Nietzche's Echo—A Dialogue with Thomas Altizer

• Published in: Journal of religion and health 2010-03, Vol.49 (1), p.118-137
• Main Author: Moss, David M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Altizer; Christian history; Christianity; Church fathers; Communication; Germany; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Humans; Literature; Nietzche; Prophets; Psychoanalysis; Religious literature; Religious practices; Seminary; The Heart Has Its Reasons: The Personal Search for Meaning in Story, Poetry, Prayer and the Arts; Theology; United States; Universities
• ISSN: 0022-4197; 1573-6571
• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-009-9239-9

Prophets provoke psychological unrest, especially when exposing accepted beliefs as profound deceptions. The biblical prophets exemplify such confrontation as do certain atheists ardently opposed to the images of God created by those seers. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche dramatically illustrates this type of counterforce to the Judeo-Christian tradition. His prophet Zarathustra is intended to be a model for the modern mind, one free of superstitions inflicted by antiquated religious dogma. Nietzsche's credo "God is dead" served as a declaration for the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, it became a theological diagnosis. As a "movement," or "tenor," the death of God or radical theology was spearheaded by Thomas Altizer, a well-published young professor center-staged during the turbulent 1960s. His work foreshadows a new strain of atheism currently represented by biologist Richard Dawkins (2006, The God delusion. New York: Houghton Mifflin), philosopher Daniel Dennett (2006, Breaking the spell. New York: Penquin), neuroscientist Sam Harris (2004, The end of faith. New York: W.W. Norton; 2008, Letter to a Christian nation. New York: Vintage), journalist Christopher Hitchens (2007, God is not great. New York: Twelve), and mathematician John Allen Paulos (Paulos 2008, Irreligion. New York: Hill & Wang). This twenty-first century crusade against belief in God is best understood as a psychodynamic ignited by Altizer's Christian atheism. The present dialogue reflects that dynamic while the prologue and epilogue reveal evidence of Providence amidst claims of God's demise in contemporary history.