Nietzsche’s Philosophy of Religion

In his first book, The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche observes that Greek tragedy gathered people together as a community in the sight of their gods, and argues that modernity can be rescued from \'nihilism\' only through the revival of such a festival. This is commonly thought to be a view which did not survive the termination of Nietzsche\'s early Wagnerianism, but Julian Young argues, on the basis of an examination of all of Nietzsche\'s published works, that his religious communitarianism in fact persists through all his writings. What follows, it is argued, is that the mature Nietzsche is neither an \'atheist\', an \'individualist\', nor an \'immoralist\': he is a German philosopher belonging to a German tradition of conservative communitarianism - though to claim him as a proto-Nazi is radically mistaken. This important reassessment will be of interest to all Nietzsche scholars and to a wide range of readers in German philosophy.

• Rejects the ‘individualistic’ reading of Nietzsche common to virtually every Anglophone interpretation of his work • Sets Nietzsche in the context of nineteenth-century German thought, in which he can be properly understood • Young offers a chronological ride through all of Niezsche’s works and integrates all the major Niezschean themes into his discussion

Introduction; 1. Schopenhauer: on man’s need for metaphysics; 2. The birth of tragedy; 3. Untimely meditations; 4. Human, all too human; 5. The gay science; 6. Zarathustra; 7. Beyond good and evil; 8. The genealogy of morals; 9. The Wagner case; 10. Twilight of the idols; 11. The antichrist; 12. Ecce homo; Epilogue: Nietzsche in history.

\'Julian Young offers a comprehensive, profound, yet consistently lively and engaging overview of Nietzsche\'s almost obsessive reflections on religion. Young\'s claim is that instead of rejecting all religion, Nietzsche tries to revive a richer, ‘healthier’ religious life that existed in earlier times, one that gives us a meaningful way of understanding community, commitment, devotion, the fact of death, and even the ‘gods’.\'

– Charles Guignon, University of South Florida