The essence of christianity 1841 by ludwig andreas feuerbach, translated by marian evans. For a thousand years the best minds of western civilization helped refine the unsynonymous known as god. Alas, the only versions online and free tended to be in pdf format. Ludwig andreas feuerbach stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Luthers contribution to feuerbachs atheism issue 121. In his fairminded, densely written book, feuerbach argues that, in essence, theology is anthropology not in the narrow sense of anthropology as an academic study of human societies, but in a much broader sense. The essence of christianity by ludwig feuerbach free ebook. Cambridge core history of philosophy the essence of christianity by ludwig feuerbach. The essence of christianity ludwig feuerbach halaman 10 between the two parts even as to their form. The ideas of these philosophers and many more were inspired by a lesserknown thinker named ludwig feuerbach, a 19 thcentury german philosopher who studied under hegel at the university of berlin before writing many works that focused on the issues of religion and christianity. The essence of christianity dover philosophical classics. In the essence of christianitythis is the classic 1853 translation of the 1841 german originalfeuerbach discusses the true or anthropological root of religion, exploring how everything from the nature of god to the mysteries of mysticism and prayer can be viewed through such a prism.
With one blow it pulverised the contradiction, in that without circumlocutions it placed materialism on the throne again. But barth drew feuerbachs fangs by treating the essence of christianity simply as a critique of bad religion. Vi feuerbach resolves the religious essence into the human essence. In its reality it is the ensemble of the social relations. The essence of christianity by ludwig feuerbach free at. Ludwig feuerbach lectures on the essence of religion. Feuerbach the essence of christianity written by the wagnerian on saturday, 3 november 2012 12. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. The essence of christianity by feuerbach, ludwig, 18041872. By engaging in close textual analysis of ludwig feuerbachs seminal work, the essence of christianity, however, i look to move beyond this apparent stalemate by examining the religious imaginary here, christianity not as a mere irrational construction in direct contrast with the irreligious and thus seemingly rational imaginary of post.
Feuerbachs major work remains, the essence of christianity a work in. Feuerbachs essence of christianity is not a critical destruction of christian theology and christianity, but an attempt to preserve the essential part of christianity, specifically in the form of a religious anthropology. It was promoted in the early 20th century by george santayana, john dewey, and j. What are some quotes from the essence of christianity by. Feuerbach begins the essence of christianity by proposing that, since human beings have religion and animals dont, the key to understanding religion must be directly related to whatever it is that most essentially distinguishes human beings from animals.
The real objective of life is not happiness, or faith, it is really reason, love and force of will. It explains feuerbachs philosophy and critique of religion. The same material is dealt with in feuerbachs book, essence of christianity, reproduced in full in this archive translated. Ludwig feuerbach the essence of christianity excerpts1 phil101 prof. Therefore, with him the human essence can be comprehended only as genus, as an. Such are, for example, that god is a person, that he is the moral lawgiver, the father of mankind, the holy one, the just, the good, the merciful. This theme, of course, is religion or theology and everything connected with it. Baringgoulds the origin and development of religious belief, part ii. Ludwig feuerbach the essence of christianity preface.
Ludwig feuerbach the essence of christianity excerpts1. Ludwig feuerbach the essence of christianity religion essay. Dec 01, 2008 in the essence of christianity this is the classic 1853 translation of the 1841 german original feuerbach discusses the true or anthropological root of religion, exploring how everything from the nature of god to the mysteries of mysticism and prayer can be viewed through such a prism. The essence of christianity ludwig feuerbach ludwig feuerbachs classic criticism of religion as an outward projection of humankinds own inner qualities. The essence of religion ludwig feuerbach halaman 7 but a man who spends years in seclusion not, to be sure, in the abstract seclusion of a christian hermit or monk, but in humane seclusion. Feuerbachs endeavor with this work was to wholly humanize theology.
The essence of christianity by ludwig feuerbach librarything. The essence of christianity ludwig feuerbach halaman 12 religion is an absurdity, a nullity, a pure illusion, would be well founded only if, according to it, that into which i resolve religion, which i prove to be its true object and substance, namely, man, anthropology, were an absurdity, a nullity, a pure illusion. Translated from the original german by george eliot. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws.
The essence of christianitychapter isection 2 wikisource. Jul 17, 2019 it is the personal predicates alone which constitute the essence of religionin which the divine being is the object of religion. The same material is dealt with in feuerbachs book, essence of christianity, reproduced in full in this archive. Feuerbachs earlier book the essence of christianity had burst like a bombshell on the european scene in 1841, and made him famous. The anthropological essence of christianity in ludwig feuerbach and michel henry. Feuerbach makes many assertions about religion and christianity in particular. Nov 21, 2019 by engaging in close textual analysis of ludwig feuerbachs seminal work, the essence of christianity, however, i look to move beyond this apparent stalemate by examining the religious imaginary here, christianity not as a mere irrational construction in direct contrast with the irreligious and thus seemingly rational imaginary of post.
Elliot, knowing that deutsche and english are part of the same lingusitic family, like a ballerina, makes the essence of christianity a gift to you. Throughout the development of feuerbachs diagnosis of religion he attacks historic christianity. Feeling about in uncertainty for the ground, and finding everywhere shiftiug sands, feuerbach cast a sudden blaze into the darkness, and disclosed to me the way. Feuerbachs work has become a staple of humanism and had significant impact upon the wishfulfillment theory of sigmund freud, as well as the criticisms of religion put forward by friedrich engels and karl marx. Ascii start of this project gutenberg ebook the essence of christianity produced by jeroen hellingman and. The essence of christianity translated from the second german edition author. German philosopher ludwig feuerbach the essence of christianity, 1841 in the 19th century. The essence of feuerbach ludwig feuerbach in his book the essence of christianity, argues that religion is a projection of mans own nature. Ludwig feuerbach 18041872 taking issue with hegels sense that god, as logos, is somehow central to all that is, feuerbach explores his own notion that christianity, as religion, grew quite naturally from ordinary human observation. Ludwig feuerbach 18041872 was a highly respected nineteenthcentury philosopher who focused on the study of posthegelian philosophy, idealism, naturalism, materialism, and positivism. The essence of christianity wikisource, the free online. The essence of christianity by ludwig feuerbach alibris. The essence of christianity is a philosophy book, not a theology book.
Van harveys claim that feuerbachs essence of religion 1 presents an important advance over the essence of christianity 2 rings true to me in several ways. To understand why, it is necessary to first briefly outline feuerbachs argument in christianity feuerbach begins christianity by asserting that human beings alone have religion and that it is a result of selfconsciousness which in. Feuerbach contends that religion is an expression of humanity, and that the collective potential for reason, affection, and will is the true essence of religion. The leaf on which the caterpillar lives is for it a world, an infinite space. Page 385 jesus answered and said unto them, verily i say unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea. As such, we must view ourselves as something different from god and the divine. Kierkegaard predicts the change of modern man will originate from a leap of faith into the unknown. With this volume, the bulletin et enters the final year of its present format. Essence of christianity translated into english by marion evans, the translator of strauss life of jesus. Publication date 1854 usage public domain topics religion philosophy, christianity. The essence of christianity work by feuerbach britannica. Feuerbach the essence of christianity the wagnerian. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. In the first part of the book he examines what he calls the anthropological.
This copy of feuerbachs the essence of christianity is extremely suspicious. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. This copy of feuerbach s the essence of christianity is extremely suspicious. Ludwig feuerbach was a german philosopher and anthropologist of the 19th century who published the essence of christianity in 1841.
For barth the word bad, strictly speaking, is redundant. Essence of christianity, and finally, the explanations and additions to the essence of christianity. Thinking is our super power, consciousness is what makes us human. An introductory note explains, this little book is an abridgement of the essence of christianity, a translation by marian evans, better known under her pseudonym george eliot. Feuerbachs book, the essence of christianity, is noted as an influential atheist text, and helped inspire the work of karl marx and friedrich engels. Although feuerbach is most often associated with the slogan underlying the essence of christianity, according to which theology is anthropology insofar as the predicates attributed by christians to god are in fact predicates of the human speciesessence, in a number of works on religion published in the 1840s and 1850s feuerbach. His argument is that god is a natural projection of man to explain the unexplainable. Feuerbach, not satisfied with abstract thinking, wants contemplation. Feuerbach shows how people put their best ideas into christianity. Ludwig feuerbach 180472, the german philosopher and a founding member of the young hegelians, a group of radical thinkers influenced by g. Pdf the essence of christianity with a foreword by rachel v. You may copy it, give it away or reuse it under the terms of the project gutenberg license included with this ebook or. To abstract from the historical process and to fix the religious sentiment gemut as something for itself and to presuppose an abstract isolated human individual. He therefore does not contend with many of the main tenants of lutheranism as they apply to the anthropological essence of religion.
Other articles where the essence of christianity is discussed. Ludwig feuerbach author of the essence of christianity. Not only is there no publisher information, but the text is also replete with orthographic errors. Pdf on jan 1, 2008, ludwig feuerbach and others published the essence of christianity with a foreword by rachel v lawrence find, read.
The essence is an attempt to retrieve the religion of christianity from its theology, and feuerbach makes a clear distinction between the two. A view of the recent phase of philosophy based on its identity with religion. What we have so far maintained concerning the general relationship between man and his object, and between man and sensuous objects, is particularly true of mans relationship to the religious object. The essence of christianity book by ludwig feuerbach. This, he maintains, is the distinctive kind of consciousness that is involved in the. May 12, 2014 the essence of christianity ludwig feuerbach ludwig feuerbachs classic criticism of religion as an outward projection of humankinds own inner qualities. Ludwig feuerbach lectures on the essence of religion rowland. The essence of religion ludwig feuerbach halaman 2 written. A beautiful theorem deserves a beautiful proof duration. The essence of christianity by ludwig feuerbach is a book on the idea that god is a manmade creation and that there is no need for the divine in our daily lives. Hegel 17701831, was an outspoken critic of religion, and the 1841 publication of this work established his reputation. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Project gutenberg s the essence of christianity, by ludwig feuerbach this ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the united states and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. Basically feuerbach says that christianity love of christ should really be about love of man, and this is simply because.
One of the more difficult books ive ever read, but filled with great ideas. Ludwig feuerbach, german philosopher and moralist remembered for his influence on karl marx and for his humanistic theologizing. Feuerbach is often undercredited for the impact of his radical ideas. In part i of his book, feuerbach developed what he calls the true or anthropological essence of religion. Pdf the anthropological essence of christianity in ludwig. The life of the ephemera is extraordinarily short in com parison with that of longerlived creatures. Feuerbach asserts that faith, not religion, is human nature. Oct 02, 2014 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Only after going back to this moment of authenticity within the christian faith, that is, of the original myths surrounding the teachings of jesus, can we hope to gain a new insight as to what these. But the human essence is no abstraction inherent in each single individual.
897 1008 959 60 168 1325 900 1235 899 1154 104 139 1252 1554 675 219 429 728 1333 1422 252 113 16 579 635 600 1064 487 1440 822 357 485 445 1542 1047 1127 1513 852 293 520 518 931 1174 1014 905 435 1157