The Essence of Christianity

In this, one of the most influential works of the post-Hegelian era, Feuerbach captures the synthesis that emerges from the dialectical process of a transcending Godhead & the rational & material world. In understanding the true nature of what it means to be fully human, he contends that we come face to face with the essence of Xian theology: human beings investing ordinary concepts with divine meaning & significance. The true danger to humanity occurs when theology is given the force of dogma & doctrine. Losing sight of its anthropological underpinnings & dependence upon or emergence from human nature, it then acquires an existence separate from that of humankind. He leaves nothing untouched: miracles, the Trinity, Creation, prayer, resurrection, immortality, faith & much more. The essential nature of man The essence of religion considered generally God as a being of the understanding God as a moral being or law The mystery of the incarnation; or, God as love, as a being of the heart The mystery of the suffering God The mystery of the Trinity & the mother of God The mystery of the Logos & divine image The mystery of the cosmogonical principle in God The mystery of mysticism, or of nature in God The mystery of providence & creation out of nothing The significance of the creation in Judaism The omnipotence of feeling, or the mystery of prayer The mystery of faith, the mystery of miracle The mystery of the resurrection and of the miraculous conception The mystery of the Christian Christ, or the personal God The distinction between Christianity & heathenism The significance of voluntary celibacy & monachism The Christian heaven, or personal immortality The essential standpoint of religion The contradiction in the existence of God The contradiction in the revelation of God The contradiction in the nature of God in general The contradiction in the speculative doctrine of God The contradiction in the Trinity The contradiction in the sacraments The contradiction of faith & love Concluding application