Concerning the psychological type of the redeemer

Nietzsche on the methods of philosophy

Bibliographic Data

ID21603236
AuthorsAllison Merrick (0000-0003-0234-4221, Philosophy California State University San Marcos San Marcos California USA, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume31
Issue1
Pages151-162
Publication date2023-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejop.12774
OpenAlexW4220763040
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited12

In section 24 of The Antichrist , Nietzsche notes a problem namely “the origin of Christianity.” He offers two propositions toward its solution: the first is that “Christianity can only be understood on the soil where it grew:” and the second is that “the psychological type of the Galilean is still recognizable, but it had to assume a completely degenerate form (simultaneously mutilated and full of alien features) before it came to be used as a redeemer of humanity” ( A 24). Significantly this passage suggests that the origins of Christianity rest on a reinterpretation of the type of the redeemer. This paper seeks to clarify the nature of such a modification and to identify some of its key ramifications. After clarifying the type, the paper argues that the type, thus understood, serves as a link between the texts On the Genealogy of Morality and The Antichrist and, as such, reveals the connection between Nietzsche's genealogical methods and the wider project of reevaluation. Though this reading is not the standard interpretive strategy, the paper argues that it is the strategy that Nietzsche himself recommends

Aesthetics · Christianity · Epistemology · Humanity · Morality · Reinterpretation · Theology · Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Hegel · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Religious studies

Tools

Open DOI