Marxism and Christianism
First we will discuss different aspects of Marxism; second we will discuss the different aspects of Christianity. Last, we will discuss and compare the similarities, and we will discuss and contrast the differences of both theories. Before we begin to discuss the theory of Karl Marx we should know a little bit of background information on the man. Karl Marx was born in 1818, in Prussia. His father was a lawyer and Marx went on to study law himself in 1835. While at university, Marx became more interested in philosophy and joined radical leftist students who criticized the way in which Prussia was governed. In 1843, Marx and his wife moved to Paris, where he was greatly influenced by Friedrich Engels, a German radical reformist. Marx was one of the founders of two of the most powerful movements in history, democratic socialism, and revolutionary communism. In Ten Theories of Human Nature the authors tell us that Karl Marx wrote in the mid 19th century that "the real nature of man is the totality of social relations based on history", (3) and "that each person is a product of the particular economic stage of human society in which he or she lives". (4) Karl Marx was not only a freethinking person; he was intellectually stimulated an
d challenged to offer a more productive style of life to people. That was his primary purpose in writing the pamphlet the'Common Manifesto'which was written with Engels. The Manifesto is a forceful presentation of Marx' belief that history is a series of conflicts between classes of people. It predicts that the working class will overthrow the ruling middle class, and the result of this revolution will be a classless society in which production is publicly owned. The'Common Manifesto'became the foundation for the communist party. "The main points in the Manifesto are the nationalization of land, factories, transport, and banks". (Stevenson 14) Marx denied the existence of God and in his belief system he therefore, denies that there is life after death. Marx felt that religion is just an illusion that keeps people from their real problems, and that morals and ideas are determined by the society they live in. In the Marxist society your allegiance is to the state and the community as a whole. Although Marx was critical of capitalism he believed it to be a necessary stage of economic and social development. According to Stevenson and Haberman, Marx felt that humans have potential that capitalism does not allow them to develop, this was part of Marx' theory referred to as 'alienation'. "The philosophical materialist believes that the basic character of reality should be interpreted in physical terms". (Brennan 219) This is contrary to Marx' belief that the order of physical things and events is secondary to and dependent upon the order of mind and knowledge. Therefore, Marx idealistic theory does not allow for materialism. Once again, we look at the fact that Karl Marx, leader of the industrial revolution, believed that capitalism is not the correct method for productivity because capitalists are "blinded by false consciousness". (Stevenson 139) Marx' theory does not allow for religious views, "Christianity claims that God's salvation has been acted for us, so Marx claimed that the resolution of the problems of capitalism is already on the way in the movement of history". Stevenson (144) Christianity is the religion founded upon the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is the largest religious group in the world. There are approximately one billion Christians in this almost 2,000 year old religion. In The Meaning of Philosophy we are told that God is beyond human knowledge and that God created the
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Approximate Word count = 1628
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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