Marx on ReligionTemple University Press, 2002 - 254 pages Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions.Few people would ever expect that Karl Marx is the writer of the above statement. He not only wrote it, but he did so in the same breath of his more famous dictum that religion is the opiate of the masses. How can one reconcile such different perspectives on the power and ubiquity of religion?In this compact reader of Marx's essential thought on religion, John Raines offers the full range of Marx's thoughts on religion and its relationship to the world of social relations. Through a careful selection of essays, articles, pamphlets, and letters, Raines shows that Marx had a far more complex understanding of religious belief. Equally important is how Marx's ideas on religion were intimately tied to his inquiries into political economy, revolution, social change, and the philosophical questions of the self.Raines offers an introduction that shows the continuing importance of the Marxist perspective on religion and its implications for the way religion continues to act in and respond to the momentous changes going on in our social and environmental worlds. Marx on Religion also includes a study guide to help professors and studentsOCoas well as the general readerOCocontinue to understand the significance of this often under-examined component of Marx." |
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abstract according activity actual alien already appears basis become beginning bourgeois bourgeoisie called capital century Christian Church civil society complete concept consciousness constitutes continue criticism demand determined direct economy elements emancipation equals essence essential estrangement example exchange existence expression external fact feudal finally force freedom French German give hand Hegel hence human ideas immediate individual industry interest knows labor later living longer man's Marx material means merely mind moral movement nature object once opposition organization original particular person philosophy political positive practical present private property production question reality reason relation relationship religion religious result rule self-consciousness sense sensuous separation social spirit struggle suffering superseded things thought tion transform true turn universal whole worker
Popular passages
Page 12 - The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors,*' and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment...
Page 5 - Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Marx on Religion Book collections on Project MUSE |
| Author | Karl Marx |
| Editor | John C. Raines |
| Publisher | Temple University Press, 2002 |
| ISBN | 1592138055, 9781592138050 |
| Length | 254 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |