death of God
Theology's radical crisis
Death of God refers to the philosophical and theological idea that belief in God has become untenable in modern thought.
The phrase is most associated with Nietzsche, who declared God dead to signify that traditional religious foundations for morality and meaning had collapsed.
In theology, it names a 1960s movement exploring Christianity without supernatural theism.
The concept addresses cultural shifts rather than any literal divine demise: After Auschwitz, some theologians spoke of the death of God.
- NietzscheGerman philosopher of will
- nihilismRejection of objective meaning
- voidWithout legal effect
- abyssImmeasurably profound depth
- meaninglessnessLack of significance
loss of meaning · secularism · atheism · twilight · idols · Zarathustra · madman · lantern · eternal · recurrence · übermensch · will to power · last man · beyond good and evil · despair · empty throne · liberation · modernity
- existentialismexistence, authenticity, existential angst, existential crisis, angst
- Modern Theologyliberation theology, neo-orthodoxy, political theology, Barth, Schleiermacher
- Nietzschewill to power, overman, superman, slave morality, Zarathustra
- theologyecclesiology, eschatology, Christology, dogmatics, Jesus
death of Godtheophany
Visible appearance of deity
divine presence · divine immanence · existence of God · divine encounter · incarnation
death of Godabsolute truth
Universally valid statement
logos · natural law · cosmic order · first principles · perennial philosophy
death, deaths, dead, deaden, deadly, deadliness, died, God, gods