For Friedrich Nietzsche, Christianity, as we know it, is a corruption of Christ's original message that emphasized a simple, blissful acceptance of one's reality without anger and resentment at anyone.
The Apostles however disregarded this message and created a religion through which they express their resentment at the upper class of society and then subsequently try to exact revenge against this group. Friedrich Nietzsche reveals the dishonest, sinister, and vengeful motivations behind seemingly noble Christian ethics and then notes their influence on contemporary Western philosophy and morality. Nietzsche believes that Christian morality targets the strong and so delegitimizes the values associated with them by designating them as sin. The natural inclinations to pleasure, to vital energetic exertions, to spirited control of one’s environment for one’s good, is vilified as demonic, sinful, and bad. Because the instinct toward self-preservation and physical and mental advancement is frowned upon by Christian morality, Nietzsche predicts a corruption of the human race. It is this decadence that he associates with and criticizes in Christianity.
Although Nietzsche grew up in a pious protestant home, the content of “The Antichrist” is noted for its strong condemnation of Christianity. Nietzsche’s break with Christianity was a consequence of his University education in philology and theology.
His studies in philology allowed him to observe the development of cultures across different societies at different periods. His fascination with early Greek civilization and cultural outlook led him to see the more restrictive moral system of Western Europe in a different, less exciting light.
He was also exposed to the philosophical works of religious skeptics like Arthur Schopenhauer as well as secular reconstruction of religious books by scholars too.
The realization that the miracles and fantastic events of the Bible were most likely false or exaggerated and the fact that much of what was written was written many generations after the fact led Nietzsche into a path of skepticism which when mixed with his disdain for Christian-influenced Western morality, led to full-on rebellion.
Nietzsche’s loss of faith was a traumatic event in his life and he believed a lot of atheists, skeptics, and philosophers who claimed independence from religion in their thoughts were not so independent. He believed that Christian morality seeped into Western philosophy and led to the creation of dominant moral systems that were only a continuation of decadent Christian values in disguised forms.
These beliefs led him to embark on a journey of exposing the ugliness behind Christian morality. Armed with his knowledge of anthropology, he sourced both Jewish and Christian morals and history to the propaganda of self-serving religious leaders who were either trying to acquire and retain power, or exact vengeance on select groups and classes in the society. He also shows how Christian values benefit neither the individual nor humanity as a whole in the long term.
“The Antichrist” is an anthropological survey of both Jewish and Christian history, a psychoanalytical diagnosis of certain important figures within this history, and finally a prescriptive moral philosophy that tries to nudge readers toward a revolutionary moral system.
In this respect, Nietzsche’s work is related to the anthropological, sociological, religious, critical, and moral philosophical works of history.
A few works that are related are:
Nietzsche’s strong denunciation of Christianity in “The Antichrist” has attracted diverse reactions from people over the years. His work was condemned by the Christian community, by Western allies during the world wars who thought Nietzsche’s work emphasized, “might is right” ideas, by historians and Christian apologetics who were not satisfied with Nietzsche’s reconstruction of Christian history, and many other groups with other bones to pick. Scholars like Walter Kaufman were able to successfully rehabilitate Nietzsche’s image and thoroughly divest it of the politics and ideologies unfairly and carelessly attached to him.
“The Antichrist” is not seen as the work of an immoralist who thinks the strong should do whatever they liked and that all evil was permitted, but rather the concerned voice of a philosopher who feels important aspects of our nature are being unreasonably suppressed by Christian morality. His attempts to stop the elevation of values that limited human expression and exertion has been lauded. Nietzsche has taught us to not feel guilty about our basic instincts toward self-preservation and enjoyment.
‘The Antichrist’ sees Nietzsche beam his searchlight on Christianity in an effort to expose its decadent values. The attack on Christianity is part of Nietzsche’s overall aim of forcing a radical reevaluation of values where we begin to see things differently and develop a more life-affirming morality
‘The Antichrist’ explores a range of themes that were presented with an equally varied array of stylistic choices. We take a look at some of the most important themes in the Antichrist.
Some of the most enduring quotes from ‘The Antichrist’ address in short succinct sentences Nietzsche’s issues with the historical falsification and intellectual dishonesty inherent in Christianity.
Nietzsche’s strong condemnation of Christianity in “The Antichrist” has attracted diverse reactions from people over the years. His work was condemned by the Christian church, by Western allies during the world wars who thought Nietzsche’s work emphasized “might is right” ideals; by historians and Christian apologetics who were not satisfied with Nietzsche’s reconstruction of Christian history and many other groups with other bones to pick.
Nietzsche wrote “The Antichrist” to be first among a proposed gigantic work concerning the re-evaluation of all values. Through the contents of the book, we see that the first of those values which he wants to extinguish had strong ties to Christianity, either as an expression of its direct doctrines or in disguised forms within the philosophy of supposedly secular philosophers.