ABSTRACT
Five generations of maternal ancestors were Lutheran ministers, as was his father, and his paternal grandfather was a distinguished Protestant scholar. His most intimate love interest Lou Salome recalled how "Friedrich Nietzsche repeatedly emphasized that the Christianity which imbued the pastor-home of his parents suited his inner being-smooth and soft, like a healthy skin-and compliance with all its commandments was as easy to follow as his own inclinations". Nietzsche wrote The Anti-Christ in September of 1888. Its subtitle, A Curse on Christianity announces the feverish emotional state of its author. Educator focuses on unification of self in the genius who realizes the highest fulfillment as is evident in men such as Benvenuto Cellini. The driving energy for this impulse is sexuality sublimated into love: "It is love alone that can bestow on the soul, not only a clear, discriminating and self-contemptuous view of itself. It repeats earlier charges but with increased vehemence.
