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The Anti-Christ

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Nietzche's "The Anti-Christ" was one of the last books Nietzsche wrote before the onset of his insanity in 1888. Unlike many of Nietzsche's other books, which raise tantalizing questions and examine experience from a variety of angles, some of them contradictory, "The Anti-Christ" is a relatively straightforward presentation of Nietzsche's critique of Christianity. Contrary to what many think, Nietzsche did not advocate the general abolition of Christianity. He thought it served the needs of the majority of people quite well, but believed it had psychologically destructive effects on the minority of people in a society who were most capable of intellectual, artistic, and other achievement.

Mencken was one of the great American prose stylists of the Century, and, as one would expect, his translation of "The Anti-Christ" is an outstanding read. I happen to think it is a far better read than R.J. Hollingdale's translation, which is the one most often used by scholars and students. Whether it is more or less faithful to Nietzsche's original is a question I cannot answer, not being sufficiently fluent in German.

In any event, it's great to see Mencken's much-neglected 1917 translation back in print.

The book has truth in it. It is good but not the best. Lewis in An Encounter With A Prophet acknowledges all of the false teachings of the Christian Church but does not lose God in the process.

This is Nietzsche's most vigorous work; it conains in little over one hundred pages, a summary of his later philosophy, and as such, should probably be read after all of his other works if one means to avoid misunderstanding what Nietzsche is saying. He portrays Christianity in gory detail as the religion of revenge, dishonesty, small-mindedness and pity which it is, and a leading cause of the west's descent into nihilism. (A reading of this book almost forms a mini spiritual biography of western civilisation of the last three centuries). The adherence to a religion like Christianity forms a sort of enslavement to an outdated meaning system thus causing anyone with a scrap of intellectual integrity to lie to theirselves as a means of supporting a bankrupt world-view and while appropriate for Zarathustra's "last men", is death for all higher types, and had waged a bitter war against all manner of vitality, stregnth and honour which are the hallmarks of die ubermensche. He talks of the psychology of the priest and the natural hatred of science that they all possess as well as the slave morality and cowardice that Christianity promotes, but for all the vim that the book possesses, it is not a very scholarly work, and contains many errors. Nietzsche understandably finds it difficult to restrain himself, but this gives the work a sort of amateurish tone. Mencken has done a wonderful job here -- all the more because he had a deep appreciation for Nietzsche -- the man and his work. For those who cannot understand Nietzsche's "hatred" of Christianity, I would recommend a very thorough reading of the Geneology of Morals, which goes into much greater detail and is much more scholarly and will provide better insight into the anti-Chrsitian perspective. One of the jewels of modern literature.

Whether you agree with him or not, you gotta admit that Nietzsche had some very strong arguments about the validity of Christianity, and how he views it as a form of weakness posing as a strong institution. There is a section where he takes verses from the Bible itself and explains in a way on how it is evangelical and dictatorial. Nietzsche was a deep thinker, perhaps too deep because he got really sick shortly after this book, and he didn't seem like the type of guy to just ramble about a topic without knowing about it. Him quoting the Bible and many other religious texts porves that he well-researched Christianity and made enough valid points to defend his position on Christianity. I am not an antichrist myself, thoguh I more or less shun organized religion, but Nietzsche has some very thought-provoking concepts. Sure it is offensive to one devout to Christianity, and I'd probably be offended if I was a practicing Christian, but this is recommended for those who study religions and philosophy, or just a powerful book in general.

A vigorous and courageous look at Christianity as it is practiced and the psychology of the people who practice it. This book can not be understood properly unless Nietzshe's previous philosophical works have been read, particularly "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and the "Geneology of Morals." It should be the last of Nietzsche's works to be read rather than the first, as is often the csae.

Please be aware that this refers ONLY to the Cosimo Classics edition of H.L. Mencken's translation of "The Anti-Christ," not to any others.

This is a slipshod ripoff of the 1999 See Sharp Press edition of "The Anti-Christ." First, the "editors" at Cosimo Classics makes two gross errors on the copyright page: 1) They put the original publishing date of the Mencken translation at 1895, when in fact it was published in 1920; 2) They claim copyright of this work which is in the public domain. The kindest terms for these these things are incompetent and sleazy.

Worse, Cosimo omitted the Publisher's Note from the See Sharp edition, which dealt with Mencken's anti-semitic comments in his Introduction. They also omitted ALL of the footnotes from the See Sharp edition, both those of the See Sharp editor and those of Mencken. The only reason for this that seems plausible is that they feared legal action and were too lazy to track down a copy of the original 1920 Knopf edition to check whose footnotes were whose. So, they chose to publish an incomplete version of Mencken's translation rather than go to such small bother.

Their laziness runs so deep that they didn't even bother to scan in the See Sharp edition and then produce their own type. No, they simply reproduced the type from the See Sharp edition while stripping out the footnotes. (Compare the interior pages via "Look Inside the Book" -- they're identical. Same typeface, same line breaks, even the same typos.)

Please buy any other edition of this very good book other than this very sleazy Cosimo Classics edition.

Nietzsche explains the actual regressive impact of the Christian faith upon human cultural evolution as well as the mindset behind the Christian belief system. Ultimately, he illustrates how Christians see greatness as only an external possibility, doubting themselves to the extent that they hand their own autonomy and personal power/greatness over to an imaginary friend they call "God".

This small book is a declaration of war on Christianity. Rather than saying that this book is necessary only for those that disagree with organized religion, I say that it is more necessary for those that are active members of churches. After all, they (you?) are the people that Nietzsche had such a qualm with that he spent his life writing objections to such beliefs.

Of course, for those of us out there that have always held a doubt about religion, this book will come as a comfortable assurance that you're not disordered, and you're definately not alone.

After having read Beyond Good and Evil and the Genealogy of Morals, I think this is a harsher and more simplified book than the previous two. It also is a much easier read, for those that don't want to go through the mental exercises of rooting out the author's meanings. Well worth a sitting.

The Great Philosopher certainly does not pull any punches! This is an assault on sanctimonious hypocrisy, make believe, ignorance, and the never ending peddling of superstition and myth by the few who reap the rewards of earthly rewards and wealth through their power over the weak, the illiterate and the credulous. Nietzsche proudly proclaims that ideas like faith, redemption, heaven, hell are all non provable cant, not fit for the mind of any thinking and rational person. Some of his Gospel quotes appear to prove his point. Intolerance and hatred have arisen along with love and charity, and Nietzsche, for all his ranting, makes his points as clear as day. This may be a bruising read for some, especially the unquestioning and close-minded, but if you can make it through this short tirade, you may find it difficult not to agree with many of the basis ideas here.

While it is certainly true that Nietzsche makes several argumentative errors and is somewhat inconsistant at times, the Anti-Christ is a fantastic read. Although it ended his career, I think this book is a great way to be introduced to his work. The Anti-Christ may not be his best argued work, although it does contain some masterful indictments of the Christian ethos, but it is probably the work that best captures his spirit. This book is a must read for anyone interested in discovering what Nietzsche's true ideas concerning Christianity and religion are, and so that we can dispose of the simplistic garbage that paints him as a nihilist. A little dose of Nietzche's forthrightness, courage and honesty in the expression of ideas, however controversial or unpopular they might be, is just what our modern world needs.