God is dead

"God is dead" (German: "Gott ist tot" ) is a phrase by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It is also known as the death of God. The phrase is not meant literally. Instead it is about what value destruction has done to people's belief in Christianity. Some religious thinkers do take it literally though.^[1]

Nietzsche wrote this phrase in his book The Gay Science (German: Die fröhliche Wissenschaft). He also used the phrase in his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra (German: Also sprach Zarathustra).

The idea is written in The Gay Science's section "The Madman" as follows:

Quote God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?[2] — Friedrich Nietzsche, "The Madman" in The Gay Science, Section 125, transl. Walter Kaufmann

Simplified God is dead. God stays dead. And we have killed him. How will we comfort ourselves now that we are murderers more than all murderers? The world's holiest and strongest thing ever has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? What water will we use to clean ourselves? What festivals to make things right, what holy games will we have to invent? Isn't the greatness of this action too great for us? Won't we have to become gods ourselves just to seem worthy of it?

Meaning

For background information, see Nihilism and Morality.

"God is dead" does not mean that Nietzsche believed in an actual "God" who had died literally. Nietzsche is also not saying that atheists are right.^[3] Instead, the phrase means that everything built on Christianity will fall apart because "the belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable".^[3] He says it is impossible to have a Christian or pseudo-Christian morality without the belief in God. This was a problem he had with many modern sceptics.^[4]

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says that even though the basis of Christianity was meant to have been unbreakable, it is already broken. In fact, it has been much more able to die than anyone could ever understand.^[3] This also means that without God, morals are not unquestionable or undoubtable anymore. Nietzsche says that when these morals are shown to be false they are also shown to be harmful. Also, trying to remove these harmful morals causes even more harm. This is because people have become dependent on them. He also says that the most harmful parts of morality have taken control of how we understand ourselves. Therefore, we don't know how to live without this harmful morality.^[3] Because of this, the death of God leads to many kinds of nihilism. Nietzsche says that Christianity itself is a kind of nihilism.

Quote When one gives up the Christian faith, one pulls the right to Christian morality out from under one's feet. This morality is by no means self-evident [...] Christianity is a system, a whole view of things thought out together. By breaking one main concept out of it, the faith in God, one breaks the whole: nothing necessary remains in one's hands.[4] — Friedrich Nietzsche, "Expeditions of an Untimely Man" in Twilight of the Idols, Section 5, transl. Walter Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale

Simplified When you give up Christian beliefs, you completely remove your right to have Christian morality. This morality is not at all obviously true on its own [...] Christianity is a system. It is a whole view of things thought out together. When you remove the belief in God from it, you make the whole thing fall apart. You will not have anything left that it needs.

References

1. Gundry, S. N. (2001). "Death of God Theology". In Elwell, Walter A. (ed.). Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker. p. 327.
2. Nietzsche, Friedrich (1974). "The Madman". The Gay Science. Translated by Kaufmann, Walter.
3. Anderson, R. Lanier (17 March 2017). "Friedrich Nietzsche". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2017 ed.).
4. Nietzsche, Friedrich (2004). "Expeditions of an Untimely Man". Twilight of the Idols. Translated by Kaufmann, Walter; Hollingdale, R. J.