Did you know Ayn Rand admired Jesus?

Question

Did you know Ayn Rand admired Jesus?

Answer 1

Me too. He was the greatest foot-ball player from South America.

Answer 2

Most philosophers do.

Answer 3

How could she have admired Jesus? From the little I remember about her from reading Anthem in 10th grade, she wasn't one for selflessness and sacrificing oneself for others. Jesus would be the complete antithesis of Rand's ideology. The way I understood it, altruism was bad in her point of view, and the way to live life was to make yourself happy, not make others happy. Unless she could admire the fact that someone could be so selfless, while personally disagreeing that it was a waste of time? Or, maybe she respected the fact that the way Jesus made himself happy was through the helping of others? I don't really know.

I don't remember much about her, so i could be way off, though.

Answer 4

No, I didn't.

Answer 5

no, i didn't know that and i'm really interested to know what in Jesus she admired. it certainly couldn't have been a religious thing though.

She believed that individuals should choose their values and actions solely by reason. According to Rand, the individual "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life." Because she held that faith is antithetical to reason, Rand opposed religion."

she also truly admired Nietzsche for his works like ' Thus Spake Zarathustra'.

so yeah... if thats true then u should see what the actual reason is!

Answer 6

That's news to me.  But many people who have looked at the gospels beyond the conventional bias of religious faith  have found the words of Jesus of Nazareth provocative and inspiring. I do myself even though I do not accept the existence of a sky-god who impregnates virgins.  Interesting! Guess I'll have to brush up on my Rand,

Answer 7

That's news to me, but it doesn't really surprise me.  Didn't Nietzsche like Jesus too?  It was because Jesus, unlike Christians, was not a mindless zombie following blindly what he was taught.  He was the leader who was not afraid to challenge authority.  Rand would like that.  

Though I'm sure she would have objected to what Jesus preached.  She must have admired how it nevertheless showed that Jesus had the ability to re-examine and question tradition.  

One more thing I find interesting, people who go ga ga over Rand seems to have a lot in common with Christians.  Rand made excellent points, but she was not perfect.  If Rand admired Jesus, without necessarily agreeing with him, perhaps people should realize that agreeing with Rand, doesn't mean following her blindly.

Somebody mentioned "Thus Spoke Zarathustra", where Nietzsche made it a point that he did not want to preach what the overman would do, but just to describe to overman.  Jesus did overcome himself.  He did this by becoming an individual going against the herd.  In this way, he was actually "selfish", he imposed "himself" upon the herd.  This is the same quality that Rand's heroes had.  

In the end of Jesus' life, there was a clamor for his crucifixion, as any Christian knows.  Not many people realize that John Galt too, was ready to be martyred for his beliefs.  For anyone to claim they understand Rand, they must first solve this riddle.  For what selfish purpose did John Galt have?  He'd be dead, so whatever he would accomplish would be for someone else's benefit right?

No, John Galt's acceptance of death was not a sacrifice.  He did it for his own sake.  I wonder if Rand believed that perhaps Jesus died for his own sake too, and not for the sinners as his disciples preached?