What impact did Friedrich Nietzsche have on the Christian faith?

Answer

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) was born in Röcken, Prussia, to a Lutheran pastor who ultimately died of a brain disease. The women in Nietzsche’s life (mother, sister, two aunts, and grandmother) strongly influenced his early years. Despite receiving a strict religious upbringing, Nietzsche initially rejected Christianity during college and more vehemently while serving in the Prussian medical corps.

Philosophically, Nietzsche was influenced by figures such as Heraclitus (concept of becoming), Kant (agnosticism), Schopenhauer (atheism), Darwin (evolution), F. A. Lange (materialism), and Voltaire (anti-Christianity, anti-supernaturalism). Nietzsche’s notable works include “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” “Beyond Good and Evil,” “The Genealogy of Morals,” “The Antichrist,” and “Ecce Homo,” an autobiography penned towards the end of his life.

Nietzsche’s philosophical inclination leaned towards existentialism; he was among the few existentialists to acknowledge that life lacks ultimate meaning without God (i.e., nihilism) and objective moral values. Regarding morality, Nietzsche conceded, “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist” (paraphrased from “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” translated by Walter Kaufmann, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 195).

Nietzsche vehemently opposed Christianity and famously proclaimed the death of God in his 1882 short work, “The Parable of the Madman.” However, he recognized that his rejection of the Christian faith was not based on reason but on volition: “It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments” (quoted by Henri Lubac, “The Drama of Atheist Humanism,” Ignatius Press, 1995, p. 49). Being a proponent of evolution and the survival of the fittest, Nietzsche held a strong disdain for Christ due to the compassion He showed towards the weak and marginalized: “What is more harmful than any vice?—Practical sympathy for the bot…”

Friedrich Nietzsche criticized Christianity as a religion for the herd and the weak—Christianity. Mankind doesn’t owe its existence solely to mere tolerance and humanitarianism (The Antichrist, translated by H. L. Mencken, Alfred A. Knopf, 1924, pp. 43, 63). This perspective likely influenced his anti-Semitism: “The entire history of Israel lost its significance: discard it!” (ibid., p. 84).

Similar to many atheists, Nietzsche incorrectly perceived the Christian faith as an epistemology (a method for acquiring knowledge) rather than a response to previously acquired knowledge: “But when faith is elevated above all else, it leads to the discrediting of reason, knowledge, and patient inquiry: the path to truth becomes forbidden” (ibid., p. 76). He even went as far as to state, “Whatever a theologian deems true must be false: this is almost a truth criterion” (ibid., pp. 51–52, emphasis in the original).

Fundamentally, Nietzsche’s philosophy revolved around a disdain for and denial of love. Regarding love, he expressed, “When a man is in love, he endures more than at any other time; he submits to anything. The challenge was to create a religion that would permit one to love: through this, life’s worst aspects are conquered—it is hardly even noticed.—Thus, the three Christian virtues: faith, hope, and love, I label them the three Christian clevernesses” (ibid., p. 77, emphasis in the original).

In 1889, at 44 years old, Nietzsche experienced a psychotic breakdown and was institutionalized in Basel, Switzerland. He was later moved to the asylum in Jena, Germany. For over a year, Nietzsche remained in a state of complete mental collapse, eventually passing away in August 1900.

Today, Nietzsche’s relativism, naturalism, and nihilism continue to influence philosophy, art, and culture. His rebellious rejection of religion, particularly Christianity, and his promotion of violence and self-interest contrast sharply with biblical love and selflessness. Various individuals still find inspiration in his provocative ideas.

Many scholars have tried, with limited success, to blend Nietzsche’s concepts with religion, giving rise to philosophies like “Christian atheism.”