Introduction and Summary to Feuerbach's Thought

In the course of the next week I hope to post extracts from two papers that I am currently writing. The first will be a discussion of Ludwig Feuerbach and his "religious atheism" and what that means for orthodox Christianity. The second will be a short thesis which will examine Feuerbach's understanding of Augustine's conception of God and the self in relation to God in light of Augustine's actual work. So, as a precursor I decided to do a quick sketch on Feuerbach outlining his thought which will hopefully provide enough background to understand these further explorations into Feuerbach.

In his Lectures on the Essence of Religion Ludwig Feuerbach makes the statement, “Theology is anthropology.” This declaration essentially sums up the whole of Feuerbach’s postulations on religion, which says that ‘theos’ or ‘God’ is “…nothing other than the essence of man.” He illustrates this point by saying that the different nature of different gods in different religions and social settings is nothing more than a varied reflection of peoples differing imaginations and dispositions on both an individual and collective level. Our gods are our ideals for humanity which we have mistakenly separated from ourselves and given divine status to. In this way Feuerbach becomes an extension of Hegel’s theology that creation remains a part of the creator, while the creator remains greater than the creation as he claims that religion is an outward projection of mans inner nature

For Feuerbach, religion is nothing more than a social construct that has been introduced into society as a means of coercing one’s fellow man. It has been used from age to age by those in positions of power to dominate men of ignorance and unformed intelligence and keep them living in fear of something greater, which in reality was nothing more than what their own imaginations would allow them to conjure up at the power of subtle suggestion. It is this idea of religion and this brand of atheism that would later influence the philosophies of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (though they ultimately rejected his materialistic inconsistency).

Feuerbach states that his primary concern “…has been to illumine the obscure essence of religion with the torch of reason, in order that man may at least cease to be the victim… of all those hostile powers which… are still employing the darkness of religion for the oppression of mankind.” He attempts to argue for this by showing the depravity of human religion – namely in mentioning human sacrifice. In making this argument he hopes to free society of the constraints that have been placed upon it for the future. Feuerbach believes that this “misunderstood” religion has been the driving force behind politics and ethics and says that if a future generation can come to a proper understanding of the nature of religion then it will “... determine the destinies of mankind.”

By taking such an anthropological view of religion Feuerbach helps to build the bridge from liberal deistic theological speculation to an atheism that is expressed in religious language. In presenting organized religion in such a skeptical manner dealt a significant blow to the church. While initially being viewed as radical, eventually it popularized forms of atheism and gave people a “reasonable” explanation for the existence of religion (as well as a rationale for dismissing it.) Unfortunately over the course of history there are many examples of religion that used as tool for monopolizing power over people. One must only remember the way in which Constantine used Christianity to bind his newly gained empire to recognize that there is enough truth in Feuerbach’s conception of humanity to lend credence to his ideas of religion as a human construction emanating from within himself.