The Übermensch vs the Christ-man

Both Nietzsche and Dostoevsky lived around the same time in the late nineteenth century--a time of the fall of Christian values and the rise of rationalism and nihilism. While Nietzsche lamented the 'death of God,' Dostoevsky concluded that 'everything is permitted.' The two existentialists' thoughts ran almost parallel to each other until Nietzsche proclaimed that men must now rise above the herd and transcend beyond good and evil. Nietzsche was foreshadowing the emergence of the 'Übermensch'--the man who would forge his own values free of God. Meanwhile, Dostoevsky was formulating in advance his answer to Nietzsche's Übermensch, and this answer was modeled on none other than Jesus Christ.

In each of Dostoevsky's last novels we see the figure of Christ presented through the unlikeliest of characters. Alyosha--the troubled novice monk who must travel outside of his monastery to spread the gospel. Sonya--the self-sacrificing prostitute who brings salvation to a murderer. Both these characters are Nietschean in a certain sense. All three survive betrayal and tragedies. They survive that which 'does not kill them,' and emerge stronger. But the one who truly makes them stronger is Christ.

Dostoevsky's Übermensch is Christ. His Übermensch, in stark contrast to Nietszche, does not transcend beyond good and evil, but, rather, becomes a bridge between heaven and hell. Dostoevsky's heroes, Alyosha and Sonya, live inside the hellish realm that is the reality of the world in which we live in, yet they embody and spread all that is good and become Christ-figures to their societies. Though they cannot escape hell, they nevertheless bring light to all those who are trapped alongside them, often at the cost of themselves. Their hearts, despite enduring much pain, are entrenched in that which cannot be seen. They redeem the world through their supposed weakness--their weakness being the imitation of Christ.

Unlike Nietszche's Übermensch, Dostoevsky's Christ-man moves gracefully under the structures of authority. Whereas the Übermensch imposes his will on the structures themselves, the Christ-man transcends the structures and deals with the battle at the very root--the heart of man. The Christ-man seeks to transform the human soul, not subdue or coerce it through sheer dominance. Redemption lies in mimicking Christ, not in building up a brand new human from scratch, for the brand new human was already revealed in the form of a Jewish rabbi two thousand years ago. Jesus was and always will be the solution to the countless diseases that plague the human heart. He is the greatest example of positive mimesis--the ultimate role model.