought incorporated by the philosophers.
Nietzsche, perhaps, we can be content reading in summarized form. :)
Nietzsche hated a breed of Christianity that would have repulsed most Christians living today. Christian values, for centuries, were so mean-spirited and self-loathing, who could respect anyone that didn't hate them?
Where do you get that from Steven? (nice to meet you here)
I'm from Germany and I know something of the scene there and the history of Christianity, there.
"Christian values, for centuries, were so mean-spirited and self-loathing." What do you mean?
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