Nietzsche On Modernity

Modernity can have a number of different meanings dependent on the context of the text and the period in which the text was written in. With a plethora of meanings, one specific lens for understanding modernity is a deep questioning and challenging of authority. It may be questioning authorities about who we are, how the world works, or how society should work. Modernity brought with it a shift from blind faith in the words of officials to an autonomous querying separate from the thoughts of authorities. In Modernity and the Construction of Roman Catholicism, Joesph Komonchak described this shift to rationalism as “the great enemy of the Church and of the faith” (358). For thousands of years, the church held the power of who had authority, how the natural world worked, and who the human being was. The church’s final say was absolute, until a few key individuals began to speak out and question its authority and power. Four prominent individuals made large strives towards modernity or continued ideas of modernity by questioning those …show more content…
He recognized their belief in “transvaluation” or that the weak are the righteous by saying “They monopolize virtue now, these weak and incurably sick men, there is no doubt about that: ‘We alone are the good, the just’” (102). Appalled by this concept, he argued that the strong must realize their strength for they are the ones who must lead and must not fall prey to believing they are weak (Nietzsche, 103). Nietzsche not only challenges and questions the Jewish religion, but he openly opposes many of its ideals – including the New Testament. With strong heroic figures, the Old Testament is honorable, but the New Testament is completely ignominious. He speaks of it as only having “petty business of sects, mere rococo of the soul, mere embellishment, nooks and crannies, strange things” (Nietzche,