(1) A Calvinist Examination Of Friedrich Nietzsche's Philosophy

Friedrich Nietzsche was an atheist, an anarchist, and a nihilist. He is loved by some and despised by others. He hated Christianity--especially the Biblical Christianity which resurfaced at the Protestant Reformation. Calvinist Gordon H. Clark rightly called Nietzsche the philosopher of evolution (Thales To Dewey, page 492).

Nietzsche could care less about logical consistency. In fact, his irrationalism is legendary in the history of philosophy--ending in his own insanity soon after completing his final work titled "The Antichrist."

Despite his own inconsistent philosophy, despite his own Dionysian hedonism, Nietzsche did demonstrate a remarkable understanding of Christianity at times.

In his short work titled "Twilight Of The Idols," Nietzsche correctly points out that it is completely inconsistent to reject the God of the Bible, while maintaining the basic morality found in the Ten Commandments (such as "Thou Shalt Not Murder, Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Lie, and so on).

Nietzsche attacked the English, atheist tradition for attempting to reject the Christian God, while holding to Christian morality. Today, representatives of this particular atheist tradition would be men like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. But even more important, Nietzsche shows us that he understands the magnificient nature of Christianity, especially when he professes that Christianity is a complete comprehensive world-view, coherent in all its parts, logically consistent, and even above criticism--if one accepts the Bible as true.

When Nietzsche finally did give up the whole of Christianity, then he necessarily gave up logical thinking as well. The only thing left after one casts out logical thinking is insanity!

When it is all said and done, the Bible is justified for stating that "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalm 14:1).

Bibliography:

1) Nietzsche, Friedrich, "The Twilight Of The Idols", Dover Publications, Mineola, New York, 2004.

2) Clark, Gordon H., "Thales To Dewey," Trinity Foundation, Hobbes, New Mexico, 1997.

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Education

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• Friedrich
• Nietzsche
• Calvinism
• Philosophy
• Logic
• Christianity
• Apologetics