God ( should he exist) isn’t welcome in the Saunterer’s house. He’s criminal, and Nietzsche thought so too:
A god who is all-knowing and all-powerful and who does not even make sure that his creatures understand his intention - could that be a god of goodness? Who allows countless doubts and dubieties to persist, for thousands of years, as though the salvation of mankind were unaffected by them, and who on the other hand holds out the prospect of frightful consequences if any mistake is made as to the nature of the truth? Would he not be a cruel god if he possessed the truth and could behold mankind miserably tormenting itself over the truth?
(Quoted from pages 52-53 of Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, a collection of Nietzsche’s writings, edited by Maudemarie Clark and Brian Leiter, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Cambridge University Press. 1997.)
Nietzsche’s remark is ground for the book Approving God: Divine Design and the Problem of Suffering, by Patrick J. Keane. University of Missouri Press, 2008. A bit about it from Amazon.com: “Keane examines [Emily] Dickinson' s perspectives on the role played by a supposedly omnipotent and all-loving God in a world marked by violence and pain. Keane provides close readings of many of Dickinson s poems and letters engaging God, showing how she addressed the challenges posed by her own experience and by an innate skepticism reinforced by a nascent Darwinism to the argument from design and the concept of a benevolent deity.”
For a brief biography of Friedrich Nietzsche, click here. For images of and relating to Friedrich Nietzsche, click here. For a bit about Maudemarie Clark, click here. For the same about Brian Leiter, click here. For a bit about the book Approving God and about Patrick J. Keane, click here. R. J Hollingdale, translator into English of Nietzsche, had an interesting rags-to-literary-riches life that you can read about here.
A god who is all-knowing and all-powerful and who does not even make sure that his creatures understand his intention - could that be a god of goodness? Who allows countless doubts and dubieties to persist, for thousands of years, as though the salvation of mankind were unaffected by them, and who on the other hand holds out the prospect of frightful consequences if any mistake is made as to the nature of the truth? Would he not be a cruel god if he possessed the truth and could behold mankind miserably tormenting itself over the truth?
(Quoted from pages 52-53 of Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality, a collection of Nietzsche’s writings, edited by Maudemarie Clark and Brian Leiter, translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Cambridge University Press. 1997.)
Nietzsche’s remark is ground for the book Approving God: Divine Design and the Problem of Suffering, by Patrick J. Keane. University of Missouri Press, 2008. A bit about it from Amazon.com: “Keane examines [Emily] Dickinson' s perspectives on the role played by a supposedly omnipotent and all-loving God in a world marked by violence and pain. Keane provides close readings of many of Dickinson s poems and letters engaging God, showing how she addressed the challenges posed by her own experience and by an innate skepticism reinforced by a nascent Darwinism to the argument from design and the concept of a benevolent deity.”
For a brief biography of Friedrich Nietzsche, click here. For images of and relating to Friedrich Nietzsche, click here. For a bit about Maudemarie Clark, click here. For the same about Brian Leiter, click here. For a bit about the book Approving God and about Patrick J. Keane, click here. R. J Hollingdale, translator into English of Nietzsche, had an interesting rags-to-literary-riches life that you can read about here.
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