06-23-2020, 04:05 PM
(06-23-2020, 03:54 PM)Lucidus Wrote: I'm only familiar with the Essence of Christianity, in which [if I recall correctly] he proposes the idea of God being a projection of man. I don't remember it distinctly, as it's been a number of years since reading it, but I believe he also detailed his objections to belief in revelation. Again, it's been some time, so my memory is a bit sparse as to the specifics.
Yes, a left-Hegelian humanism. God is "externalized" and projected outwards, first on to fetishized objects, then into the heavens, in a kind of self-estrangement or alienation of "Man's" own inner values.
In his version of religious history, "Man" gradually comes to recognize himself as the source of these externally projected values. Jesus is a big step in this process (recognizing God within) which culminates in "man's" full recognition of himself as source/author, and a "liberation" from superstition. So critique of religion is process of self-recognition and re-integration of alienated value.
Marx has an interesting critique of this in The German Ideology, where he argues that Feuerbach's conception of man is itself "theological," and a historical form of "bourgeois consciousness."