The Three Main Theories of Christianity's Origin as a Hellenistic Religion

The Birth of Christianity as a Hellenistic Religion: Three Theories of Origin
Author(s): Hans Dieter Betz

Source: The Journal of Religion, Vol. 74, No. 1 (Jan., 1994), pp. 1-25
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1203612 .
Accessed: 04/05/2014 17:42
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
Journal of Religion.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
The Birth of Christianity as a
Hellenistic Religion: Three
Theories of Origin*
Hans Dieter Betz / University
ofChicago
The topic of the birth of Christianity as a Hellenistic religion is loaded

with intriguing questions. Speaking of Christian origins as a birth process
employs metaphors appropriate for historiography.1 As Alexander De-
mandt has shown, history has always been perceived and presented
through metaphors, foremost, organic metaphors drawing on analogies
of birth and growth.2 Indeed, in the case of Christianity one may speak
of a begetter who provided the seminal ideas, and of a mother who bore
the child until it saw the light of day, a process that took a longer period
of time. In hindsight, the whole process was as mysterious and amazing
as when parents look back on the birth of their children.
As a religion Christianity was of course Hellenistic; it has many of the
characteristics associated with emerging new religions in the Hellenistic
era. However, we cannot simply go ahead and list those characteristics
as they apply to Christianity. We would soon tire of collecting all kinds of
phenomena, only to discover that on closer inspection each phenomenon
turns out to be much different than we had expected. As with human
*This essay was presented first as a lecture to a seminar conducted by Professor Ithamar
Gruenwald on "The Birth of Religions," University of Tel Aviv, May 12, 1993.
1 On the
relationships between history and metaphor, see Hans Blumenberg, "Beobach-
tungen an Metaphern," ArchivfiirBegriffsgeschichte15 (1971): 161-214; also Reinhart Kosel-
leck, "Geschichte, Historie," in GeschichtlicheGrundbegriffe:HistorischesLexikonzur politisch-
sozialen Sprachein Deutschland, ed. Otto Brunner, Werner Conze, and Reinhart Koselleck,
vols. 1-7 (Stuttgart: Klett, 1972-92), 2:593-717, "Zur Entstehung des Kollektivsingulars
'Die Geschichte,"' in ibid., 2:647-53; Georg Sch6ffel, Denkenin Metaphern:Zur Logiksprach-
licherBilder (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1987).
2 Alexander Demandt, Metaphernfiir Geschichte: Sprachbilderund Gleichnisseim historisch-
politischenDenken (Munich: Beck, 1978).
3 See Kurt Rudolph, "Das frtihe Christentum als religionsgeschichtliches Phinomen," in
his Geschichteund Problemeder Religionswissenschaft,Studies in the History of Religions, no.
53 (Leiden: Brill, 1992), pp. 301-20.
@ 1994 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0022-4189/94/7401-0001$01.00

The Journal of Religion
beings we would discover that they all have eyes and noses and ears, but
apart from these generalities every single human being is different, in-
deed, a world in himself or herself.
Precisely how religions appear in history is just as much a mystery as
the appearance of Mozart's music, or of the pyramids of Egypt. Different
from them, however, Christianity was at first not recognized as a Hellenis-
tic religion; in fact, it was not even recognized as a religion by itself. Since
when did people know that Christianity was a Hellenistic religion? This
question is extremely difficult to answer.
Another matter is the new religion's name. Different from human chil-
dren who get their names immediately after birth, Christianity was
around for some time and only later acquired its name (Greek: Xptoata-
vtoqC6S; Latin: Christianismus).4Furthermore, what was to be known as
Christianity did not start out knowing that it was to become a new reli-
gion. If one had asked Christians of the first generation whether they
were members of a new religion, they would have said no. The Jews
among the early Christians regarded themselves as Jews, others as follow-
ers of Paul or other leaders. Some would have said that they had quit
religion altogether as part of the old order. Others would have offered a
whole variety of names for their groups, but not "Christianity." At any
rate, the term Christianity is an abstraction based on a later perspective.5
As a history-of-religions question, the birth of Christianity concerns
first of all the theories about the origins of religions.6 Theories about ori-
gins, while belonging to philosophy of history, have themselves emerged
in history and are, therefore, historical entities in need of explanation.
Without sidestepping the philosophical and theological questions about
historical origins of religions, I would like to discuss three such theories
in this lecture:7 (1) theories of fulfillment claiming that the origin of
Christianity inaugurated the birth of a new era (Gotthold Ephraim Les-
sing, Johann Gottfried Herder); (2) the theory of original fraud claiming
that Christianity was based on lies by corrupt disciples ofJesus (Hermann
4 See on this point my article "Christianity as Religion: Paul's Attempt at Definition in

Romans," Journal of Religion 71 (1991): 315-44, esp. at 316, n. 4. For the modern period,
see Trutz Rendtorff, "Christentum," GeschichtlicheGrundbegriffe1 (1972): 772-814.
5 I have discussed these issues further in my article "Paul's Ideas about the
Origins of
Christianity," in my Paulinische Studien: GesammelteAufsatze III (Ttibingen: J. C. B. Mohr
[Paul Siebeck], 1994, in press).
6 These theories have older roots in Greek
philosophy; see Werner Jaeger, "Theories of
the Origin and Nature of Religions," in his The Theologyof the Early Greek
Philosophers(Ox-
ford: Clarendon Press, 1947), pp. 172-90. See also Alois Kehl and Marrou,
Henri-Iren•e
"Geschichtsphilosophie," Reallexikonfiir Antikeund Christentum10 (1978): 703-79.
7 For the treatment of another, very influential theory of "original
purity and subsequent
decadence," see the study by Stefan Alkier, Urchristentum:Zur Geschichteund Theologieeiner
exegetischenDisziplin, Beitrige zur historischen Theologie, no. 83 (Tiibingen: J. C. B. Mohr
[Paul Siebeck], 1993).

The Birth of Christianity
Samuel Reimarus); and (3) the theory of original betrayal, claiming that
the early disciples of Jesus at once exchanged the master's radical mes-
sage for accommodation to the corrupt status quo (Friedrich Nietzsche).
I. THEORIES OF FULFILLMENT
Theories of fulfillment have their roots in New Testament ideas of salva-

tion history.8 According to these ideas, periods of time were delimited as
mythological fulfillment of divine promises revealed by the prophets. If
the origin of Christianity was interpreted in this framework, several con-
cepts suggested themselves, such as God's promise made to Abraham, the
coming of the kingdom of God, the coming of the Messiah, or the rebirth
of the creation.
In the era of the Enlightenment these mythical concepts were replaced
by new metaphysical and historical constructs.9 At the beginning of a
longer development stood the sharp distinction between a primordial
"religion of reason," universal in nature and scope, and the present-day
"positive religions." In this scheme the original "religion of reason" was
identified with biblical religion in its pure state, while the "positive reli-
gions" were regarded as degenerate products of mixture with inferior,
extrabiblical paganism. Such mixtures occurred when alien elements
crept into biblical religion, resulting in developments such as apocalyp-
ticism or demon worship. When the newly developing historical-critical
investigations applied themselves to early Christianity, several results
emerged.
a) Historical-critical studies were believed to be capable of recovering
the original religion of reason by separating it from later accretions and,
in particular, from the overlay of Christian dogmatics. Biblical studies
could then concentrate on comparative investigations, in which the origi-
nal and pure elements were separated from later influences and degener-
ations. These were basically the aims of the program of Johann Salomo
Semler (1725-91), certainly one of the most brilliant minds of the eigh-
teenth century.10
8
See, e.g., Gal. 4:4; 1 Cor. 10:11; Eph. 1:10; Mark 1:15; Luke 21:24. For discussion, see
Kehl and Marrou, pp. 760-71.
9 See on these developments Emanuel Hirsch, Geschichteder neuernevangelischen
Theologie
im Zusammenhangmit den allgemeinenBewegungendes europdischenDenkens, 5 vols, 3d ed. (Gii-
tersloh: Mohn, 1964); Karl Aner, Die TheologiederLessingzeit(Halle: Niemeyer, 1929;
reprint,
Hildesheim: Olms, 1964).
10On Semler see, esp., Leopold Zscharnack,
Lessingund Semler:Ein Beitragzur Entstehungs-
geschichtedes Rationalismusund der kritischenTheologie (GieBen: T6pelmann, 1905); Hirsch,
Geschichte,4:48-89; fundamental is the study by Hartmut H. R. Schulz, Johann SalomoSem-
lers Wesensbestimmung des Christentums:
Ein Beitrag zur Erforschungder TheologieSemlers(Wiirz-
burg: Kdnigshausen & Neumann, 1988). On the role of comparative religion, see also the

b) According to this program, Christianity began with Jesus of Naza-

reth, who as a Jewish teacher recovered and restored the pure and origi-
nal religion of reason. Accordingly, early Christianity was the result of a
fundamental religious reform. Actually, the process was one of revolu-
tion. Just as the original religion of reason had evolved into degenerated
forms of polytheism, Christianity reversed the tide, and the statusquoante
was reborn. Consequently, the title of Matthew Tindal's (1657-1733)
book of 1730 aptly states the matter: Christianityas Old as the Creation,or
the Gospela Republicationof the Religion of Nature.
c) Traces of the original religion of reason could be detected also in
pre-Christian religions. Although contaminated by accommodation to
paganism, careful comparison of non-Christian and Christian religion
was believed to be capable of pointing out residual elements of the origi-
nal religion of reason in the Near Eastern religions of Egypt and Mesopo-
tamia. This idea gave rise to what was later called "comparative history of
religions." Differentiating between "mode of presentation" (Lehrart)and
"essentials" (Sachinhalt)permitted the identification of structures of origi-
nal religion hidden in the extant texts.
The theory of historical evolution was drastically revised by Gotthold
Ephraim Lessing (1729-81), especially in his work Die Erziehung des
Menschengeschlechts(1780).11 Lessing conceived of religion as the power
driving all of human history. In order to make this thesis plausible, he
turned things around. At the beginning Lessing posits not the ideal uni-
versal religion, but the existing religions, in particular Judaism and
Christianity, while the rationalisreligio is removed from the realm of his-
tory altogether. Historical scholarship, therefore, is devoted to the study
of existing religions, and among them Christianity figures along with the
others. All existing religions are ambiguous, containing some truth and
some falsehood. Studying their phenomena, interrelations, and develop-
ments is the task of the historian who, however, has his mind set on world
history, not only the history of religions. What happens is that all the
developments are part and parcel of a universal progress of education,12
with its core being religion' and its aim a religionaturalis for all humanity.
work of Semler's teacher, Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten, Geschichteder Religionsparteyen,ed.

Johann Salomo Semler (Halle: Gebauer, 1766; reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1966).
" Cited according to LessingsWerkein sechsBdnden, ed. Robert Riemann (Leipzig: Reclam,
n.d.), 6:201-19. Translations are the author's. On Lessing, see Zscharnack, passim; R. F.
Merkel, "Lessing und Herder als Religionshistoriker," Nieuw TheologischTijdschrift25 (1936):
129-44; Hirsch, Geschichte,4:120-65.
12 On the notion of development, see Wolfgang Wieland, "Entwicklung, Evolution,"
GeschichtlicheGrundbegriffe2 (1975): 199-228.
13 Lessing, Die Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts,
sec. 1: "Was die Erziehung bei dem ein-
zeln Menschen ist, ist die Offenbarung bei dem ganzen Menschengeschlechte."

This education certainly requires more than history, so that its method is
that of a comprehensive hermeneutic.
Since history of religions is such a universal progress of education,
places can easily be found for all religions and their developments. There
was, to be sure, but a brief moment of primordial and pure religion, but
what was that in view of millions of years of polytheism and superstition
(sec. 6)?'4 The people of Israel became the first manifestation of progress,
indeed, of a new beginning (secs. 8-52).15 Israel's Bible became the first
elementary-school textbook ("Elementarbuch"). When Israel had en-
tered the age of boyhood,'16 a new teacher appeared, Christ: "And thus
Christ became the first reliable, and practical teacher of the immortality
of the soul." 17
He was reliable because the divine promises seemed fulfilled in him
(sec. 59); practical because he taught not in terms of philosophical specu-
lation but by inward and outward deeds (sec. 60); and the first, not be-
cause his teaching was altogether new, but because the "inner purity of
the heart" predisposed him in a unique way to proclaim the life eternal
(sec. 61).18
Jesus' disciples not only preserved his teaching faithfully, but also uni-
versalized the gospel and spread it through the world, thereby becoming
benefactors of all humanity (sec. 62).19 Although they added their own
teachings, far less persuasive than those of Jesus,20 their book, the New
14 Ibid., sec. 6: "Wenn auch der erste Mensch mit einem Begriffe von einem einigen Gotte
sofort ausgestattet wurde: so konnte doch dieser mitgeteilte und nicht erworbene Begriff
unmbglich in seiner Lauterkeit bestehen. Sobald ihn die sich selbst iiberlassene menschliche
Vernunft zu bearbeiten anfing, zerlegte sie den einzigen UnermeBlichen in mehrere Er-
mel31ichereund gab jedem dieser Teile ein Merkzeichen." Section 7: "So entstand natiurlich-
erweise Vielg6tterei und Abg6tterei. Nur wer weiB, wie viele Millionen Jahre sich die
menschliche Vernunft noch in diesen Irrwegen wurde herumgetrieben haben, ohngeacht
uberall und zu allen Zeiten einzelne Menschen erkannten, daB es Irrwege waren: wenn es
Gott nicht gefallen hitte, ihr durch einen neuen StoB eine bessere Richtung zu
geben."
15 Ibid., sec. 8: "Da er [sc. Gott] aberjedem einzelnen Menschen sich nicht mehr offenb-
aren konnte noch wollte: so wlihlte er sich ein einzelnes Volk zu seiner besondern Erzie-
hung und eben das ungeschliffenste, das verwildertste, um mit ihm ganz von vorne an-
fangen zu k6nnen."
16
Ibid., sec. 55: "Das Kind wird Knabe."
17 Ibid., sec. 58: "Und so ward Christus der erste
zuverlissige, praktische Lehrer der
Unsterblichkeit der Seele."
18 Ibid., sec. 61: "Eine innere Reinigkeit des Herzens in Hinsicht auf
ein anderes Leben
zu empfehlen, war ihm allein vorbehalten."
'9 Ibid., sec. 62: "Seine Juinger haben diese Lehre getreulich fortgepflanzt. Und wenn sie
auch kein ander Verdienst hitten, als daB sie einer Wahrheit, die Christus nur allein
die Juden bestimmt zu haben schien, einen allgemeineren Umlauf unter mehreren ffir
so V61kern
verschafft hitten: wdiren sie schon darum unter die Pfleger und Wohltiter des
Menschengeschlechts zu rechnen."
20 Ibid., sec. 63: "DaB sie aber
diese eine groBe Lehre noch mit andern Lehren versetzten,
deren Wahrheit weniger einleuchtend, deren Nutzen weniger erheblich war: wie konnte
dies anders sein? LaBt uns sie darum nicht schelten, sondern vielmehr mit Ernst unter-

Testament, became the second, more advanced textbook for the human
race (secs. 63-71).21
According to Lessing, there will also be a final third stage, a future
period, in which the human race will obtain full maturity (secs. 81-85).
At that time a new and eternal gospel will be proclaimed. This has been
foretold in the New Testament itself,22and certain enthusiasts of the thir-
teenth and fourteenth century experienced glimpses of it (secs. 87-90).23
It is Lessing's view that in these "three ages of the world"24 none of the
stages becomes redundant. In the "economy of God"'25each step is pre-
served in the next. Hence, Lessing concludes: "Make your way with your
barely noticeable steps, eternal providence!"26
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) goes considerably further when
he places the origins of Christianity in the secular context of the emer-
gence of Europe.27 In that context the notion of revelation, still theologi-
cal or mythical in Lessing, is replaced by that of revolution. According to
Herder, none of the older European tribes produced cultures by them-
selves, but they all took over cultural ingredients from non-European
cultures." Thus, "Europe is a growth of Greek, Roman and Arabic
seeds."29 "This growth took a long time, before it was able to flourish on
suchen, ob nicht selbst diese beigemischten Lehren ein neuer RichtungsstoB for die
menschliche Vernunft geworden."
21 Ibid., sec. 64:
"Wenigstens ist es schon aus der Erfahrung klar, daB die neutestament-
lichen Schriften, in welchen sich diese Lehren nach einiger Zeit aufbewahrt fanden, das
zweite beBre Elementarbuch fuir das Menschengeschlecht abgegeben haben und noch ab-
geben."
22 Ibid.,
sec. 86: "Sie wird gewiB kommen, die Zeit des neuen ewigen Evangeliums, die
uns selbst in den Elementarbuichern des Neuen Bundes versprochen wird."
23 Ibid., sec. 87: "Vielleicht, daB selbst
gewisse Schwirmer des dreizehnten und vierzehn-
ten Jahrhunderts einen Strahl dieses neuen ewigen Evangeliums aufgefangen
hitten und
nur darin irrten, daB sie den Ausbruch desselben so nahe verktindigten."
24 Ibid., sec. 88: "Vielleicht war ihr dreifaches Alter der Welt keine so leere
Grille, und
gewiB hatten sie keine schlimme Absichten, wenn sie lehrten, daB der neue Bund ebenso-
wohl antiquieret werden maisse, als es der Alte geworden."
25
Ibid., sec. 88: "Es blieb auch bei ihnen immer die namliche Okonomie des nimlichen
Gottes. Immer-sie meine Sprache sprechen zu lassen-der namliche Plan der allge-
meinen Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts."
26
Ibid., sec. 91: "Geh' deinen unmerklichen Weg, ewige Vorsehung! Nur laB mich dieser
Unmerklichkeit wegen an dir nicht verzweifeln!-LaB mich an dir nicht verzweifeln, wenn
selbst deine Schritte mir scheinen sollten zurfickzugehen!-Es ist nicht wahr, daB die kuirz-
este Linie immer die gerade ist."
27 References are limited in the
following to Herder's fundamental statements in his Ideen
zur Philosophieder GeschichtederMenschheit,vol. 6 ofJohann GottfriedHerdersWerke,ed. Martin
Bollacher (Frankfurt am Main: Deutscher Klassiker Verlag, 1989). The translations are by
the author. On Herder, see Merkel, "Lessing und Herder" (n. 11 above), passim; Hirsch,
Geschichte(n. 9 above), 4:207-47.
28 Herder, Ideen, IV 16, VI.3
29
(pp. 706-7).
Ibid., p. 707: "Europa ist ein Gewichs aus R6misch-Griechisch-Arabischem Samen."
On Herder's metaphors, see Heinz Meyer, "'Tberlegungen zu Herders Metaphern
fiir die
Geschichte," Archivfiir Begriffsgeschichte25 (1981): 88-114.

its hard soil and finally to produce its own fruits, albeit sour ones at first.
Indeed, even for this a peculiar vehicle was needed, a foreign religion, in
order to bring to completion by a spiritual conquest what the Romans
could not accomplish by [military] occupation."30 The emerging Chris-
tian religion was this "vehicle," "the new medium of education," 31 which
"had no less a purpose than to shape all nations into one people, happy
in this world and its future," a process of education "that nowhere else
was more powerful than in Europe."32 For Herder, the older salvation
history concepts were now secularized and became the notion of univer-
sal history with Europe as its core and standard. Early Christianity, begin-
ning with Jesus, played a decisive role in it.
Jesus appeared in history "seventy years before the collapse of the Jew-
ish state." This occurred when "in this state a man was born, who in the
realm of human ideas as well as in terms of social customs and politi-
cal constitutions effected an unexpected revolution, Jesus.""33 Jesus pro-
claimed the kingdom of God, "a heavenly realm, to which only select
people have access, and to which he invited not by imposing external
duties and customs, but by demanding pure virtues of mind and sensitiv-
ity. In the few speeches we have of him, the most genuine humanity is
expressed; that humanity is what he demonstrated in his life, and he
confirmed it by his death, just as he called himself by his preferred name,
the Son of Man."34
30 Ibid.: "Lange Zeiten brauchte dies Gewaichs, ehe es auf diesem

hairtern Boden nur
gedeihen und endlich eigne, Anfangs sehr saure Friichte bringen konnte; ja auch hierzu
war ein sonderbares Vehikel, einefremdeReligion n6tig, um das was die
R6mer durch Erobe-
rung nicht hatten tun k6nnen, durcheine geistlicheEroberungzu vollfuihren."
31 Ibid.: "dies neue Mittel der
Bildung."
32
Ibid.: "das keinen geringern Zweck hatte, als alle V61kerzu Einem Volk, fir diese und
eine zukuinftige Welt glticklich, zu bilden, und das nirgends krtiftiger als in Europa wirkte."
Herder concludes the section with lines from a famous poem by Goethe, "Die Geheim-
nisse." See ibid., pp. 1085-86.
33 Ibid., p. 708: "Siebenzig Jahre vor dem Untergang des Juidischen Staats ward in ihm
ein Mann geboren, der sowohl in dem Gedankenreich der Menschen, als in ihren Sitten
und Verfassungen eine unerwartete Revolution bewirkt hat,Jesus." Compare the quite simi-
lar ideas of the "neologist" Ludwig Timotheus Spittler (1752-1810) in his
Grundrifider Ge-
schichtederchristlichenKirche(G6ttingen: Vandenhoeck, 1782; 3d ed., 1790), sec. 1: "Die Welt
hat noch nie eine solche Revolution erfahren, die in ihren ersten Veranlassungen so un-
scheinbar und in ihren letzten ausgebreitetsten Folgen so
h6chst merkwfirdig war, als die-
jenige ist, welche ein vor achtzehnhundert Jahren geborener Jude, Namens Jesus in weni-
gen Jahren seines Lebens machte" (translation by the author).
34 Herder, Ideen, p. 708: "Das Reich, das er ankuindigte, nannte er das Reich Gottes, ein
himmlisches Reich, zu welchem nur auserwaihlte Menschen gelangen
k6nnten, zu welchem
er also auch nicht mit Auflegung aiuBerlicher Pflichten und Gebraiuche, desto mehr aber
mit einer Aufforderung zu reinen Geistes- und Gemuitstugenden einlud. Die echtesteHu-
manitdtist in den wenigen Reden enthalten, die wir von ihm haben;
Humanitit ists, was er
im Leben bewies, und durch seinen Tod bekrdiftigte, wie er sich denn selbst mit einem
Lieblingsnamen, den Menschensohn,nannte."

Jesus, therefore, was "a spiritual savior of his race devoted to the for-
mation of God's human beings, who, no matter under which laws they
lived, would out of pure motives further the welfare of others, and who,
taking upon themselves suffering, would rule as kings in the realm of
truth and of course, be no accident. In
goodness."'35Jesus' coming could,
fact, the purpose of providence should be evident: "What other ideal
could the human race cherish of its perfection and happiness on earth, if
it were not this generally operative, pure humanity?"36
Herder's ideas about "The Origin of Christianity, Together with the
Principles Embedded in It"'37proved to be seminal from the start. "Pecu-
liar as it appears that a revolution, which concerned more than one part
of the earth, originated from despised Judaea, in fact, at closer inspec-
tion, there were historical reasons for it."'38Herder identifies these rea-
sons by characterizing the Hellenistic era, without giving it that name. In
this era, the possession of Holy Scriptures turned out to be an advantage
of the Jews over the Greeks and Romans. As they were gradually dis-
persed throughout the world, these Scriptures assumed an ever greater
significance as a spiritual power, educating the people in spiritual, moral,
and prophetic wisdom and placing before them a picture of what ought
to be. Out of this grew "a system of hopes"39 in a messianic king who
would save his people and usher in a golden age. Soon these hopes tran-
scended Judaism and took hold among the Egyptians and the Greeks,
generating apocryphal works full of fervent hopes and expectations. Fi-
nally, "now was the time which was going to make an end to these dreams
when they had reached a peak. A man from the people appeared, whose
mind, far above all hallucinations of earthly glory, was able to unite all
hopes, desires and prophecies in a projection of an ideal realm that was
nothing less than a Jewish kingdom of heaven."40 In other words, when
35 Ibid., p. 709: "Als ein geistiger Erretter seines Geschlechts wollte er Menschen Gottes
bilden, die, unter welchen Gesetzen es auch wdire,aus reinen Grundsitzen anderer Wohl
beforderten und selbst duldend im Reich der Wahrheit und
Gfite als K6nige herrschten."
36 Ibid.: "denn was hitte der Mensch
ffir ein andres Ideal seiner Vollkommenheit und
Glickseligkeit auf Erden, wenn es nicht diese allgemein-wirkende reine Humanitit w~re?"
For Spitteler's similar ideas, see Aner, Die Theologieder Lessingzeit(n. 9 above), p. 339.
37 So the title of Herder, Ideen (n. 27 above), IV, 17, I (p. 710): "Ursprung des Christ-
entums, samt den Grundsitzen, die in ihm lagen."
38 Ibid.: "So sonderbar es scheinet, daB eine Revolution, die mehr als Einen Weltteil der
Erde betraf, aus dem verachteten Judia hervorgegangen: so finden sich doch, bei naherer
Ansicht, hiezu historische Gruinde."
39 Ibid., pp. 710-11: "das System von Hoffnungen."
40 Ibid., p. 711: '"jetztwar die Zeit da, die diesen Triumereien auf ihrem
Gipfel ein Ende
machen sollte. Es erschien ein Mann aus dem Volk, dessen Geist, fiber
Hirngespinste ir-
discher Hoheit erhaben, alle Hoffnungen, Wfinsche und Weissagungen der
Propheten zur
Anlage eines idealischen Reichs vereinigte, das nichts weniger als ein Jfidisches Himmel-
reich sein sollte."

Jesus appeared he was believed to fulfill the spiritual longings, aspira-

tions, and hopes that had built up since the days of Alexander the Great.
Jesus also predicted the destruction of the Temple and the end of a de-
generated Jewish religion. When the Jewish state came to an end, it was
believed to confirm Jesus' predictions.
Although Herder intends an historical account, his description of the
benefits of the early Christian revolution is that of a secular salvation his-
tory, underscored also by his mention of divine providence. He con-
cludes, however, by adding: "The keys of the heavenly realm for this
world and the next could, when they fell into the hands of other nations,
[also] turn into a kind of Pharisaism more dangerous than they ever were
in the hands of the Jews."41
When Herder speaks about Jesus as "the founder of the religion"42of
Christianity, he names his faith in "his imminent Parousia and the revela-
tion of his kingdom on earth"43as the main reason why Christianity took
hold so quickly. Apart from Jesus' apocalyptic fervor, Herder lists seven
characteristics of Jesus and his early movement that contributed to the
building of Christendom.44 In the same breath, however, Herder shows
how the corruption of these seven characteristics led to a rapid degenera-
tion of the new religion, resulting in the statement: "The pisciculi Chris-
tiani [sc. little Christian fish] swam in a murky element for centuries."45
Herder's critique of church history could hardly be more negative. He
concludes "in a spirit of sadness," 46but with a note of hope: "Asthe medi-
cine was turned into poison, so the poison could also become medicine,
and a matter that was pure and good in its origin must triumph at the
end."47
Herder's account had an enormous influence on the major thinkers in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. By secularizing salvation history
he was able to speak of the origin of Christianity as fulfillment of the
hopes and aspirations of the period we call Hellenism. In a few pages he
was able to present a consistent picture of Jesus as the founder-figure,
41 Ibid., p. 712: "Die Schltissel des Himmelreichs fir diese und

jene Welt konnten in den
Hinden andrer Nationen ein gefAhrlicherer Pharisdiismuswerden, als sie es in den Hinden
der Juden je gewesen waren."
42 Ibid.: "Stifter der
Religion."
43 Ibid.: "die Meinung von seiner baldigenRikkkunft und der Offenbarungseines Reichesauf
Erden."
44 Ibid.,
pp. 713-21.
45 Ibid., p. 719: "Die pisciculi Christiani schwammen Jahrhunderte lang in einem trii-
ben Elemente."
46 Ibid., p. 721: "mit traurigem Gemfit."
47 Ibid.: "denn wie die Arznei in Gift verwandelt wurde, kann auch das Gift zur Arznei
werden, und eine in ihrem Ursprung reine und gute Sache muB am Ende doch tri-
umphieren."

the apostles as agents of expansion, their success as fulfillment of a con-
fusing array of already existing hopes and expectations, and the quick
corruption of the church through the betrayal of the principles of the
founder. These basic ideas were restated, modified, and expanded
through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and they can even be
found today, although using more modest language, in many books on
Christian origins.
II. THE THEORY OF ORIGINAL FRAUD
Theories about new religions as the result of fraud by corrupted priests

were common in Hellenism. These theories had old roots in the history
of philosophy, that is, in ideas concerning the origins of culture and reli-
gion going back to Democritus, Prodicus, and, especially, Critias.48
While Democritus and Prodicus explained the origin of religion as a
result of misconceptions by the primordial human race, the rationalist
Critias went further.49He explained religion as a clever invention by wise
statesmen, in order to make the unruly primitive race observe the laws,
even when no witnesses were present. These statesmen introduced the
notion of a supreme deity able to see and hear everything humans plan
or do and to punish or reward them in accordance with their behavior.
When people fell for this ploy, religion proved to be an extremely useful
instrument for maintaining law and order.
In Hellenism, to leave aside earlier periods, this idea of inventing reli-
gion for political or other purposes loomed large in the minds of many
religious operators. The theory, often connected with Euhemerus of Mes-
sene,50 opened up possibilities for either reforming and reshaping ex-
isting cults or constructing entirely new ones. The new cults of Sarapis
and Sabazius, the Hellenization of Mithras by Antiochus of Com-
magene,51 the transferral of the Magna Mater from Asia Minor to Rome,
or the foundation of the oracle and mysteries of Glycon by Alexander of
48
For information and discussion, see Jaeger, The Theology(n. 6 above); W. K. C. Guthrie,
A History of GreekPhilosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 3:226-49;
R. Dolle, "Betrugstheorie," in HistorischesWdrterbuch der Philosophie(Basel: Schwabe, 1971),
1:861-63; P A. Meijer, "Philosophers, Intellectuals and Religion in Hellas," in Faith, Hope
and Worship:Aspectsof ReligiousMentalityin theAncient World,ed. H. S. Versnel (Leiden: Brill,
1981), pp. 216-62.
49 See the fragment from Critias quoted in Sextus Empiricus, Adversusmathematicos 9.54.
For discussion, see Guthrie, History,3:243-44; Meijer, "Philosophers," pp. 230-32.
50 On Euhemerism, see Klaus Thraede, "Euhemerismus,"
ReallexikonfiirAntikeund Christ-
entum 6 (1966): 877-90; Jiirgen Ebach, "Euhemerismus," in Handbuch
religionswissenschaft-
licherGrundbegriffe(Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1990), 1:365-68.
51 See Reinhold Merkelbach, Mithras
(K6nigstein i. T.: Hain, 1984), pp. 50-72.
10

Abonuteichus are but a few examples from many that could be named.52
Some of these new foundations or reforms of cults had overtly political
aims, while others served the purposes of missionary expansion of reli-
gions. Creating new religions proved, of course, most useful for the Hel-
lenistic ruler cults.53
Putting all of these activities in the category of religious fraud, however,
is misleading. Fraud is a verdict arising from prejudice and polemics, so
that one person's religious foundation is another person's fraud. Distin-
guishing between genuine religious experiences, convictions and imagi-
nations, and planned deception and fraud was as difficult then as it is
now. The fact was that wherever a new town, village, or farm was built,
new religious institutions, rituals, and monuments were established first,
ordered or legitimated through divine revelations, visions, or oracles.
Certainly, the multitude of new religious foundations in the Hellenistic
period was generated by intense religious experiences. In these experi-
ences, what can be called genuine and what must be named fraud is for
the most part impossible to determine. Nevertheless, this situation led at
least some intellectuals to suspect that an epidemic of religious fraud was
afoot. Some writers, like Lucian of Samosata,54became active in exposing
fraud, but they were too few to stem the tide of unparalleled religious
creativity that was typical of the Hellenistic era.
That early Christianity was immediately affected by these theories is
evident from the New Testament itself. From the beginning, the apostle
Paul had to defend himself against the charge that he was a crook or
charlatan (1 Thess. 2:1-12; 2 Cor. 10-13);55 despite all his defenses, the
charge that he was no more than a power-hungry manipulator is re-
peated even today. The Gospel of Matthew (28:11-16) refers to hostile
speculations on the part of Jews saying that Jesus' disciples stole his body
52 See the rich collection of data assembled by

Wolfgang Speyer in his books and essays,
the latter collected in his Friihes Christentumim antiken Strahlungsfeld:AusgewdhlteAufsatze,
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, no. 50 (Tiibingen: J. C. B.
Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1989), esp. pp. 440-62: "Religi6se Betriiger."
53 See S. R. F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman ImperialCult in Asia Minor (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 38-39, 200, 202; Duncan Fishwick, TheImperialCult
in the Latin West:Studiesin the Ruler Cult of the WesternProvincesof the RomanEmpire,2 vols. in
4, Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, no. 108 (Leiden:
Brill, 1987, 1991).
54 See C. P. Jones, Culture and Societyin Lucian (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1986).
55 See Hans Dieter Betz, DerApostelPaulus und die sokratischeTradition:Eine exegetischeUnter-
suchung zu seiner 'Apologie"2 Korinther10-13, Beitrdge zur historischen Theologie, no. 45
(Tiibingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1972), Galatians:A Commentary on Paul'sLetterto the
Churches in Galatia, Hermeneia (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979 [1987]), pp. 5-9,
2 Corinthians8 and 9: A Commentaryon TwoAdministrativeLettersof theApostlePaul, Hermeneia
(Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), pp. 76-78.
11

from the tomb in order to fabricate the legend of his resurrection. The
Book of Acts presents several notorious characters faking Christian-
ity, such as Simon Magus (Acts 8:9-24) or Bar-Jesus (Acts 13:6-8), there-
by admitting that such fraud occurred and was difficult to detect (see
also Matt. 24:24). Also, from early on even Jesus of Nazareth was
implicated in that he was said to be mad or a magician possessed by
Satan.56
As far as Paul is concerned, the suspicion that his conversion to Christ
and subsequent mission work was from the beginning inspired by satanic
delusions is stated in the Pseudo-Clementine literature, the roots of which
go back to Jewish Christianity. These writings denounce Paul as a devious
magician, giving him the cover name of Simon Magus.57
The polemics by Lucian of Samosata, Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian the
Apostate show that these theories about the origin of Christianity must
have been widespread in the second to fourth century C.E.58Accordingly,
the original fraud was contrived either by Jesus or by Paul, who, through
rather familiar magical tricks, duped the gullible and dumb disciples,
and then the simple folks constituting the early Christian com-
munities.59
The modern revival of this theory occurred in the seventeenth century
and is associated with the deists and, especially, with Hermann Samuel
Reimarus (1694-1768). The theory of fraud, however, existed through-
out the Middle Ages. Apparently, Islamic freethinkers of the tenth cen-
tury named Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed as the three great impostors:
"In this world three individuals have defrauded the human race, a shep-
herd, a physician, and a camel-driver; and the camel-driver was certainly
56 See, for Jesus, Mark 3:22 // Matt. 9:32-34; 12:22-24; Luke 11:14-15
//John 7:20; 8:48,
52; 10:20; for John the Baptist, Matt. 11:18; Luke 7:33; for Paul, Acts 26:24, 25. In recent
years, the charge was revived by Morton Smith,Jesus theMagician (San Francisco: Harper &
Row, 1978). See also my article, "Das Problem der Auferstehung Jesu im Lichte der grie-
chischen magischen Papyri," in my Hellenismusund Urchristentum:Gesammelte
AufsatzeI (Tti-
bingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1990), pp. 230-61, esp. pp. 236-39.
57 See the passages given in Betz, Galatians, app. 3 (pp. 331-33); Andreas Lindemann,
Paulus im iltesten Christentum:Das Bild desApostelsund die Rezeptionderpaulinischen
Theologiein
derfriihchristlichenLiteraturbis Marcion, Beitrage zur historischen
Theologie, no. 58 (Tui-
bingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1979), pp. 104-9; Gerd Luedemann, Oppositionto Paul
in Jewish Christianity,trans. M. Eugene Boring (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989),
pp.
169-94.
5" For the material, see my essay, "Lukian von Samosata und das Christentum," in Helle-
nismusund Urchristentum,pp. 10-21, "Gottmensch II
(Griechisch-r6mische Antike und Ur-
christentum)," Reallexikonfiir Antike und Christentum12 (1982): 234-312, esp. 248-52; Ste-
phen Benko, "Pagan Criticism of Christianity during the First Two Centuries A.D.,"Aufstieg
und Niedergangder romischenWeltII 23, no. 2 (1980): 1101-8.
59 The power of this anti-Christian propaganda can be seen from the difficulties Origen
(in his ContraCelsum)had in refuting it. See my Hellenismusund Urchristentum,pp. 234-39.
12

the worst among the three."60 Ironically, these views spread to Europe
through the Crusades and were said to have been contained in the infa-
mous work De tribusimpostoribus,variously ascribed to the Hohenstaufen
Emperor Frederick II (died 1250), Averroes (died 1198), Machiavelli
(died 1527), Hobbes (died 1679), and other religious critics down to the
eighteenth century. Whether this work that so many claimed to have seen
or possessed actually existed is unclear even today. Ironically again, sev-
eral works published in the seventeenth century under the title De tribus
impostoribuswere most likely products of fraud.61 Admitting the notoriety
of these forgeries, however, did not stop two Marxist scholars from repub-
lishing the Straube edition, with text, translation, introduction and
notes.62 No matter how dull the content, no matter how bad the stink,
the propaganda of the title still works!63
While theories of fraud were discussed in French and German Enlight-
enment literature, the publication of Reimarus' Apologieoder Schutzschrift
fiir die verniinftigen VerehrerGotteschanged the situation radically. Lessing
had published the manuscripts in 1777 and 1778 as "Fragmente eines
Ungenannten" found in the Duke's Library in Wolfenbiittel where he was
the librarian.64 These fragments proved to be the greatest challenge
to research on the gospels and the historical Jesus that the world had
known up to that time, and Lessing was aware of it. Most important is
the essay entitled "The Aims of Jesus and His Disciples," of which Albert
60
Cited according to Jacob Presser, Das Buch "De TribusImpostoribus" (Vonden drei Betrig-
ern), Academisch Proefschrift Amsterdam 1926 (Amsterdam: H.J. Paris, 1926), p. 5: "In
dieser Welt haben drei Individuen die Menschen betrogen, ein Hirt, ein Arzt und ein Kamel-
treiber Und dieser Kameltreiber ist wohl der Schlimmste jener Drei gewesen" (translation
by the author). According to Presser (pp. 4-5), Louis Massignon has shown that the state-
ment goes back to the tenth century and was attributed to the general Abu Tahir who con-
quered Mekka in the year 924. See also Friedrich Niewohner, Veritassive Varietas:Lessings
Toleranzparabel und das Buch von den dreiBetriigern,Bibliothek der Aufklairung, no. 5 (Heidel-
berg: Schneider, 1988).
61 Presser (Das Buch,
pp. 114-21), to whom we are indebted for the most substantial inves-
tigation of the history of the tradition and indeed for the best survey of the theory of fraud
in the Middle Ages, thought he could make a case for an obscure actuarius at a court in
Hamburg, Johannes Joachim Mtiller (1661-1733), as the author of the work De tribusImpos-
toribus.Anno M.D.IIC. The year of publication, however, was not 1598 but 1753, printed by
a Viennese book dealer named Straube (Presser, pp. 111-13). An anonymous French ver-
sion, first published in 1768, has been critically edited, translated into German and anno-
tated by Winfried Schr6der, Traktatiiber die drei Betruger:Traite'des troisimposteurs
(L'espritde
Mr Benoit Spinosa) (Hamburg: Meiner, 1992).
62 Gerhard Bartsch, ed., De TribusImpostoribus Anno MCIIC: Vonden drei Betriigern 1598,
trans. Rolf Walther, Quellen und Texte zur Geschichte der Philosophie (Berlin: Akademie-
Verlag, 1960).
63 See the two Marxist authors' remarks about the
political usefulness of the work in ibid.,
pp. 35-37.
64 Hermann Samuel Reimarus, ApologieoderSchutzschrift fir die verniinftigenVerehrerGottes,
ed. Gerhard Alexander, 2 vols. (Frankfurt: Insel-Verlag, 1972); Hirsch, Geschichte(n. 9
above), 4:144-52.
13

Schweitzer said, "This essay is not only one of the greatest events in the
history of criticism, it is also a masterpiece of general literature."65 Rei-
marus pushed the theory of fraud to its limits. Jesus did not in any way
intend to become the founder of Christianity, but by preaching his gospel
he wanted to reform Judaism and return the Jews to their "general rea-
sonable religion."66Jesus' message, therefore, must be explained in Jew-
ish terms. What the apostles taught about him and his work of redemp-
tion after his death was a different matter. "For, when they found they
were deceived in their hopes, they changed their system, turned him into
a suffering redeemer, not only of Israel, but also of the entire human
race, introduced all kinds of unfathomable mysteries of faith and a weird
order of salvation, intended to overthrow all of Judaism, especially
the Levitical Law, in order to establish a new doctrinal edifice that could
provide a comforting refuge and blessedness to all the pagans and
peoples."'67
How could the disciples have been so wrong? The reason was, basically,
that Jesus had misled them by never clearly explaining what he meant
by the kingdom of God, for which he had persuaded his disciples to wait.
He generated in his hearers and disciples a strong hope in a messiah and
redeemer, and he let them believe that he might be the one.68 When he
was crucified and their hopes were dashed, they engineered his resurrec-
tion by stealing his body from the grave.69Thus, the apostles became the
founders of Christianity,70but its foundation was nothing but a big lie.
For Reimarus, the craftiest of fabricators among them was Paul, whom
he denounced with a venom surpassed only by Nietzsche.7'
65 Albert Schweitzer, The Questof the HistoricalJesus: A CriticalStudyof Its Progressfrom Rei-
marusto Wrede,trans. W. Montgomery (New York: Macmillan, 1962), p. 15.
66
Reimarus, Apologie, sec. 1.4, sec. 1 (p. 97): "Wir haben bisher gesehen, daB Jesus die
allgemeine verniinftige Religion, so weit sie praktisch ist, bey den Juden auf eine unver-
gleichliche Weise erklret, und dadurch dem blinden und verdorbenen Judenthum oder
vielmehr dem gantzen menschlichen Geschlechte ein heilsames Licht angeziindet habe"
(translations are by the author).
67 Ibid., pp. 97-98: "Denn, nachdem sie in ihrer Hofnung
betrogen waren, so verinder-
ten sie ihr System, machten einen leydenden Erlbser, nicht nur Israels, sondern des gantzen
menschlichen Geschlechts aus ihm, fiihrten mit seiner Verg6tterung allerley Glaubens-
Geheimnisse, und eine wiedersinnige Heils-Ordnung ein, welche auf die Umstfirtzung des
gantzen Judenthums, und Levitischen Gesetzes, ein neues Lehrgebiude errichtete, das al-
len Heyden und V61kern eine tr6stliche Zuflucht der Seligkeit geben
k6nnte."
68 See, especially, sec. 2.2, sec. 11
(pp. 168-76).
69 Ibid., sec. 3.2-4
(pp. 188-271).
70 Ibid., sec. 3.1, sec. 1 (p. 179): "Wir miissen, in
Betrachtung unsers heutigen Christ-
enthums, hauptsdichlig auf die Junger Jesu sehen, als welche nach Jesu Tode die Stifter
desselben geworden sind, und solches auf ihr neues System gegriindet haben."
7' Ibid., sec. 4.1, sec. 8; 6.2, sec. 7, and often; see esp. sec. 4.1, sec. 14 (p. 332): "und,
wenn wir die Wahrheit sagen wollen, so ist das gantze Christenthum hauptsichlich Pauli
System und Betrieb."
14

The scholar to tackle Reimarus72 was David Friedrich StrauB (1808-
74).73 In effect, StrauB ended the theory of fraud as the origin of Chris-
tianity by introducing into the discussion the concept of myth as distinct
from historical reality. "The new approach, which is to take the place of
the older approaches named (i.e. the deists, supranaturalists and natural-
ists), is the mythical."74Accordingly, the gospel narratives were not lies
and fraud but historical residues overlaid and obscured by myth. It is
here that modern historical, literary, and history-of-religions approaches
to the question of the historical Jesus and the origins of Christianity be-
gan. Just as myth elsewhere, including the Old Testament, he takes "New
Testament myths as nothing else but narrative enclothings of early Chris-
tian ideas, shaped by the unconceited poetry of the saga."75 As far as the
theory of fraud is concerned, StrauB established that it reflects, rather
than actual fraud, the rationalists' failure to account properly for the phe-
nomena of myth which are predominant in the world of religions.76
III. THE THEORY OF ORIGINAL BETRAYAL
The theory of original betrayal was developed in full only in the nine-
teenth century. Finding its most extreme articulation in the work of
Friedrich Nietzsche,77 the theory had its forerunners in Gottfried Arnold
72 Of course, Lessing and Semler had taken on Reimarus before; see Zscharnack, Lessing
und Semler(n. 10 above), 332-38.
73 David Friedrich StrauB, Das LebenJesu, kritischbearbeitet,2 vols. (Tiibingen: Osiander,
zur VerteidigungmeinerSchriftiiberdas LebenJesuund zur Charakteri-
1835, 1836), Streitschriften
stik der gegenwartigen Theologie (Tiibingen: Osiander, 1837), Hermann Samuel Reimarusund
seine Schutzschriftfiir die verniinftigen VerehrerGottes (Leipzig: 1862; 2d ed., Bonn: StrauB,
1877). On StrauB, see Schweitzer, TheQuest, 68-120; Hirsch, Geschichte(n. 9 above), 5:491-
518; cf. also the scathing attack on StrauB by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Unzeitgemisse Betrach-
tungen, Erstes Stiick: David StrauB, der Bekenner und der Schriftsteller," in Friedrich
Nietzsche,Werke,3 vols., ed. Karl Schlechta (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,
1963), 1:137-207.
74 David Friedrich StrauB, Das LebenJesu, kritischbearbeitet,2 vols. (Tiibingen: Osiander,
1835), preface, p. iv: "Der neue Standpunkt, der an die Stelle der bezeichneten treten soll,
ist der mythische" (translations are by the author).
75 Ibid., 1:75: "unter neutestamentlichen Mythen nichts Andres, als geschichtartige Ein-
kleidungen urchristlicher Ideen, gebildet in der absichtslos dichtenden Sage, zu verstehen
sind."
76 See StrauB's assessment of the rationalist
theory of fraud in the Introduction, sec. 5
(1:11-15), where he also relates that theory to the anti-Christian polemics of Celsus, Por-
phyry, and Julian.
77 See on the whole Ernst Benz, NietzschesIdeenzur Geschichte des Christentums
und derKirche,
Zeitschrift ffir Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, suppl. 3 (Leiden: Brill, 1956); Paul Vala-
dier, Nietzscheet la critiquedu christianisme(Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1974); Friedemann
Regner, "PaulusundJesus" im neunzehntenJahrhundert: Beitragezur Geschichtedes Themas"Pau-
lus und Jesus" in der neutestamentlichenTheologie, Studien zur Theologie- und Geistes-
geschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, no. 30 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
1977).
15

(1666-1714) and the spiritualists,78Hermann Samuel Reimarus, Johann

Christian Edelmann (1698-1767),79 Bruno Bauer (1809-82),s8 David
Friedrich StrauB,s' Ernest Renan (1823-92), Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860),82 Paul de Lagarde (1827-91),s3 and Julius Wellhausen
(1844-1918),"4 to mention only the main figures.85 It would be impossible
to summarize the highly complicated history in a few paragraphs, so we
will limit our discussion to the views of Nietzsche.86 Whether or not he
realized it, his great forerunners are to be found among the anti-Pauline
opponents of the Pseudo-Clementine literature.87
Already by the time of Reimarus it was clear that between the message
of the historical Jesus and the Christian faith of the early church there
were strange and bewildering discrepancies.88 Reimarus had pointed out
that a short time after Jesus' death his disciples had "changed the sys-
tem." "The failed hope for a worldly kingdom, for which after the cruci-
fixion there was no longer any support, produced the new system of the
apostles: Now the worldly kingdom became a spiritual one, the ruling
messiah a suffering one, the redeemer of Israel a savior of the whole
world, the liberator from the pagan yoke an expiator of sins. This change
of the system of the apostles can resolve for us all the contradictions in
78 See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 122-34.

79 See Walter Grossmann, "Edelmann, Johann Christian (1698-1767)," TheologischeReal-
enzyklopddie9 (1982): 264-66. For a republication of Edelmann's "Confession of Faith," see
Ernst Barnikol, Das entdeckteChristentumim Vormirz.:Bruno Bauers Kampfgegen Religion und
Christentumund ErstausgabeseinerKampfschrift(Jena: Diederichs, 1927), pp. 165-74: 'Johann
Christian Edelmanns abgenbthigtes jedoch Andern nicht wieder aufgenothigtes Glaubens-
Bekenntnis... (Anno 1746)."
80 For a reprint of Bruno Bauer's most controversial work (Das entdeckteChristentum: Eine
Erinnerung an das achtzehnteJahrhundertund ein Beitrag zur Krisis des neunzehnten [Zilrich &
Winterthur: Druck und Verlag des literarischen Comptoirs, 1843]), see Barnikol, Das ent-
deckteChristentumim Vormiirz,pp. 83-164; Ernst Barnikol, "Bruno Bauers Kampf gegen Reli-
gion und Christentum und die Spaltung der vormarzlichen preuBischen Opposition,"
ZeitschriftfiirKirchengeschichte 46 (1927): 1-34; Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 104-21.
81 See Valadier, Nietzsche,
pp. 23-68.
82 See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 62-72; Valadier,
Nietzsche,pp. 69-111.
83 See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 135-43; on
Lagarde and the rise of anti-Paulism, see
Regner, "PaulusundJesus," pp. 103-21 (esp. p. 116, n. 73, on Nietzsche and Lagarde).
84 See Benz, NietzschesIdeen,
pp. 60-61, 155-56.
85 For further material, see ibid., pp. 58-170: "Die
Anreger."
86 We are confining ourselves mostly to his work Der Antichrist:Fluch
aufdas Christenthum,
cited according to Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, eds., FriedrichNietzsche,Samtliche
Werke:KritischeStudienausgabein 15 Einzelbanden,2d ed. (Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch
Verlag; Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1988), 8:165-254 (hereafter cited as KSA; transla-
tions are the author's).
87 See Georg Strecker, DasJudenchristentum in den Pseudoklementinen,Texte und Untersu-
chungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, no. 70, 2d ed. (Berlin: Akademie-
Verlag, 1981), pp. 187-96, 'Judenchristentum," TheologischeRealenzyklopddie17 (1988):
316-18; Luedemann, Opposition(n. 58 above), pp. 169-94.
88 See Regner, "Paulus
undJesus" (n. 77 above), passim.
16

the life of Jesus." 89This change of the system occurred "within a few days
after Jesus' death, out of the failed hope of the previous system, and out
of necessity, ... not in accordance with history, for history had to conform
to the system."90
Nietzsche took these seminal ideas to their limits. He totally separates
Jesus' message from that of the later church and concludes: "'Christian-
ity' became something fundamentally different from what its founder did
and wanted. It became the great anti-pagan movementof antiquity, formu-
lated by using the life, teaching and the 'words' of the founder of Chris-
tianity, but in an absolutely arbitraryinterpretation satisfyingfundamentally
differentneeds, translated into language of all the already existing under-
ground religions."91
According to Nietzsche, in one sense Jesus was the founder of Chris-
tianity, while in another he was not.92The reason for this ambiguity is the
very concept of Christianity itself, which in effect is a label fraudulently
stuck on different matters. Jesus represented what Nietzsche terms "the
psychological type of the redeemer""93who preached a gospel summed
up in that "most profound saying of the Gospels, in a sense their key":
"Do not resist evil!"94 Nietzsche asks, "What is meant by 'good news'? The
89 Reimarus, Apologie (n. 64 above), 2:142: "Die

fehlgeschlagene Hofnung zu einem welt-
lichen Reiche, welche nach der Kreutzigung gar keine Nahrung mehr fand, hat das neue
System der Apostel hervorgebracht: nun ist aus dem weltlichen Reiche ein geistliches, aus
einem herrschenden Messias ein leydender, aus einem
Erl6ser Israels ein Heiland der gant-
zen Welt, aus einem Befreyer von dem Joche der Heyden ein
Siinden-Biisser geworden.
Und diese Anderung des Systems der Apostel kann uns alle
Wiederspriiche in der Lebens-
geschichte Jesu heben." (Translations are by the author.)
90 Ibid., p. 144: "innerhalb ein Paar Tagen nach Jesu Tode, aus fehlgeschlagener Hof-
nung des vorigen Systems, und aus Noht, erzeugnet worden, nicht nach der Geschichte,
sondern die Geschichte muB sich nach dem System richten."
91 "Fragmente aus dem NachlaB," cited according to Karl Schlechta, ed., Werkein drei
Banden (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1963), 3.652: "Das 'Christentum'
ist etwas Grundverschiedenes von dem geworden, was sein Stifter tat und wollte. Es ist die
groBe antiheidnischeBewegung des Altertums, formuliert mit Benutzung von Leben, Lehre
und 'Worten' des Stifters des Christentums, aber in einer absolut
willkiirlichenInterpretation
nach dem Schema grundverschiedener Bediirfnisse:ubersetzt in die Sprache aller schon beste-
henden unterirdischenReligionen."(Translations are by the author.)
92 Compare "Fragmente aus dem NachlaB," in Schlechta, ed., Werke,3.425: "Ein Reli-
gionsstifter kann unbedeutend sein-ein Streichholz, nichts mehr!"

93 Nietzsche, Der Antichrist, sec. 29, Nietzsche, in KSA, 6:199: "der
psychologische Typus
des Erldsers." See also secs. 31-33 (pp. 201-5). See Hubert Cancik and
Hildegard Cancik-
Lindemaier, "Der 'psychologische Typus des Erl6sers' und die Moglichkeit seiner Darstel-
lung bei Franz Overbeck und Friedrich Nietzsche," in FranzOverbecksunerledigteAnfragenan
das Christentum,ed. Rudolf Brandle and Ekkehard W. Stegemann (Munich: Kaiser,
1988),
pp. 108-35 (with bibliography); Ulrich Willers, FriedrichNietzschesantichristlicheChristologie:
Eine theologischeKritik,Innsbrucker Theologische Studien, no. 23 (Innsbruck:
Tyrolia, 1988),
pp. 248-52. Still useful is the survey in Benz, NietzschesIdeen (n. 77 above), 17-25, and
passim.
94 Nietzsche, DerAntichrist, sec. 29, pp. 199-200: "Gerade der
Gegensatz zu allem Ringen,
zu allem Sich-in-Kampf-fiihlen ist hier Instinkt geworden: die
Unfihigkeit zum Widerstand
17

true, the eternal life is found-it is not promised, it is [already] there, it
is withinyou. [It exists] as life in love, in love without deduction and exclu-
sion, without distance. Everyone is the child of God-Jesus does not in
any way claim anything for himself; as a child of God everyone is equal
to everyone else."95 Nietzsche strongly repudiates Renan's category of
Jesus as a "hero" or "genius" and appeals to the notion of the idiot, which
he may have learned from Dostoevsky.96 "To say it with the acumen of
the physiologist, a quite different term would be in order here: the term
idiot. We know of a condition of pathological irritation pertaining to the
sense of touching, by which that sense is horrified by any touching, by any
kind of grasping of a solid object. One must translate this physiological
habitusinto its ultimate logical conclusion, as instinctual hatred against all
reality, as a flight into the 'ungraspable,' the 'incomprehensible,' as rejec-
tion of any formula, any notion of space and time, as repugnance against
anything firm, such as morality or custom, institution or church. [It is,
rather] a being at home in a world no longer touched by any kind of
reality, a world purely 'internal,' a 'true' world, an 'eternal' world...
'The kingdom of God is withinyou.'"97
Nietzsche's psychological interpretation of the notion of love is set forth
with aphoristic brevity: "The instinctiveeliminationof all forms of antipathy,
all enmity,all limits and distancesin feeling: [It is nothing but] the conse-
wird hier Moral ('widerstehe nicht dem Bosen' das tiefste Wort der Evangelien, ihr
Schltis-
sel in gewissem Sinne), die Seligkeit im Frieden, in der Sanftmuth, im Nicht-feind-sein-
k6nnen."
95 Ibid., p. 200: "Was heisst 'frohe Botschaft'? Das wahre Leben, das ewige Leben ist ge-
funden-es wird nicht verheissen, es ist da, es ist in euch: als Leben in der Liebe, in der
Liebe ohne Abzug und Ausschluss, ohne Distanz. Jeder ist das Kind Gottes-Jesus nimmt
durchaus nichts fOr sich allein in Anspruch-als Kind Gottes ist Jeder mit Jedem gleich."
96 See Martin Dibelius, "Der 'psychologische Typus des
Erl6sers' bei Friedrich Nietzsche,"
DeutscheVierteljahresschriftfiirLiteraturwissenschaftund Geistesgeschichte
22 (1944): 61-91; Benz,
NietzschesIdeen, pp. 92-103; C. A. Miller, "Nietzsche's 'Discovery' of Dostoevsky," Nietzsche-
Studien 2 (1973): 202-57, "Nietzsches 'Soteriopsychologie' im Spiegel von Dostojevskijs
Auseinandersetzung mit dem europtiischen Nihilismus," Nietzsche-Studien7 (1978): 130-49;
Cancik and Cancik-Lindemaier, "Der 'psychologische Typus des Erldsers,"' pp. 118, 119-
21; David Marc Hoffmann, Zur Geschichtedes Nietzsche-Archivs; ElisabethForster-Nietzsche,
Fritz
Koegel,Rudolf GustavNaumann,JosefHofmiller;Chronik,Studienund Dokumente,Supple-
Steiner,
menta Nietzscheana 2 (Berlin & New York: de Gruyter, 1991), pp. 239, 493-96.
97 Nietzsche, Der Antichrist,sec. 29, p. 200: "Mit der Strenge des Physiologen gesprochen,
ware hier ein ganz andres Wort eher noch am Platz: das Wort Idiot. Wir kennen einen
Zustand krankhafter Reizbarkeit des Tastsinns,der dann vor jeder
Berthrung, vor jedem
Anfassen eines festen Gegenstandes zurtckschaudert. Man ubersetze sich einen solchen
physiologischen habitus in seine letzte Logik-als Instinkt-Hass gegen jede Realitit, als
Flucht in's 'Unfassliche', in's 'Unbegreifliche', als Widerwille gegenjede Formel,jeden Zeit-
und Raumbegriff, gegen alles, was fest, Sitte, Institution, Kirche ist, als Zu-Hause-sein in
einer Welt, an die keine Art Realitit mehr ruihrt, einer bloss noch 'inneren' Welt, einer
'wahren' Welt, einer 'ewigen' Welt ... Das Reich Gottes ist in euch."
18

quence of an extreme capacity for suffering and irritation, which experi-

ences every resistance and having-to-resist at once as an unbearable
loathing (that is, as harmful, as incompatiblewith the instinct of self-
preservation), and it knows happiness (lust) only by resisting no longer
and no longer anybody, neither the evil thing nor the evil one; [it knows]
love to be the only, the last possibility for life." 98
For Nietzsche this type of redemption is "a sublime development of
hedonism based on thoroughgoing morbidity."99He sees it most closely
related to Epicureanism, "paganism's doctrine of redemption." "Epicu-
rus, a typicaldecadent:first recognized by me. Fear of pain, even of the
minutest in pain, it cannot end in anything but a religionof love."'00 Rather
than Epicureanism, perhaps, better candidates might have been Cyni-
cism or Gnosticism.1o0
Thus, what Jesus practiced was not a religion, but life itself. This was
his gospel, confirmed by his death. "He no longer needed any formulae
or any rituals to communicate with God, not even prayer. He has aban-
doned the whole Jewish doctrine of penitence and atonement; he knows
how it is the practice of life alone through which one feels 'divine,'
'blessed,' 'gospel-like,' always a 'child of God.' Not 'penitence,' not 'prayer
for forgiveness' are ways to God: [rather] the gospel-practicealone leads to
God; indeed, it is 'God."' 102 This gospel-like existence implies the denial
of any form of institutional religion, be it Jewish or Christian.
For Nietzsche, these views lead to three major conclusions: (1) Jesus'
death was the end of the only "Christian"that the world has ever known.
This "genuinehistory of Christianity" means that the very term Christian-
98 Ibid., sec. 30, pp. 200-201: "Die Instinkt-Ausschliessung

aller Abneigung, aller Feindschaft,
aller Grenzenund Distanzenim Gefiihl: Folge einer extremen Leid- und Reizfahigkeit, welche
jedes Widerstreben, Widerstreben-Muissen bereits als unertraigliche Unlust (das heisst als
schadlich, als vom Selbsterhaltungs-Instinkte widerrathen)empfindet und die Seligkeit (die
Lust) allein darin kennt, nicht mehr, Niemandem mehr, weder dem Ubel noch dem Basen,
Widerstand zu leisten-die Liebe als einzige, als letzteLebens-M6glichkeit."
99Ibid., p. 201: "Ich nenne sie eine sublime Weiter-Entwicklung des Hedonismus auf
durchaus morbider Grundlage."
100 I am giving the whole passage, ibid.: "Ndichstverwandt, wenn auch mit einem gros-
sen Zuschuss von griechischer Vitalitit und Nervenkraft, bleibt ihr der Epicureismus, die
Erlosungs-Lehre des Heidenthums. Epicur ein typischerdicadent: zuerst von mir als solcher
erkannt.-Die Furcht vor Schmerz, selbst vor dem Unendlich-Kleinen im Schmerz-sie
kann gar nicht anders enden als in einer Religion der Liebe."
101Compare Willers, FriedrichNietzschesantichristlicheChristologie,p. 201, n. 195; p. 274.
102
Nietzsche, Der Antichrist, ibid., sec. 33, pp. 205-6: "Er hatte keine Formeln, keinen
Ritus ffir den Verkehr mit Gott mehr n6thig-nicht einmal das Gebet. Er hat mit der gan-
zen jfidischen Buss- und Versohnungslehre abgerechnet; er weiss, wie es allein die Praktik
des Lebens ist, mit der man sich 'g6ttlich', 'selig', 'evangelisch', jederzeit ein 'Kind Gottes'
fiihlt. Nicht 'Busse', nicht 'Gebet um Vergebung' sind Wege zu Gott: die evangelischePraktik
allein ffihrt zu Gott, sie eben ist 'Gott."'
19

ity invites misunderstanding: "basically,there was only one Christian, and

he died on the cross. The 'gospel' died on the cross."'03 (2) In principle at
least, it is possible at any time and for anybody to take up the practice of
Christianity as Jesus practiced it: "Still today, such a life is possible, for
certainpeople even necessary: the genuine, original Christianity will be a
possibility at all times. Not a faith, but a practice, especially a not-doing of
many things, a different kind of being."'04(3) However, the other Chris-
tianity, invented by the disciples immediately after the crucifixion and
henceforth called "gospel," "was from the inception the very opposite of
what he had lived: a 'bad news,' a dysangelium."o05 "To reduce Christ-
being, Christian-being to believing something to be true, to a mere phe-
nomenon of consciousness, means denying [such] Christian-being. Infact,
thereneverwereany Christians.The 'Christian,' that is, what has been called
Christian for two thousand years, is merely a psychological self-
misunderstanding."106
The "disaster of the gospel" 107was not the fact that Jesus was crucified;
his death, rather, was the seal of confirmation put on his life.108The real
disaster came when the disciples, crude and small minds all of them,109
and profoundly shaken up by the events, resented their perception that
Jesus' death meant failure of their beliefs and expectations. These beliefs
and expectations, however, were those of Judaism. Unable to bear such
consequences, they activated the propositions of their popular Jewish ex-
pectations and fabricated what became the origins of the Christian reli-
gion. "It was their form of revenge, when they lifted Jesus up in such an
extravagant way and separated him from them, just as formerly the Jews,
out of revenge against their enemies, separated their God from them and
lifted him up to the highest. The One God and the One Son of God:
103 Ibid., sec. 39, p. 211: "Das Wort schon 'Christenthum' ist ein Missverstdindniss-, im
Grunde gab es nur Einen Christen, und der starb am Kreuz. Das 'Evangelium' starb am
Kreuz."
104 Ibid.: "Heute noch ist ein solchesLeben m6glich, ffir gewisse Menschen sogar nothwen-
dig: das echte, das urspruingliche Christenthum wird zu allen Zeiten m6glich sein ... Nicht
ein Glauben, sondern ein Thun, ein Vieles-nicht-thun vor Allem, ein andres Sein."
105 Ibid.: "Was von diesem Augenblick an 'Evangelium' heisst, war bereits der Gegensatz
dessen, was er gelebt: eine 'schlimmeBotschaft', ein Dysangelium."On euangelium/dysangelium,
see Benz, NietzschesIdeen (n. 77 above), pp. 43--48.
106 Nietzsche, Der Antichrist, sec. 39, p. 212: "Das Christ-sein, die Christlichkeit auf ein
Fir-wahr-halten, auf eine blosse Bewusstseins-Phinomenalitat reduziren, heisst die Christ-
lichkeit negieren. In der Tathgab es gar keine Christen.Der 'Christ', das, was seit zwei Jahr-
tausenden Christ heisst, ist bloss ein psychologisches Selbst-Missverstindniss."
107 Ibid., sec. 40, p. 213: "das Verhingniss des Evangeliums."
108 Ibid., p. 211: "An sich konnte Jesus mit seinem Tode nichts wollen, als offentlich die
starkste Probe, den Beweis seiner Lehre zu geben .. ."
109 Ibid., sec. 31, p. 202: "die ersten Juinger in Sonderheit iibersetzten ein ganz in Symbo-
len und Unfasslichkeiten schwimmendes Sein erst in die eigne Cruditit, um Oberhaupt
Etwas davon zu verstehn." See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 29-35: "Die Griinde des Abfalls."
20

both products of resentment."110 Thus, Christianity as such is apostasy, a

degenerate concoction out of Judaism and Hellenistic paganism.1"
When the initial fumblings of the disciples fell into the hands of Paul,
it was he who turned them into the worst of the ancient religionsof deca-
dence.112 In the most vicious anti-Pauline tirades ever written, Nietzsche
describes the apostle Paul as the counterfeit founder of the Christianity
we know historically by that name. "On the heels of the 'good news' fol-
lowed the absolutelyworst, the message of Paul.""3 Paul was "the antitype
of the 'good messenger,' the genius in hatred, in the vision of hatred, in
the merciless logic of hatred. What this dysangelistsacrificed to hatred!
Above all, the redeemer: he nailed him to his cross."114
What did Paul do? Activating the full power of his sinister Pharisaic
mind, Paul discarded the historical Jesus. "The life [of Jesus], the ex-
ample, the teaching, the death, the meaning and the integrity of the gos-
pel-nothing was left when this impostor comprehended out of hatred
what alone he needed. Not the reality, not the historical truth! . . . And
again the priestly instinct of the Jew committed the same great crime
against history: he simply cancelled the yesterday, and the day before
yesterday, of Christianity. For himselfhe inventeda historyof primitiveChris-
tianity. Moreover, he again falsified the history of Israel, so as to make it
appear as the history of his act: all prophets spoke of his 'redeemer'...
Later the church falsified the history of mankind, making it over into the
prehistory of Christianity."115
Thus, it was the impostor Paul who counterfeited "Christianity" and
"0 I am giving the whole sentence, Nietzsche, Der Antichrist,sec. 40, p. 214: "Andrerseits
hielt die wildgewordne Verehrung dieser ganz aus den Fugen gerathenen Seelenjene evan-
gelische Gleichberechtigung von Jedermann zum Kind Gottes, die Jesus gelehrt hatte, nicht
mehr aus: ihre Rache war, auf eine ausschweifende Weise Jesus emporzuheben, von sich abzu-
16sen: ganz so, wie ehedem die Juden aus Rache an ihren Feinden ihren Gott von sich
losgetrennt und in die H6he gehoben haben. Der Eine Gott und der Eine Sohn Gottes:
Beides Erzeugnisse des ressentiment."
'" See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 26-28, 29-35, 49-51.
112 See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 36-42; J6rg Salaquarda, "Dionysos
gegen den Gekreu-
zigten: Nietzsches Verstaindnis des Apostels Paulus," Zeitschriftfiir Religions- und Geistes-
geschichte26 (1974): 97-124; reprinted in Nietzsche,Werke der Forschung, no. 251 (Darm-
stadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1980), pp. 288-322; Valadier, Nietzsche (n. 77
above), 293-388.
113
Nietzsche, Der Antichrist,sec. 42, p. 215: "Der 'frohen Botschaft' folgte auf dem Fuss
die allerschlimmste:die des Paulus."
114 Ibid., pp. 215-16: "In Paulus verk6rpert sich der Gegensatz-Typus zum 'frohen
Botschafter', das Genie im Hass, in der Vision des Hasses, in der unerbittlichen Logik des
Hasses. Was hat dieser Dysangelist Alles dem Hasse zum Opfer gebracht! Vor allem den
Erloser: er schlug ihn an sein Kreuz."
"15 Ibid., p. 216: "Das Leben, das Beispiel, die Lehre, der Tod, der Sinn und das Recht
des ganzen Evangeliums-Nichts war mehr vorhanden, als dieser Falschmiinzer aus Hass
begriff, was allein er brauchen konnte. Nicht die Realitait,nicht die historische Wahrheit! ...
Und noch einmal veriibte der Priester-Instinkt des Juden das gleiche grosse Verbrechen
21

substituted it for the true Christianity that Jesus had lived. The falsifica-
tion had nothing in common with the original it replaced. Paul's fabrica-
tion was so cleverly designed that it proved just right for the masses of
credulous fools that the decaying religions of Hellenism left unsatisfied.
Among the religions of decadence, Christianity became the most power-
ful, rivalled only by Buddhism.16 In time it helped turn the masses into
cattle herds to be ruled over by despots, a system to be adopted later by
Mohammed as well.117
Any critical assessment of Nietzsche's views on the origins of Christian-
ity will have to take into account the complexities typical of his thinking.
It is easy to get excited, positively or negatively, by the excesses of his
polemics, but one needs to analyze his ideas and observe what he actually
does. By summarizing historical-critical studies of the New Testament
and subjecting their results to cynical deconstructionism,18 as it would be
called today, he does in fact devaluate not only Christianity, but also all
Hellenistic religions as nothing but fabrications of decadent priests.
Nietzsche, who has the highest regard for the Greek culture of the classi-
cal period ("Hellenentum"), speaks only contemptuously of the Hellenis-
tic culture and its "voluptuous air overloaded with aphrodisiac odors.""19
Nietzsche presents a consistent picture, and he can account for many be-
wildering phenomena. His picture is, however, the outcome of precon-
ceived theories according to which everything has been subjected to a
an der Historie,-er strich das Gestern, das Vorgestern des Christenthums einfach durch,
er erfand sich eine Geschichtedes ersten Christenthums.Mehr noch: er falschte die Geschichte
Israels nochmals um, um als Vorgeschichte fuir seine Tath zu erscheinen: alle Propheten
haben von seinem Erloser geredet.... Die Kirche falschte spiter sogar die Geschichte der
Menschheit zur Vorgeschichte des Christenthums."
116
Ibid., p. 215: "der Grundunterschied zwischen den beiden decadence-Religionen: der
Buddhismus verspricht nicht, sondern hdilt, das Christenthum verspricht alles, aber
hdlt
Nichts."
117 Ibid., pp. 216-17: "Paulus wollte den Zweck,folglich wollte er auch die Mittel.... Was
er selbst nicht glaubte, die Idioten, unter die er seine Lehre warf, glaubten es.-Sein Be-
durfnis war die Macht; mit Paulus wollte nochmals der Priester zur Macht,-er konnte nur
Begriffe, Lehren, Symbole brauchen, mit denen man Massen tyrannisirt, Heerden bildet.-
Wasallein entlehnte spiter Muhamed dem Christenthum? Die Erfindung des Paulus, sein
Mittel zur Priester-Tyrannei, zur Heerden-Bildung den Unsterblichkeits-Glauben-das
heisstdie Lehrevom 'Gericht'..." On Nietzsche's notion of the priest, see Valadier, Nietzsche,
pp. 181-292.
118 Nietzsche calls cynicism the highest form of writing to be achieved on earth. See Ecce
homo: Wieman wird, was man ist, in KSA (n. 86 above), 6:302: "das H6chste, was auf Erden
erreicht werden kann, den Cynismus." Similarly,Jenseits von Gut und Bose, sec. 26, in KSA,
5:44: "Cynismus ist die einzige Form, in welcher gemeine Seelen an Das streifen, was Red-
lichkeit ist; und der h6here Mensch hat bei jedem
gr6beren und feineren Cynismus die
Ohren aufzumachen und sich jedes Mal Gluck zu wiinschen, wenn gerade vor ihm der
Possenreisser ohne Scham oder der wissenschaftliche Satyr laut werden."
"lgJenseitsvon Gut und B6se, sec. 189, p. 110: "inmitten der hellenistischen Cultur und
ihrer mit aphrodisischen Diiften iiberladenen und geil gewordenen Luft."
22

tendentiously negative reading. For all this he does point to important
phenomena of ambiguityin early Christianityas well as in other Hellenis-
tic religions.
Fardifferentfrom the era of Enlightenment,for Nietzsche Christianity
is a religion like all others. Rather than the revelationof reason, for him
all religions are the products of pathologicalirrationality,paranoiacfears
and illusions, and the craftinessof impostors who take advantageof the
masses' insatiable appetite for deception on a grand scale. Religious
founder figures like Paul are able to turn these religiouspathologies into
instruments of power capable of subduing and holding the masses in
check for centuries. In the midst of all this, however,there exists another
type of founder figure who by breaking up the decaying forms of older
religions demonstrateswhat human life is in its pure form. Such a figure
was Jesus.120 He did not give us Christianity as a religion, but showed in
a flash of light what human life can be and should be. Thus, Christianity
in the genuine sense of the term is not a religion but authentic human
existence. This points, after all has been said, to the phenomenon of
Nietzsche's "christology." 21
Today, Nietzsche's ideas continue to fascinate the historian of religion.
While Franz Overbeck began exploring the significance of Nietzsche's
ideas for church history, ancient history, and history of religions,122 his
work has found no successor yet. In a recent article, at least, the philoso-
pher Josef Simon has outlined some of Nietzsche's reflections about the
origins of philosophy.123 Mutatis mutandis these reflections also apply to
the so-called founder figures of religions. Accordingly, without being fully
aware of it, such a founder figure steps into "a gap" that has opened up
in an existing religion, and "in that gap he develops his system." 924 To
120 See Uwe Kiihneweg, "Nietzsche und

Jesus-Jesus bei Nietzsche," Nietzsche-Studien15
(1986): 382-97; Cancik and Cancik-Lindemaier, "Der 'psychologische Typus des Erl6sers'"
(n. 101 above), pp. 114-22.
121 On his ideas about
"liberating Jesus," see Benz, NietzschesIdeen (n. 77 above), pp.
52-57; Kiihneweg, "Nietzscheund Jesus," passim, equates Jesus with Nietzsche's "Ober-
mensch." See also Ulrich Willers, "'Aut Zarathustra aut Christus': Die Jesusdeutung
Nietzsches im Spiegel ihrer Interpretationsgeschichte; Tendenzen und Entwicklungen
von 1900-1980," Theologieund Philosophie60 (1985): 239-56, 418-42; 61 (1986): 236-49,
FriedrichNietzschesantichristlicheChristologie(n. 93 above), passim; Peter
K6ster, "Nietzsche
als verborgener Antipode in Bonhoeffers 'Ethik,"' Nietzsche-Studien19 (1990): 367-418.
122 See the essays in Rudolf Braindle and Ekkehard W. Stegemann, eds., Franz Overbecks
unerledigteAnfragen an das Christentum(Munich: Kaiser, 1988).
'23 Josef Simon, "Das neue Nietzsche-Bild," Nietzsche-Studien21 (1992): 1-9.
124Simon, "Das neue Nietzsche-Bild," pp. 1-2: "In diesem Zusammenhang, sagt
Nietzsche, was der Philosoph, wie er ihn versteht, tun solle: 'er soll erkennen,was noth thut.'
'Der Philosoph soll am stairksten das allgemeine Leid nachempfinden; wie die alten
grie-
chischen Philosophen jeder seine Noth ausdriuckt: dort, in die
Licke stellt er sein System.
Er baut seine Welt in diese Liicke hinein. Es sind alle Mittel zu sammeln, durch die es
m6glich ist den Menschen zur Ruhe zu retten: bei absterbenden Religionen.'" Cited is the
23

explore this insight more fully further reflection would be needed. At any
rate, whether a concept like that of an original founder figure and his
transformation into myth by secondary founder figures and cult reform-
ers, or the notion of conscious construction of religious cults, or the func-
tion of new religions as instruments of political power, or the evergrowing
fascination of the masses by magic and mystery, or above all the emer-
gence of the "superman" (Ubermensch;esto; acvip)-all of these are indeed
phenomena typical of Hellenistic religions.
In conclusion, Nietzsche's aim was not, of course, merely to develop a
theory about Christianity; his aim was to destroy Christianity. For this
reason, The Antichristconcludes the final chapter with a terrifying curse
on Christianity. And yet, as we know, his fight against Christianity, carried
on in an unparalleled intellectual acumen and spiritual depth, failed be-
cause he was unable to overcome the figure of Jesus of Nazareth. Para-
doxically, Nietzsche shared with Paul, whom he hated so much, a kind of
experience of a vision of Jesus. Conquered by this vision, Nietzsche was
convinced that a new and different Christianity would begin with himself
as aJesus redivivus.What kind of religion it would be he refused to predict.
Again, paradoxically, what came was not a new Christianity but the
Nietzsche cult with its embarrassments and horrors.125 Thus, today
Nietzsche's work stands as another disturbing testimony to the mystery
we call Christianity.
IV. CONCLUSION
Finally, two questions should be raised. They can, however, be discussed

only briefly and ideally require much more reflection.
1) How are the three theories of origin related to one another? They
are, to be sure, not of the same kind, and they are interrelated in intri-
guing ways. The first kind, the theories of fulfillment (I), are based on
Jewish and Christian mythological concepts of history and eschatology.
Having undergone secularized interpretation in the period of Enlighten-
ment, these theories became part of the philosophy of history. In that
capacity they provide ways to conceptualize periods (beginning and ful-
fillment of "ages"), developments, shifts and diversity, as well as coher-
ence within "universal history."
The second and third kinds of theories (II and III) are antithetical to
the first (I); in fact, they reintroduce the discontinuities which the first
kind of theory attempted to overcome. The aim of theories II and III is
edition by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, Nietzsche, Werke:KritischeGesamtausgabe

(Berlin: de Gruyter, 1967-), 3:19 [23] (emphases in the text; translation is by the author).
125 See Hubert Cancik, "Der Nietzsche-Kult in Weimar: Ein Beitrag zur Religions-
geschichte der wilhelminischen Ara," Nietzsche-Studien16 (1987): 405-29.
24

to destroy the basis for internal coherence and teleological development.

At the same time, the second and third kinds of theories are antithetical
to each other. Theories of original fraud (II) are spawned by a suspicion
that history lacks any objective coherence. Instead, another kind of co-
herence is believed to be operative, that of religious history as subjective
human acts of "pious fraud" (piafraus).
The theory of original betrayal (III) goes further by attributing a de-
monic character to history. Rather than a chaotic mass of follies, errors,
and acts of cheating, according to this theory history is the intentional
construction of what at the end of the twentieth century has become
known as "the big lie." Betrayal is identified as the type of coherence that
characterizes all history. Feeling betrayed, historical players in turn not
only betray each other but also seek justifiable revenge by deceiving the
masses through the "big lie."
2) What is the significance of these theories of origin? Theories of his-
torical origin must be distinguished from historical realities. What schol-
arship hands down to us as historiography is not simply accounts of facts,
but accounts that are simultaneously influenced by theories such as the
three described above, or others, or combinations of them. Theories of
historical origin are not only illuminating because they reveal fundamen-
tal assumptions about history, but such theories may also shape and even
create history. Yet, whatever their origin, historical realities are first expe-
rienced, then, perhaps, understood. The main difficulty, then, for under-
standing historical origins lies with the critical distinctions to be made
between what is reality and what is theory.
25


The Three Main Theories of Christianity's Origin as a Hellenistic Religion

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Three Main Theories of Christianity's Origin as a Hellenistic Religion

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Birth of Christianity as a Hellenistic Religion: Three Theories of Origin

Author(s): Hans Dieter Betz

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

The topic of the birth of Christianity as a Hellenistic religion is loaded

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

4 See on this point my article "Christianity as Religion: Paul's Attempt at Definition in

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

Theories of fulfillment have their roots in New Testament ideas of salva-

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

b) According to this program, Christianity began with Jesus of Naza-

work of Semler's teacher, Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten, Geschichteder Religionsparteyen,ed.

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

30 Ibid.: "Lange Zeiten brauchte dies Gewaichs, ehe es auf diesem

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

Jesus appeared he was believed to fulfill the spiritual longings, aspira-

41 Ibid., p. 712: "Die Schltissel des Himmelreichs fir diese und

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

II. THE THEORY OF ORIGINAL FRAUD

Theories about new religions as the result of fraud by corrupted priests

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

52 See the rich collection of data assembled by

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

III. THE THEORY OF ORIGINAL BETRAYAL

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

(1666-1714) and the spiritualists,78Hermann Samuel Reimarus, Johann

78 See Benz, NietzschesIdeen, pp. 122-34.

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

89 Reimarus, Apologie (n. 64 above), 2:142: "Die

gionsstifter kann unbedeutend sein-ein Streichholz, nichts mehr!"

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

quence of an extreme capacity for suffering and irritation, which experi-

98 Ibid., sec. 30, pp. 200-201: "Die Instinkt-Ausschliessung

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

ity invites misunderstanding: "basically,there was only one Christian, and

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

both products of resentment."110 Thus, Christianity as such is apostasy, a

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

120 See Uwe Kiihneweg, "Nietzsche und

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

Finally, two questions should be raised. They can, however, be discussed

edition by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, Nietzsche, Werke:KritischeGesamtausgabe

geschichte der wilhelminischen Ara," Nietzsche-Studien16 (1987): 405-29.

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

to destroy the basis for internal coherence and teleological development.

This content downloaded from 147.91.1.45 on Sun, 4 May 2014 17:42:01 PM

You might also like