Nietzsche Versus Paul

Abed Azzam offers a fresh interpretation of Nietzsche's engagement with the work of Paul the Apostle, reorienting the relationship between the two thinkers while embedding modern philosophy within early Christian theology. Paying careful attention to Nietzsche's dialectics, Azzam situates the philosopher's thought within the history of Christianity, specifically the Pauline dialectics of law and faith, and reveals how atheism is constructed in relation to Christianity. By changing the focus of modern philosophical inquiry from "Nietzsche and philosophy" to "Nietzsche and Christianity," Azzam initiates a major challenge to the primacy of Plato in the history of Western philosophy and narrow certainties regarding Nietzsche's relationship to Christian thought.

List of contents

Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. From Dionysian Tragedy to Christianity
2. From Judaism to Christianity
3. Jesus-Christ and the Two Worlds of Early Christianity
4. Paul: The First Christian
5. Science and Art After the Death of God
6. Beyond Modern Temporality
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Abed Azzam teaches philosophy at the University of Potsdam and the University of Marburg and is affiliated with the Institute for Cultural Inquiry in Berlin.

Summary

A fresh interpretation of Nietzsche's engagement with the work of Paul the Apostle, reorienting the relationship between the two thinkers while embedding modern philosophy within early Christian theology.

Report

"Written in a precise and economical style, crystallizing its points with aphoristic clarity, Nietzsche Versus Paul reconstructs a series of "Christian" moments found throughout the Nietzschean corpus and so reveals a surprisingly consistent, sophisticated, and cunning structure. This contribution goes far beyond the circles of Nietzsche scholarship, where it will certainly be received as a fresh and powerful intervention. Indeed, it is an original conceptualization of atheism, nihilism, secularization, and modernity as well, and will be warmly received by scholars of philosophy and religion, especially, those interested in their intersection." Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley

Product details

• Authors: Abed Azzam, Abed (Institute for Critical Inquiry) Azzam, Azzam Abed
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2015
• EAN: 9780231169318
• ISBN: 978-0-231-16931-8
• No. of pages: 232
• Series: Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture; Insurrections: Critical Studie; Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics, and Culture; Insurrections: Critical Studies in Religion, Politics and Culture (COUP)
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > German idealism, 19th century; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Miscellaneous; PHILOSOPHY / Political, PHILOSOPHY / Religious, RELIGION / Christian Church / History, RELIGION / Philosophy, Religion & beliefs, social and political philosophy, RELIGION / Biblical Studies / New Testament / Paul's Letters, Structuralism and Post-structuralism, Religious issues and debates