DESCRIPTION:

The goal of this course is to explore the significance of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche for the task of doing theology. Under the assumption that theologians should seek less to refute Nietzsche's atheism as error than see in it "a stimulus to self-examination" (Westphal), the course will be designed to examine major themes of his work as they relate to the concerns of theology, and do so on the basis of a close reading of a relatively small selection of his key texts.

This course is not directly relevant for ministry. Since Nietzsche is arguably the "grand-father" of the post-modern modes of thought, the course will indirectly deal with the post-modern challenges to theology and theological responses to post-modernity.

This is an advanced seminar, consisting of class presentation and discussion, primarily for doctoral students, open on the 500 level on a limited basis to qualified master's-level students.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Untimely Meditations ("On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life"). Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Portable Nietzsche. Ed. Walter Kaufmann. Penguin Books, 1976 (portions).

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Basic Writings of Nietzsche. Ed. Walter Kaufmann. New York: Modern Library, 1992 (portions).

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon, 1996 (portions).

Westphal, Merold. Suspicion & Faith: The Religious Uses of Modern Atheism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993 (section on Nietzsche).

Any of the works of Nietzsche not assigned for the class.

Bataille, Georges. On Nietzsche. New York: Paragon House, 1992.

Berkowitz, Peter. Nietzsche: The Ethics of an Immoralist. Harvard University Press, 1995.

Habermas, Jürgen. The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1987.

Krell, David Farrell. Infectious Nietzsche. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Magnus, B. and K. M. Higgins, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Smith, Gregory Bruce. Nietzsche, Heidegger and the Transition to Postmodernity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996.

Class presentations and major paper.

For the 500 level student, written permission of the instructor. Students will be expected to have (1) a lively interest in Nietzsche, (2) time to devote to careful reading of and thinking about his texts and (3) basic knowledge of the history of Western philosophy.

Elective.

None.