''God's Zeal: The Battle of the Three Monotheisms'' () is a book by the German philosopher

Peter Sloterdijk Peter Sloterdijk (; ; born 26 June 1947) is a German philosopher and cultural theorist. He was a professor of philosophy and media theory at and Rector from 2001 to 2015 of the University of Art and Design Karlsruhe. He co-hosted the German tel ...

, published in 2007. It traces the origins of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and criticises

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...

for leading to zealotry.

Summary

Sloterdijk argues that the belief in transcendence emerged from a series of misunderstandings. These include the misunderstandings of vehemence and of the ability to think in hierarchies. Sloterdijk traces the emergence of the three major monotheistic religions.

came to life as an anti-pagan protest against the Egyptians, Hittites and Babylonians. Its theology derives from a "triumph in defeat".

added an apostolic message to the universalist claim of its predecessor.

intensified the universalist offense by making the expansion a military-political project. The three religions share a zealous claim to the truth of God which makes them highly confrontational, although this takes different expressions. Judaism is defensive and inclined to separatism, Christianity is expansive through

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

, and Islam is expansive through

Holy War A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent t ...

Belief A belief is a subjective Attitude (psychology), attitude that something is truth, true or a State of affairs (philosophy), state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some Life stance, stance, take, or opinion ...

is most likely an anthropological constant, but monotheist religions create conflicts which are unusually difficult to resolve. It is questionable if they can be harnessed. Sloterdijk brings up the ring parable from the play ''

Nathan the Wise ''Nathan the Wise'' (original German title: , ) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing from 1779. It is a fervent plea for religious tolerance. It was never performed during Lessing's lifetime and was first performed in 1783 at the Döbbelinsches ...

''. He calls for the "zealot collectives" to become participants within a civil society.

Reception

Doris Decker of ''Forschung Frankfurt'' stressed that the book does not only criticise problems, but also tries to offer solutions, "supported by an impressive line of arguments". This makes it "a fruitful and promising contribution to the debate about monotheism". ''

Süddeutsche Zeitung The ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'' (; ), published in Munich, Bavaria, is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of ''SZ'' is mainly described as centre-left, liberal, social-liberal, progressive-liberal, and ...

s Alexander Kissler called the book "a true Sloterdijk, full of luster and excitement, wit and eagerness for conflict". He questioned Sloterdijk's suggestion that humour will help to solve the problems of monotheism, as the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons and Iranian Holocaust cartoon competition have demonstrated the existence of a "corroding laughter". The

Christian philosopher Christian philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Christians, or in relation to the religion of Christianity. Christian philosophy emerged with the aim of reconciling science and faith, starting from natural rational explanations wit ...

Renée van Riessen compared the book to

Paul Cliteur Paul Bernard Cliteur (born 6 September 1955) is a Dutch professor of jurisprudence at Leiden University, as well as a politician, philosopher, writer, publicist and columnist. He is known for his conservative perspective, his atheism, his republ ...

's ''The Secular Outlook'' (2010). She complimented Sloterdijk for avoiding Cliteur's shallowness and "'missionary of

enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

' attitude". Ultimately, however, she found Sloterdijk's adoption of

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

's "psycho-hygienic" opposition to monotheism to be condescending. "In sum", Riessen wrote, "both for Sloterdijk and Cliteur, monotheist religions are not judged in their own right, but merely evaluated according to their ability to restrain the existential rage of their more extremist followers." In ''

Critical Quarterly ''Critical Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the humanities published by Wiley. The editor-in-chief is Colin MacCabe. The journal notably published the Black Papers on education starting in 1969. History Early years ''Critical Q ...

'', Steven Connor described the book as an elaboration of Sloterdijk's '' Rage and Time'', published in German the year before ''God's Zeal''. Where the previous book describes the connection between religious and revolutionary rage, ''God's Zeal'' covers "the persistence and even revival of religious affect and motive in the modern world". Connor wrote that Sloterdijk's work is important because it allows a "radical critique" to exist outside of the "monopoly" of "philosophical supremacism".

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * *

External links