The Critique of Christianity in Celsus and Nietzsche: From Sedition to Resentment

Abstract Celsus of Alexandria’s second-century invectives against the politics and culture of Christianity share prominent features with the problem of ressentiment as it emerges in Nietzsche’s analysis of Christianity as characterized by feelings of revenge and hatred. Against this background, it is possible to suggest that Nietzsche’s views of Christianity continue Celsus’s much earlier criticism of Christianity. This pertains especially to the relationship between Church and state, since the Church tends to impose itself on issues that fall within the purview of the secular state. Both Celsus and Nietzsche, thus, highlight the subversive nature of Christianity in their respective critiques, and it is thus subversive nature of Christianity’s relationship to the state that can be seen as a trigger of the ressentiment described by Nietzsche.