The Essence of Christianity
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- No scanning noise detected (automatic measure over the whole text, not checked by hand)
- Extent:
- ~180,000 words · 857 passages
Cite this work
- APALudwig Feuerbach. (n.d.). The Essence of Christianity. Digital reproduction: SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ludwig-feuerbach/the-essence-of-christianity
- MLALudwig Feuerbach. The Essence of Christianity. Digital reproduction, SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ludwig-feuerbach/the-essence-of-christianity.
- ChicagoLudwig Feuerbach. The Essence of Christianity. Digital reproduction, SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/ludwig-feuerbach/the-essence-of-christianity.
Reference to the edition that SigPhi reproduces: SigPhi is its digital reproduction, not its publisher. The edition's year is not in the metadata (hence "n.d."), and the translator appears only when recorded.
What it is about
The thesis that theology is anthropology: that what men say of God is what they would like to say of themselves, projected and set outside.
Context and history
Published in 1841. The consequence is not that religion is an error to be corrected but that it is a document: read what an age worships and you learn what it lacks and what it wants. The book fell like a bomb among the Young Hegelians, and Marx reacted at once — the Theses on Feuerbach are a direct reply. The English translation was made by Marian Evans, who years later would sign her novels George Eliot.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Personal God 140 XVI. The Distinction between Christianity and Heathenism 150 XVII. The Significance of Voluntary Celibacy and Monachism 160 XVIII. The Christian Heaven, or Personal Immortality 170