An Analysis of Nietzsche's Theory the Death God

Nietzsche's theory of the death of God marked a major turning point in philosophy and religion. This philosopher of suspicion sweeps aside all facts and certainties with a single stroke of thought, in the sense that everything is already interpretation and open to infinite interpretation. He attacks religion and the very foundations of Christian morality, which, in his view, stifle the human will. Influenced by the atheist philosopher Schopenhauer after reading *The World as Will and Representation*, Nietzsche actually envisages the death of God as the absence of God leading to the liberation of humankind. Thus, the absence of God sounds the death knell for belief in a supreme being: the guarantor of moral order. An exhortation to human creativity, to the expression of all one's abilities and creative potential, Nietzsche's theory of the death of God liberates humanity. Thus, "Our world becomes infinite once more" and we glimpse a new era in human existence: the advent of the Übermensch.