December 23, 1956
FROM BETHLEHEM: (From an article by Kleon Paraschos): «…Nietzsche is not grieving over the death of the Son of God, He who at this time of year assumed human form in a small village in Palestine. Nietzsche is grieving for the death of Dionysus, whom he wanted to resurrect and enthrone in our souls, driving out the Son of God forever. Nietzsche was a child of the Renaissance and made the same mistake that so many others have made, those who believe that there can be humanism without Christ. This is the humanism envisaged by many famous writers and intellectuals of our time – such as Sartre and Malraux – and who themselves feel, as we do, that the ideological structure they are trying to hard to build is rotten. Humanism cannot be created by rationalism or by struggling for continual material progress, nor can these result in values able to support and direct man today in his life. Something deeper is needed, something more substantial, more fundamental. Only Christianity can provide that, only the light that shone from the lamp in Bethlehem…»
