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Course 19 · Lesson 7.3

Nihilism, despair and Christian hope

11 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 19 outline

Module 1: The Secular Age: Humanism and Naturalism

  1. What secular, secularism and secularization mean
  2. Secular humanism: its claims and its moral vision
  3. Philosophical naturalism and its alternatives
  4. Christian responses to naturalism and humanism

Module 2: Science, Evolution and Faith

  1. Models of science and religion: conflict, independence, dialogue, integration
  2. What the theory of evolution claims and what it does not
  3. Christian positions on creation and evolution
  4. The history of the conflict story and its critics

Module 3: Criticism of the Bible

  1. The rise of historical and literary criticism
  2. What critics claim about authorship, sources and development
  3. Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant responses to criticism

Module 4: Truth, Relativism and Postmodernism

  1. What postmodernism is, and why the term is hard to define
  2. Truth, language and interpretation
  3. Moral relativism: descriptive, cultural and philosophical forms
  4. Christian responses to relativism and postmodern thought

Module 5: The Masters of Suspicion

  1. Marx on religion, ideology and economic life
  2. Nietzsche on Christianity, morality and the death of God
  3. Freud on religion as illusion
  4. The genetic fallacy, and when explaining the origin of a belief matters

Module 6: Power, Corruption and Morality

  1. Church, state and political power in history
  2. Institutional failure and abuse
  3. Critiques of Christian morality and how Christians reply
  4. Judging a faith by its failures: what follows and what does not

Module 7: Mind, Meaning and Nihilism

  1. Consciousness and the limits of materialism
  2. Meaning and purpose in secular and Christian thought
  3. Nihilism, despair and Christian hope

Module 8: Writing a Response

  1. Stating a challenge in its strongest form
  2. Building a structured response
  3. Conceding what is true in the critic’s case

All courses

Program / Course 19: Modern Challenges / Lesson 7.3

What you will learn

  • Define nihilism and distinguish its forms: existential, moral and epistemic.
  • Describe how nihilism appears in the thought of Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Camus and others.
  • Distinguish despair as an idea from despair as a condition that needs care.
  • Explain what Christian hope is and what it does not claim.

The big idea

Nihilism is the view that nothing has ultimate value, meaning or purpose. It can be a philosophical position, a mood or a crisis in a person’s life. Serious thinkers, believers and unbelievers, have taken it as a real danger, and not just as a puzzle. Christian hope is not a denial of the dark. It begins with the cross, and looks to the resurrection as the ground of a hope that does not depend on how things feel. This lesson treats the philosophy fairly, and also speaks gently of the person in despair.

Key terms

Nihilism
From the Latin nihil, nothing. The belief that life, morals or knowledge have no ultimate foundation or value.
Existential nihilism
The view that life has no inherent meaning or purpose.
Moral nihilism
The view that there are no moral facts, so that nothing is truly right or wrong.
The absurd
In Camus, the clash between the human demand for meaning and the silence of the universe.
Despair
In ordinary speech, loss of hope. In Christian writing, sometimes a sin against hope, and sometimes a suffering to be met with care. Kierkegaard called it the sickness unto death.
Hope (theological virtue)
In Christian teaching, confident expectation of God’s promises, including the resurrection and the life of the world to come. It differs from optimism.
Acedia
An old monastic word for spiritual listlessness or sorrow, in which prayer and work feel empty. It is sometimes translated as sloth.
Depression
A medical condition that can include a feeling that nothing matters. It is not the same as a philosophical conclusion and needs medical help.

Background

The word nihilism came into wide use in the nineteenth century, through Ivan Turgenev’s novel Fathers and Sons, in which a character calls himself a nihilist. Nietzsche gave it a central place, saying that nihilism would be the result of the death of God, and that it stood at the door. Dostoevsky wrote of characters who followed the idea to its end, as in Demons and The Brothers Karamazov. In the twentieth century, writers such as Camus, Sartre and Samuel Beckett explored the sense of absurdity.

The Christian tradition knows the experience. The Psalms contain cries of abandonment (Psalm 88). Ecclesiastes asks what profit a man has from his labor. Desert monks wrote of acedia, the noonday demon that makes the day seem endless and the cell intolerable. Later saints, such as Teresa of Calcutta and John of the Cross, spoke of dark nights in which God seemed absent. The tradition treats such experience as something that can be endured and sometimes transformed, and not simply as a refutation of faith.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: The forms of nihilism

Existential nihilism says that life has no meaning that is given. Moral nihilism says that there are no objective moral facts. Epistemic nihilism says that there is no knowledge or no truth. Each is a different claim and each needs separate treatment. Many people who feel that life is meaningless would not accept moral nihilism. Some moral skeptics find life full of meaning.

Nietzsche’s use of the term is complicated. He used it to name a historical crisis, in which the highest values lose their power, and he hoped that it could be overcome by a new affirmation of life. Camus held that the absurd is real and that one should neither deny it nor surrender to it.

Step 2: Philosophy and person

It is important to separate the arguments from the people who feel them. A person in despair is not helped primarily by a syllogism. Despair can arise from loss, loneliness, illness or depression, and some of these need medical care. A believer who offers only a doctrine to a person who needs a doctor, a friend or a safe place does harm.

At the same time, the argument is real and deserves an answer. People are not wrong to ask whether the universe has a point, and a Christian who treats the question as a mere symptom has not listened. The right response uses both the mind and the heart.

Step 3: The secular responses

Secular thinkers respond in different ways. Some, like Camus, accept the absurd and find a kind of defiant joy. Others hold that meaning is created by commitment, and that a lack of cosmic purpose leaves the field open for human values. Others argue that nihilism confuses a missing ultimate meaning with the absence of all meaning, and that ordinary goods such as love and truth are enough.

Some also criticize the Christian reply. They say that nihilism is rarely lived out and that most people find meaning without God. They say that the argument that without God there is no meaning is a threat, not a proof, and that fear of an outcome is no evidence against it.

Step 4: Christian hope

Christian hope differs from optimism. It does not say that things will go well in this life. It says that God has acted in Christ, that Christ has died and risen, and that the last word belongs to God. Paul writes that hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5:5). He also says that if Christ has not been raised, faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17). The hope depends on a claim that can be examined.

The Christian story does not ask a person to deny the dark. The cry of Jesus on the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, takes the sense of abandonment into the faith itself (Mark 15:34). The tradition adds that hope is a virtue to be practiced, with the help of the community, prayer and the sacraments. It adds also that medical and human help is part of God’s care.

  1. Which form of nihilism is being described: about meaning, morals or knowledge?
  2. Is this a philosophical argument, a mood, or a sign that someone needs help?
  3. What would a person who held this view have to give up in daily life?
  4. What is the difference between hope and optimism?
  5. How does the cross bear on the experience of abandonment?
  6. Whom could I trust if I fell into this state?

Examples

A student in the dark

A university student tells a friend that nothing matters and that he has stopped attending class. The friend does not start an argument. He asks how long it has been, stays with him, and encourages him to speak to a doctor and to a counselor. Later they talk about the questions. (A constructed example. Anyone who is in danger of self-harm should seek immediate help from a doctor, a crisis service or a trusted person.)

Hope without optimism

A woman with a serious illness tells her pastor that she does not know if she will recover. She says that she is not sure about much, but that she trusts that her life is held by God. Her hope is not a prediction of cure. (A constructed example.)

Different perspectives

Existentialist and secular views

Camus held that the honest response to the absurd is revolt: to live fully, without false hope. Sartre held that freedom is the ground of value. Many secular thinkers argue that human love, solidarity and beauty are enough to make life worth living, and they reject the suggestion that unbelief leads to despair.

Catholic

Catholic teaching treats hope as a theological virtue, along with faith and love. Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical Spe Salvi (2007) argues that Christian hope is not a private consolation but a hope for all, grounded in Christ’s resurrection. The Catholic tradition of the dark night, from John of the Cross, interprets some experiences of emptiness as a stage in spiritual growth, and also gives guidance about discerning illness.

Orthodox

Orthodox writers stress that Christ has trampled down death by death, a line from the Paschal troparion that is sung at Easter. They speak of acedia and despondency as passions to be struggled against with prayer, with a spiritual father and with ordinary work. Dostoevsky’s novels, written in the Orthodox world, show a person’s turn from despair to repentance.

Protestant

Kierkegaard, a Lutheran, described despair as the sickness unto death and held that its cure is faith, resting transparently in God. Reformed and Lutheran pastors, such as Luther himself, who knew deep spiritual trials, emphasized that God’s promise is outside the believer’s feelings. Many Protestant writers also affirm that depression is a medical matter and not a lack of faith.

Why it matters

The arguments of this course end in a question that is as personal as it is intellectual: whether there is a reason to hope. Students may meet nihilism in a book, in a friend or in themselves. They need to know both how to think about it and how to respond with care.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Nihilists are all unhappy and immoral.

Correction: Many who hold a version of the view live cheerfully and decently. The question is whether their commitments can be justified, not whether they behave well.

Misunderstanding: Christians never feel despair.

Correction: The Psalms, Ecclesiastes, the cry of Jesus on the cross and the writings of many saints record it. The tradition treats it as a trial to be borne with help.

Misunderstanding: Despair is always a failure of faith.

Correction: It can have many causes, including illness. Many churches teach that depression is a medical condition and that seeking treatment is right.

Misunderstanding: Hope means expecting things to turn out well in this life.

Correction: Christian hope is confidence in God’s promises, and above all the resurrection. It can coexist with suffering and with uncertainty about the future.

Knowledge check

Name and distinguish three forms of nihilism.

Existential nihilism holds that life has no given meaning or purpose. Moral nihilism holds that there are no objective moral facts. Epistemic nihilism holds that there is no knowledge or truth. They are separate claims, and a person may hold one without the others. A fair discussion treats each on its own terms.

What was Camus’s response to the absurd?

He held that the absurd, the clash between the human demand for meaning and the silence of the universe, is real. He rejected suicide and also rejected false hope in a meaning beyond the world. He proposed revolt, living fully and with courage, and he asked readers to imagine Sisyphus happy. Christians question whether this is sustainable.

How does Christian hope differ from optimism?

Optimism expects that things will turn out well, while Christian hope rests on God’s promises, above all the resurrection of Christ. It can coexist with suffering and with an honest view of the dark. Paul teaches that if Christ has not been raised, faith is futile, so the hope depends on a claim that can be examined.

Why should a Christian distinguish the argument from the person?

Because someone in despair may be suffering from loss, loneliness or illness such as depression, and an argument will not help him as much as a doctor, a friend and a safe place. The argument is also real and deserves an answer. A faithful response uses both the mind and the heart, and never replaces medical care.

Think it through

  1. Have you or someone you know passed through a time when nothing seemed to matter? What helped?
  2. How can the church speak of hope without making light of despair?
  3. What does the cry on the cross add to a Christian understanding of despair?
  4. What is the strongest secular reply to the claim that without God there is only nihilism?

Independent assignment

Two letters

In your notebook, write two short pieces of about 300 words each. The first is a reply to a friend who says that nothing matters, written to listen and help and not to argue. The second is a philosophical answer to the claim that without God life has no meaning, giving the strongest secular reply and your own conclusion. Do not send either piece.

Further study