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Notes
Nietzsches ewige Wiederkehr (Nietzsche's Eternal Recurrence)
EA 11/7a. Fragment.
| Additional Information | |
|---|---|
| Author | Eberhard Arnold |
| Date | February 01, 1911 |
| Document Id | 0000000058_28_S |
Eternal recurrence
[Arnold, Eberhard and Emmy papers - A.D.]
[Draft Translation by Bruderhof Historical Archive]
EA 11/7a (I)
Nietzsche’s “eternal recurrence.”
8.)
Nietzsche’s main attack is again against hostility to the body, the church’s hostility to life in its idea of eternity: Again, Nietzsche swings the sword of early Christianity, again the putative antichrist struggles for his highly esteemed opponent: 1.) “Early Christianity contains more than all religions which despised this life as fleeting and taught to look beyond it to another life:”1 It is Jesus “who offers the highest formula of life affirmation.”2 Not Nz [Nietzsche] with his bleak night of his recurrence [Wiederkehr] but Jesus with the lightning and sun of his return [Wiederkunft] touches this life with the heaviest accent. He wanted to erect his “kingdom of heaven” on earth. He wanted to be a political king. He can only be understood in the context of his cosmic worldview. In the heavens, the astronomical bodies, God reigns. As such, the “kingdom of God” is the “kingdom of heaven.” It now matters to Jesus that even in the small, apostate province of God's cosmic world state, on the dark, dirty earth, God's rule comes. He was aware of being the Messiah, the Ki[ng] of the Jews, the [cosm]ic ruler, the Übermensch through whom alone this was [possible]. “So we want the kingdom of earth.”3 [“]I love those who do not first seek beyond the stars for reasons to go down and be sacrifices: but who sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth may one day [belong] to the Übermensch.[”]4 [“]Then He will usher in the master race, the future lords of the earth, the whole, new people who shall have the destiny of the [earth in their] hands.[”]5
[inserted in margin]: But he wants reinforcement of life, classic ideal.6
Jesus is the declared enmity 1.) against every anemic ideal [ms. torn] every anti-sensual spiritualization; he wants to ru[le] the earth 2.) against every ideal contrary to nature, against every sla[nder] of natural life. He wants to give a whole, new hum[anity]. [p. 1]
II.) It is precisely we from the soil of early Christianity who cry out against the ecclesiastical, theological, and monastic evaporation: “Your Self wants to perish, and that is why you have become despisers of the body!”7 We prove more closely that, as already shown, it is not Dionysus but the historical Jesus who strives for and promises a “deification of the body.”8
Precisely because it is the ecclesiastical development from Clement, Justin, and Origen to today's theology that in radical hostility against all “carnal chiliasm” has created a variety of Christianity antithetical [to the original], a Christianity of the beyond, because, as Harnack9 says, church history has accomplished what Gnosticism had also wanted, the chronic Hellenization of Christianity—it is because of this that we exclaim with Nietzsche:
“The Christianity that despised the body has up until now been humanity’s greatest misfortune.”10
The Christianity of Jesus is the religion of the body and bodili[ness].
1.) The early Christians see in their body the temple of the Holy Spirit.
2.) The early Christians expect with and for the whole of creation the redemption of their bodies (Rom. 8:19–23). They expect a re-creation, a transformation of their bodies, a renewal to material-bodily immortality. [1] Cor. 15:51–57.
The “eternal recurrence” of Jesus is far more magnificent than Nietzsche, [ms. torn] are from [/of] the unanimous, personal recurrence [ms. torn] of [/to] the transfiguration of the corrupted planetary sys[tem], of [/to] the unique, corporal recurrence of all [ms. torn] [ending of plural noun],
those renewed in Christ.
________
1 Friedrich Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1881, group 11, frag. 159. The original fragment reads, “Let us press the image of eternity on our lives! This thought contains more….” Arnold substitutes “This thought” for “Early Christianity.”
2 Nietzsche, Ecce Homo, “Also sprach Zarathustra,” § 1. In English as Ecce Homo, trans. R. J. Hollingdale (London: Penguin, 2004), 69: “I shall now tell the story of Zarathustra. The basic conception of the work, the idea of eternal recurrence, the highest formula of affirmation that can possibly be attained—belongs to the August of the year 1881.”
3 Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra, part 4, “Das Eselsfest,” § 1. English quoted from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, trans. R. J. Hollingdale (London: Penguin, 2003), 325.
4 Nietzsche, Zarathustra, part 1, “Zarathustra’s Vorrede,” § 4. English slightly adjusted and quoted from Zarathustra (2004), 44. “Werde,” here translated “belong,” appears in Nietzsche. It has been re-inserted above as the ms. is torn.
5 This is an abridged quote from Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1885, group 2, frag. 57.
6 These two phrases occur together in Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1887, group 11, frag. 138. "He" thus likely refers to Nietzsche here.
7 Nietzsche, Zarathustra, part 1, “Von den Verächtern des Leibes.” English quoted from Zarathustra (2004), 63.
8 While not exclusive to Nietzsche, it should be noted that this phrase does appear at least once in his corpus, where it is emphasized as well. See Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1885, group 41, frag. 6.
9 German church historian and theologian, Adolf Harnack, who famously advanced the “Hellenization thesis,” in which he alleged that the essence of early Christianity had been largely lost throughout church history as Hellenistic influences in the church's theology covered up the gospel message.
10 Arnold’s quote marks moved to encompass full quote. Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung, “Streifzüge eines Unzeitgemässen,” § 47. English (not used above) can be found in Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ, trans. R. J. Hollingdale (London: Penguin, 2003), 112–13.
Ewige Wiederkehr
[Arnold, Eberhard and Emmy papers - A.D.]
EA 11/7a (I)
Nietzsches "ewige Wiederkehr."
8.)
Der Hauptangriff Nietzsches geht wieder gegen die Leibfeindlichkeit, die Lebensfeindschaft des kirchlichen Ewigkeitsgedankes: Wieder schwingt Nietzsche das Schwert des Urchristentums, wieder kämpft der vermeintliche Antichrist für seinen hochgeachteten Gegner: I.) "Das Urchristentum enthält mehr als alle Religionen, welche dies Leben als flüchtig verachtete und nach einem anderen Leben hinblicken lehrten:"1 Jesus ist es, "der die höchste Formel der Bejahung des Lebens bietet."2 Nicht Nz [Nietzsche] mit seiner trostlosen Nacht seiner Wiederkehr, sondern Jesus mit dem Blitz und der Sonne seiner Wiederkunft trifft dies Leben mit dem schwersten Accent. Sein "Reich der Himmel" wollte er auf der Erde aufrichten. Ein politischer König wollte er sein. Er ist nur in seiner kosmischen Weltanschauung zu verstehen. In den Himmeln, den astronomischen Gestirnen, herrscht Gott. Daher ist das "Reich Gottes" das "Reich der Himmel." Es kommt nun Jesus darauf an, dass auch in der kleinen, abtrünnigen Provinz des kosmischen Weltstaates Gottes, auf der finsteren, schmutzigen Erde, Gottes [Erde] Herrschaft komme. Er war sich bewusst, der Messias, der Judenkö[nig, der kosm]ische Herrscher, der Übermensch zu sein, durch den allein dies [möglich] sei.—"So wollen wir das Erdenreich."3 ["]Ich liebe die, welche nicht hinter den Sternen einen Grund suchen, Opfer zu se[in] sondern die sich der Erde opfern, dass die Erde einst des Übermenschen [werde."]4 ["]Dann will Er die Herrenrasse heraufführen, die zukünftigen Herren der Erde, die ganzen, neuen Menschen, die die Schicksale der [Erde in der] Hand haben sollen.["]5
[inserted in margin]: Sondern Er will Verstärkung des Lebens klassisches Ideal.6
Jesus ist die erklärte Feindschaft 1.) gegen jedes anämische Ideal [M.S torn] jede antisinnliche Vergeistigung; er will die Erde behe[rrschen] 2.) gegen jedes widernatürliche Ideal, gegen jede Verl[emdung] des natürlichen Lebens. Er will geben ganzes neues Mens[chentum].
- - -
II.) Gerade wir vom Boden des Urchristentums aus rufen der kirchlichen, theologischen und mönchischen Verflüchtigung entgegen: "Untergehen will euer Selbst und darum wurdet ihr zu Verächtern des Leibes!"7 Wir beweisen näher, dass es, wie bereits gezeigt, nicht Dionysus, sondern der historische Jesus ist, der eine "Vergöttlichung des Leibes"8 anstrebt und verspricht.
Gerade eben, weil es die kirchliche Entwicklung von Clemens, Justin und Origenes an bis in die heutige Theologie hinein ist, die in radikaler Feindschaft gegen allen "fleischlichen Chiliasmus“ eine gegensätzliche Abart eines Jenseits-Christentums geschaffen hat, weil, wie Harnack9 sagt, die Kirchengeschichte chronisch vollzogen hat, was der Gnosticismus auch gewollt hatte, die Gräzisierung des Christentums, eben deshalb rufen wir mit Nietzsche:
"Das Christentum, das den Leib verachtete, war bisher das grösste Unglück der Menschheit."10
Das Christentum Jesu ist die Religion des Leibes und der Leiblich[keit].
1.) Die Urchristen sehen in ihrern Leib den Tempel des heiligen Geistes.
2.) Die Urchristen erwarten mit der gesamten Schöpfung und für sie die Erlösung ihres Leibes. (Röm. 8, 19–23) Sie erwarten eine Umschöpfung , eine Verwandlung ihrer Leiber, eine Erneuerung zu materiall-leiblicher Unsterblichkeit. [1.] Kor. 15, 51–57.
Die "ewige Wiederkehr" Jesu ist weit grossartiger als Nietzsche, [M.S torn] sind von der einmütigen, persönlichen Wiederkehr [M.S torn] der Umgestaltung des verdorbnen Planetensys[tems], der einmaligen, körperlichen Wiederkehr aller [M.S torn] tnen,
in Christus Erneuerten.
________
1 Friedrich Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1881, group 11, frag. 159. The original fragment reads, “Drücken wir das Abbild der Ewigkeit auf unser Leben! Dieser Gedanke enthält mehr….” Arnold substitutes “Dieser Gedanke” for “Das Urchristentum.”
2 Nietzsche, Ecce Homo, “Also sprach Zarathustra,” § 1: “Ich erzähle nunmehr die Geschichte des Zarathustra. Die Grundconception des Werks, der Ewige-Wiederkunfts-Gedanke, diese höchste Formel der Bejahung, die überhaupt erreicht werden kann —, gehört in den August des Jahres 1881.”
3 Nietzsche, Also sprach Zarathustra, part 4, “Das Eselsfest,” § 1.
4 Nietzsche, Zarathustra, part 1, “Zarathustra’s Vorrede,” § 4. “Werde,” appears in Nietzsche. It has been re-inserted above as the ms. is torn.
5 This is an abridged quote from Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1885, group 2, frag. 57.
6 These two phrases occur together in Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1887, group 11, frag. 138. "Er" thus likely refers to Nietzsche here.
7 Nietzsche, Zarathustra, part 1, “Von den Verächtern des Leibes.”
8 While not exclusive to Nietzsche, it should be noted that this phrase does appear at least once in his corpus, where it is emphasized as well. See Nietzsche, unpublished fragments, 1885, group 41, frag. 6.
9 German church historian and theologian, Adolf Harnack, who famously advanced the “Hellenization thesis,” in which he alleged that the essence of early Christianity had been largely lost throughout church history as Hellenistic influences in the church's theology covered up the gospel message.
10 Arnold’s quote marks moved to encompass full quote. Nietzsche, Götzen-Dämmerung, “Streifzüge eines Unzeitgemässen,” § 47.