Transcript for interview with Maurizio Viroli on Machiavelli's Christianity

A Masterclass on Machiavelli’s Unorthodox Christianity | Maurizio Viroli

0. Introduction

Maurizio Viroli: Machiavelli said he wanted to go to hell. Why? Because in hell, you find the most interesting people. If you want to reach the promised land, you must be capable of massacring innocent people, lying, because... Moses says, this is the command I’ve receive from God, but nowhere God gives that command. Moses ordered a massacre. Did God punish Moses for what he did? No.

Johnathan Bi: This is not your American, happy-go-lucky, Christianity. This is a very Machiavellian Christianity.

Maurizio Viroli: Machiavelli is writing Mandragola in the darkest years of his life. No job, no status, no friends, no prestige, no money. And he writes a great comedy? Oh, that’s something! Can you imagine a comedy written by Hobbes, by Locke, by Hegel? It would be horrible, tedious, lethal, mortal. Machiavelli could do both.

Johnathan Bi: A true Christian is ready to lie, massacre innocents, and break their word to protect his fatherland. The primary teachings of Jesus are not ab…