Feuerbach was a phenomenon in time for proposing a naturalistic account of the development of religious faith that stood in opposition to the nascent tradition of Liberal Christianity. Today, he is really only remembered as a footnote to Marx on account of his "Theses on Feuerbach," but it undersells what you might get out of this work.

Firstly, this is a rare case where the first English translation of a piece of philosophy remains the undisputed best one, as it just so happened to be the work of George Eliot, and her prose does shine through.

A background in philosophy will help, but it isn't a work that is heavy on jargon and I do believe most people can get the gist of it with a little help from Google.

The premise, from my recollection, is fairly simple: God was first conceived as an outward projection of Man's highest ideals into the strange and confusing world outside him, and over the course of history our development and progress as a species has led us to gradually reclaim him and internalize those divine notions back into our subjective consciousness. It is an optimistic work, and Eliot's prose complements the philosophical maneuvering nicely, to the point where I would stop reading just to admire a sublime passage.

If you are of a secular disposition, the methodical and systematic resolutions of the supernatural into the natural can wash over you with satisfaction, and maybe even induce a serene and even blissful feeling. This work has none of the caustic material of what one of the "New Atheists" might write, and proceeds from a deep reverence of humanity instead of a disdain for it. Religion is not some mistake to be corrected, but a rung on the ladder of human development that was necessary for us to ascend any higher. Within the idea of God lies all of the hopes, dreams, and aspirations we have as a species that we don't believe ourselves to be capable of actualizing, but will eventually reclaim.

I don't think this sort of optimistic secularism is around anymore.

Essence of Christianity

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