Marx on Religion

by Raines, John C.

• ISBN13: 9781566399401
• ISBN10: 1566399408
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

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 students-as well as the general reader-continue to understand the significance of this often under-examined component of Marx. Author note: John Raines is Professor of Religion at Temple University. He is the author of over a half-dozen books, including, most recently, What Men Owe to Women: Men's Voices from World Religions.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	1	(14)
Part I The Young Man Marx	15	(56)
``Reflections of a Youth on Choosing an Occupation'' (1835)	17	(3)
Letter to His Father: On a Turning-Point in Life (1837)	20	(8)
The Leading Article of No. 179 of Kolnische Zeitung (1842)	28	(16)
``On the Jewish Question'' (1843)	44	(27)
Part II Consciousness and the Material World	71	(42)
``Critique of Hegel's Dialectic and General Philosophy'' (1844)	75	(18)
``The German Ideology---Ideology in General'' (1844--46)	93	(8)
``The Holy Family, or Critique of Critical Criticism'' (1844)	101	(6)
Preface: ``A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy'' (1859)	107	(6)
Part III Bad Work/Good Work	113	(54)
Preface, ``Early Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts'' (1844)	115	(2)
``Estranged Labor'' (1844)	117	(11)
``Private Property and Communism'' (1844)	128	(11)
``Money'' (1844)	139	(4)
The Communist Manifesto (Chapter 1) (1848)	143	(11)
``Money and Alienated Man'' (1844)	154	(9)
Capital, Book 1 (extract) (1867)	163	(4)
Part IV The Criticism Of Religion	167	(20)
``Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right'' (1844)	170	(12)
``Concerning Feuerbach'' (1845)	182	(2)
``Social Principles of Christianity'' (1847)	184	(3)
Part V Occasional Writings	187	(16)
Marx
``The Decay of Religious Authority'' (from New York Tribune) (1854)	188	(5)
Excerpts from Grundrisse (1858)	193	(2)
Excerpts from Capital (1867)	195	(8)
Engels	203	(34)
The Peasant War in Germany (Chapter 2) (1850)	203	(14)
On the History of Early Christianity (1895)	217	(20)
Personal Letters	237	(4)
Letter from Jenny Marx to Johann Philipp Becker (1866)	237	(1)
Letter from Karl Marx to Friedrich Engels (1864)	238	(1)
Letter from Karl Marx to Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis (1881)	239	(2)
Study Guide for Students	241