Nietzsche, Psychohistory, and the Birth of Christianity _

Subjects:

• Philosophy » Philosophy (General)
• Philosophy » History of Philosophy
• Religious Studies » History of Religion

Reviews:

• Rempel is among a growing number of philosophers who take seriously Nietzsche's declaration in Ecce Homo that "a psychologist without equal speaks from my writings." And in this exemplary study, Rempel elucidates quite well how Nietzsche used his distinctive method of genealogical analysis--here conceptualized as "psychohistory"--to trace "the birth of Christianity" to the subterranean fears and desires that animated both the psyches and outward behavior of Jesus, Saint Paul, and the first Christians....Highly recommended for all academic libraries. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty.
  —Choice September 2003
• Sympathetic to Nietzsche's project, Morgan Rempel has provided Nietzsche scholars with a detailed monograph on Nietzsche's psychological history of Christianity, whose chief value, I suspect lies particularly in its extended exposition and treatment of Nietzsche's analyses of St. Paul, certainly a much neglected area in the Nietzsche literature Nietzsche, Psychohistory, and the Birth of Christianity admirably fills this lacuna and therefore must be recommended to Nietzsche scholars working in the area of Nietzsche and Christianity, and indeed more generally to scholars in the area of Nietzsche, psychology and religion.
  —Studies in Religion 2004

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Early Psychological Observation: Pre-Antichrist Reflection on Jesus
• The Psychology of the Redeemer: The Antichrist's Jesus
• The Death of Jesus: Zarathustra and the Antichrist
• The Road to Damascus
• Christian Misunderstandings
• The Genius of Paul
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index