Home
Notes
Blog
Photos
Reviews
Links
The Real Meaning of 'Gott ist tot'
Jul 16, '07 1:14 AMby Mer for group nietzschean
Until a few days ago I had taken it for granted for a long time that Nietzsche denied the existence of God by declaring Gott ist tot or God is dead. But if God were almighty, he could resurrect himself. If Jesus were God before he arrives on the Earth, he or God experienced human's inevitable destiny through the crucification.
If so, the real meaning of Gott ist tot is different from what I thought. God experienced death because he wanted to give his best creature, that is all humans, an eternal life in Eucharist and wanted to share the same suffering all humans once had to experience, that is death -sharing in other words, Communion.
So real meaning of Gott ist tot is God experienced death through which he was able to give us an eternal life and also share the same suffering. The real meaning of faith was giving and sharing.
God is dead was an ultimate expression of God cares for you.
Tags: gott ist tot, eucharist, communion
Prev: Gustav Klimt Next: Nietzsche speaks.....
edit
reply share
6 CommentsChronologicalReverseThreaded


reply
blindhaed wrote on Jul 22, '07
that's a peculiar interpretation that you give here. i always took "God is dead" as "People dont believe in the existence of God anymore".

edit reply
mercedo wrote on Jul 23, '07
That's why I said real meaning of it. Real meaning is always hidden. We need to explore.

reply
raflaydo wrote on Dec 8, '07
Another way by which we can understand this statement is by considering the need to re-interpret God in our post-modern times. If we are to utilize the "frozen" God that theologians and philosophers of the past used, then God in fact may be a losing proposition. I look at this Nietzschean statement as a challenge for us to look at God in perspectives different from the traditional way we look at Him/Her.

edit reply
mercedo wrote on Dec 11, '07
Nice refreshing viewpoint.

reply
lecody2001 wrote on Oct 30
Given Nietzsche's superman concept I should think that the meaning of Gott ist tot is that with regards to morals, one can no longer turn to God or the church as one's moral compass. It is my belief that Nietzsche was reacting to Darwin's theory of evolution and that man was on his own to create his own ethics and morals to live by and those that were successful at this endeavor were the Supermen and or women and have risen above the rest of mankind that still clung to God and the Church for everything.God, should such a being exist, would not roll over and die just because some man declared him to be dead, but man can disregard God's existence when it comes to creating the rules under which we chose to live.

edit reply
mercedo wrote today at 7:18 PM
Thanks. Your idea is revolutionary new in that you noticed it has something to do with a theory of evolution by Darwin. His idea is as a kaleidoscope of thought. Shall we enjoy reading his again?