Date: Thu, 10 Aug 1995 19:38:08 +0200
From: Thomas Gramstad <thomasg-AT-ifi.uio.no>
Subject: Atheism (was: athiesm)


> However, is Nietzsche really THAT unreligious? Much of his
> writing, esp. Zarathustra, assumes the air of a holy text,

I think that assuming the style of religious oratory in
presenting an atheist and anti-religious message, is a
rhetorical touch of genius, at least when performed as in
Zarathustra; the work is a performance, opening up
possibilities, not an exposition of closed dogmatic beliefs.
Nietzsche expected his readers to disagree and argue
vigorously both with him and with each other.

Furthermore, aside from the rhetorical touch of genius, it
must be remembered that Nietzsche wanted to communicate a
sense of deep passions and strong values (many people seem to
equivocate these with the "religious"; but I would argue that
such an equivocation is just an attempt to bereave the
secular of strong passions and values) -- and this particular
style is well-suited for such a content.

> and one certainly can't understand Nietzsche without 
> understanding Christianity.

...and perhaps one can't understand Christianity without
understanding Nietzsche...

But rather than saying that one can't understand Nietzsche
without understanding Christianity, I'd rather say that one
can't understand Nietzsche fully without having some grasp of
his contemporary culture, and its history (of which
Christianity is an important ingredient).

> Did Nietzsche really think that the "death of God" was a
> good thing? I often get the feeling that it was a fact that
> he thought must be accepted, but did he really celebrate
> it?

I'm astonished at this suggestion; few people are more
explicitly exuberant about the death of Christianity and its
value system than Nietzsche.  To mention just a few examples
off the top of my head: "Existence is holy enough";
"Christianity is a rebellion of everything that crawls on the
ground against everything that has height"; or see one of the
introductory themes in Zarathustra, about the three stages
that one must pass through in order to overcome the Christian
morale of slavery and death worship: the camel, who must
carry evrything; the lion, who must kill and destroy
everything; and the child, who must start anew learning and
building passions and values when all the remnants of
Christianity has been overcome.

---------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Gramstad                        thomasg-AT-ifi.uio.no


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