The Death of God and the Birth of Modernity: Religion in Modern Political Thought

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

“God is dead,” proclaims Friedrich Nietzsche’s Madman in a parable. Interpreted in a certain way, this statement means that the god of the Christian religion no longer inspires widespread, popular belief and so cannot serve as the basis for political life. Taken on its own, this evocative phrase has become emblematic of the modern world and its reputed secularism. But what does this phrase really mean? Is it true? And if it is true, what would the consequences be for how we engage in politics in the modern world? This course will explore these related questions through the close analysis of classic texts in political theory. We will begin the course by examining challenges to Christian ethics and belief in the works of Machiavelli and Spinoza. Additionally, we will see how the “death” or overthrow of a certain interpretation of the Christian God led to a large-scale reshaping of European society during the Reformation. We will next examine several optimistic views about the potentially beneficial effects of God’s death on society and politics. This section of the course will include readings from Hume and Marx. Finally, we will examine the work of Nietzsche himself to see how “God’s death” is perhaps best understood as an ambiguous phenomenon. For if it is true, as Nietzsche's Madman says, that “we ourselves have killed God,” what possibility of absolution is there for such an immense crime?