Though overshadowed by Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Helmut Thielicke (1908–86) belongs to the class of German speaking theologians whose work has proven its value beyond the 20th century. Ministering amidst his nation’s unprecedented intellectual and spiritual ruin, Thielicke discerned the sources of decay and their deleterious effects. That is, nihilism.
Thielicke’s conclusions about nihilism reveal that Germany was not an anomaly, but that the entirety of the west is haunted by the specter. Even in the U.S., evangelicals today are immersed in a nihilistic culture that is acutely felt, even if difficult to define. Thielicke’s works were published in English in the early 1960’s, yet conservative evangelicals’ immersion in debates about inerrancy and propositional theology precluded wider readership of his writings. His concerns, observations, and assessments of the ontological crisis that bedeviled Europe are needed in America where the country’s characteristic optimism and belief in progress no longer hold sway.
In Nihilism: Its Origin and Nature—with a Christian Answer, Thielicke draws from Luther, Pascal, and Kierkegaard the primacy of faith for overcoming the abyss of nothingness. He rightly notes that Nihilism is not a program and cannot be overcome in a programmatic fashion. It also cannot be overcome by optimism or insistence on changing one’s perspective. Faith is a struggle in the face of fear, doubt, and dread. Evangelicals unfamiliar with Thielicke will do well to consider the magnitude of the menace at hand, but find comfort knowing classic evangelical doctrines are a true and lasting antidote.