Did Nietzsche Become A Born Again Christian?

[savoirfaire]

Dostoyevsky wrote this story about the horse perhaps at least twice in his novels. I believe this is where it got applied to Nietzsche by virtue of the dialogs of their readers.

[ericvulgate]

If true, all it would do is reduce his personal credibility.
The precepts he laid out previously would still carry weight.
Much the way newton was a scientist but also a religious zealot.
What do we learn about newton in schools?
The stuff that matters.

[jimwalshonline]

Wasn't the horse-flogging a Dostoyevsky invention...?

[joshuastephenward]

very perceptive and very much a possibility of Nietchze's inner war people refuse to see in it's tragic beauty

[siegfriedhagelsturm]

Firstly, I should begin this with saying I do appreciate your take on the matter; it was a refreshing read of this anecdote.

I would like to point at the obvious, namely that this story is at best disputed and most likely didn't really happen. Then, it would be right to assume it was conjured to support certain idea about Nietzsche as a man and philosopher, the one who referred to himself as "dynamite".
To a degree I would entertain a thought that this tale was, in essence, a way to humanise this hammer of a thinker, to bring him closer to everyday reality from which he abstained firmly; or rather, and here I enter the premises of my very subjective opinion, a distortion to his thought planted by those who would oppose it.
Your take is similar for me to how the story of the last pagan Roman emperor is usually framed - in his last moments, he supposedly saw, as did Nietzsche in, dare I say, parable of the horse, the error of his opposition against Christ. Both emperor Julian and Nietzsche in the end denounce themselves (Julian saying "You have won, Galilean", Nietzsche whispering "Mother, I had been a fool" to the horse's ear) and the triumph of Christianity tramples them as fallen eidolons.
This is of course propaganda. There was probably nobody around the emperor in his last moment as the details of his death are not known, and certainly nobody who could hear what a dying man was whispering. There wasn't anyone around Nietzsche either; words they supposedly said we can agree were imagined by the public and the retellers of these stories. Whether the events took place, I would argue against. They most likely didn't as they are too well crafted to suit one particular narrative I mentioned before.
But let's play a bit and consider the parable of the horse did happen exactly as it is portrayed. Nietzsche walks into a scene of a man beating an exhausted animal to force it to continue its servitude. This causes something to break within the philosopher's mind which sends him to his last ten years of mental inability which end with his death.
Does this support the idea of Nietzsche embracing Christianity again?
I think this far fetched. The act of pity is not unknown to the Overman; rather, it is the ability to enact upon a powerful emotion in full with no restrain, to allow it to consume oneself in a rite akin to self-anihilation in protest of observed injustice, that's a feat only unique individual is capable of. The Overman, if anything, is what every Man needs to aspire to in order to be BETTER. This is the higher form of being Nietzsche wanted humanity to ascend to.
In "Thus spoke Zarathustra" there is a story of an acrobat dancing on a line for the crowd's entertainment. The man eventually falls down onto ground and Zarathustra is the one who is by his side as he dies. It is then Zarathustra who takes care of the dead corpse, hiding it from scavengers and burying with honours. What is it if not pity, if not "Mitleid", the "shared suffering" Zarathustra experiences in company of the dead acrobat?
The idea of, I would name it so, "an Overman devoid of humanity" is a later distortion to Nietzsche's idea caused by a willful malignant intent of his sister and her husband, later supporters of the NS cause in Germany.
In order not to make this comment too long to be readable, I would like to end this with one of the more recognisable quotations by Nietzsche, that is "when you look into the abyss, so does the abyss look into you". Man should take good measure not to turn into the monster he battles. In the parable of the horse, then, we see Nietzsche in a final act of great conscience that self-anihilates to shine a spotlight on the terrible state of Man and how far we are as humans to truly differentiate ourselves from beasts.

[thescaleofnature]

Wow! Okay his is an interesting take, brother. I’ve long identified with Nietzsche, and the place I am in my life now deeply resonates with this message.

[johnobryan]

I understand that the horse beating incident did not really happen.

[Havre_Chithra]

I've head similar breaks over the years and it certain drives you into madness

[ejenkins]

You should stay on that track dear boi, if you step back and wonder why such symbols are mythologies nietzsche and the horse - newton and the apple?

[bingflosby]

No
If anything he would have started preaching Christianity not lost his mind insertion of Jesus is your own

[cwwsheepy]

Wonderful thought. One LOVE in Christ💛

[Exodus.Pi]

If he knew that Hebrew Cosmology was true then "God is dead" wouldn't have been possible... because it is.