Friedrich Nietzsche contra C. S. Lewis: A Nietzschean critique of Christianity and retributive punishment

Abstract

In this article, I read the work of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) as a way to respond to anti-rehabilitative, pro-retributive arguments, such as ones found in C. S. Lewis’s “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment” (1949/1987). Lewis’s article is founded upon many liberal values that figure prominently in modern discussions of moral philosophy, Christian ethics, and theology. First, I outline Lewis’s critique of the rehabilitative “Humanitarian Theory of Punishment.” Second, I trace Lewis’s Christian presuppositions to show how Lewis represents a distinctively Christian retributivism. Third, I explain how Nietzsche’s critique of punishment and of Christianity work together to resist the Christian retributivism found in Lewis’s work and in the US society. The goal of this article is to raise questions about the moral foundations of both punishment and Christianity to foster an open dialogue between philosophy and theology in what should be a joint effort to end the US culture of incarceration.