Conversations in Philosophy: 'The Essence of Christianity' by Ludwig Feuerbach

Close Readings

In The Essence of Christianity (1841) Feuerbach works through the theological crisis of his age to articulate the central, radical idea of 19th-century atheism: that the religion of God is really the religion of humanity. In this episode, Jonathan and James discuss the ways in which the book applies this thought to various aspects of Christian doctrine, from sexual relations to the Trinity, and consider why Feuerbach would never have described himself as an atheist. They also look at George Eliot’s remarkable translation of the work, published only thirteen years after the original, which not only ensured Feuerbach’s influence in the Anglophone world but invented a new philosophical vocabulary in English for German thought.

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Further reading in the LRB:

James Wood: What next?

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n08/james-wood/what-s-next

Terry Eagleton: George Eliot

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n18/terry-eagleton/biogspeak

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