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The God that Paul invented for himself, a God who 'reduced to absurdity' 'the wisdom of this world' (especially the two great enemies of superstition, philology and medicine), is in truth only an indication of Paul's resolute determination to accomplish that very thing himself: to give one's own will the name of God, Torah - that is essentially Jewish.

Friedrich Nietzsche#179

PhilosophyReligionHistoryWillGod

About this quote

What does it mean?
Nietzsche claims Paul invented a God to give his own will a divine name, turning the will into a Jewish concept.
In plain terms
Paul created a God to label his own will, essentially a Jewish idea.
What can you take from it?
Recognize how personal will can be framed as divine authority.

Where it applies

  • religious criticism
  • philosophical debate

Putting it to work

  • examining motives behind doctrinal changes

Questions to consider

  • What other factors shaped early Christianity?
  • Can personal will be separated from divine claims?

Another view

The statement reduces complex theological development to a single motive.

More from Friedrich Nietzsche

  1. What follows, then? That one had better put on gloves before reading the New Testament. The presence of so much filth makes it very advisable. One would as lit…

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  2. God created woman. And boredom did indeed cease from that moment - but many other things ceased as well! Woman was God's second mistake.

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  3. The whole disaster was only made possible by the fact that there already existed in the world a similar megalomania, allied to this one in race, to wit, the Je…

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