An interesting observation . . .
"Nietzsche, the foe, is much nearer to Christianity than Goethe, the well-disposed, whom the Christian theme left absolutely untouched.
Goethe was indifferent to it. He is perhaps one man of the Christian period of history who passed by Christianity and suffered nothing from it.
He could arrange his interior life without Christianity. For that reason he is sometimes called the great pagan. But in Greece too he was unaware of the tragic religion of Dionysus.
It is well known that Goethe had a great fear of suffering and strove to escape it; nor was he fond of tragedy. Kleist repelled him and was very unjust to him. Sometimes his attitude to suffering conveyed the impression of cowardice although he was a strong man.
On the other hand one cannot imagine Nietzsche outside the Christian period of history, however much he may have turned his attention to ancient Greece."
- Nikolai Berdyaev
The Divine and The Human
"Nietzsche, the foe, is much nearer to Christianity than Goethe, the well-disposed, whom the Christian theme left absolutely untouched.
Goethe was indifferent to it. He is perhaps one man of the Christian period of history who passed by Christianity and suffered nothing from it.
He could arrange his interior life without Christianity. For that reason he is sometimes called the great pagan. But in Greece too he was unaware of the tragic religion of Dionysus.
It is well known that Goethe had a great fear of suffering and strove to escape it; nor was he fond of tragedy. Kleist repelled him and was very unjust to him. Sometimes his attitude to suffering conveyed the impression of cowardice although he was a strong man.
On the other hand one cannot imagine Nietzsche outside the Christian period of history, however much he may have turned his attention to ancient Greece."
- Nikolai Berdyaev
The Divine and The Human
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