Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900; Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation; Philosophy
In their search for an explanation as to how God could have allowed
his "son" to be executed, they fell upon the theory that Christ's
death was a sacrifice for their sins, an expiation for their guilt.
From that time on, says Nietzsche, "there was gradually imported into
the type of the Saviour the doctrine of the Last Judgment, and of the
'second coming,' the doctrine of sacrificial death, and the doctrine of
_Resurrection,_ by means of which the whole concept 'blessedness,' the
entire and only reality of the gospel, is conjured away--in favour of
a state _after_ death." St. Paul then rationalised the conception by
introducing into it the doctrine of personal immortality by means of
having Christ rise from the dead; and he preached this immortality as
a reward for virtue. Thus, asserts Nietzsche, Christ's effort toward a
Buddhistic movement of peace, "toward real and _not_ merely promised
_happiness on earth"_ was controverted by his posterity. Nothing of
Christ's original doctrine remained, once Paul, the forger, set to work
to twist it to his own ends. Paul went further and by changing and
falsifying it turned all Jewish history into a _prophecy_ for his own
teachings. Thus the whole doctrine of Christ, the true meaning of his
death and the realities which he taught, were altered and distorted. In
short, Christ's life was used as a means for furthering the religion of
Paul, who gave to it the name of Christianity.
A most important part of "The Antichrist" is that passage wherein
Nietzsche defines his order of castes. Every healthy society, says he,
falls naturally into three separate and distinct types. These classes
condition one another and "gravitate differently in the psychological
sense." Each type has its own work, its own duties, its own emotions,
its own compensations and mastership. The first class, comprising the
rulers, is distinguished by its intellectual superiority. It devolves
upon this class "to represent happiness, beauty and goodness on earth."
The members of this superior class are in the minority, but they are
nevertheless the creators of values. "Their delight is self-mastery:
with them asceticism becomes a second nature, a need, an instinct. They
regard a difficult task as their privilege; to play with burdens which
crush their fellows is to them a _recreation."_ They are at once the
most honourable, cheerful and gracious of all men. The second class
is composed of those who relieve the first class of their duties and
execute the will of the rulers. They are the guardians of the law, the
merchants and professional men, the warriors and the judges. In brief,
they are the executors of the race. The third class is made up of
the workers, the lowest order of man--those destined for menial and
disagreeable tasks. "The fact," says Nietzsche, "that one is publicly
useful, a wheel, a function, presupposes a certain natural destiny: it
is not _society,_ but the only kind of _happiness_ of which the great
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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