The Antichrist

Nietzsche turns his attention to both Saint Paul—the embodiment of Christian doctrine that went against Christ—and the crucifixion, saying that Paul “had no use for the life of the Savior” bar his Resurrection to cultivate the lie of eternal life and mobilize more followers. By recognizing this, Paul repositioned Christianity’s “centre of gravity” to Christ’s death (49).

Nietzsche argues that Christianity’s “centre of gravity” being repositioned into the realm of death made it so nothing positive towards life could have any reverence.

He chastises Christianity for pushing for an “equality of souls,” as it enjoined the Hyperboreans with the masses, declaring them equal and all other realities false (50). In this way, Christianity undermined all values that might assist the Hyperboreans in elevating themselves and helping others look up to them.

Nietzsche compares the psychological effects of the Gospels to the tactics he previously described as being key to Jewish ecclesiasticism. However, while the Jewish people based their ecclesiasticism on their separation from the rest of humanity—grounding their salvation in their race—Christianity stripped this racial focus to promote itself as separate from the exclusivity of Judaism. In using such tactics, early Christians embedded hypocrisy within their own faith.