Criticism of Earth Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen, Paris – Steve Edwards, London Marcel van der Linden, Amsterdam – Peter Thomas, London VOLUME 35 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/hm Criticism of Earth On Marx, Engels and Theology By Roland Boer LEidEn • BOSTOn 2012 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data Boer, Roland, 1961– Criticism of earth : on Marx, Engels, and Theology / by Roland Boer. p. cm. — (Historical materialism book series, iSSn 1570-1522 ; v. 35) includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. iSBn 978-90-04-22557-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Marx, Karl, 1818–1883—Religion. 2. Engels, Friedrich, 1820–1895—Religion. 3. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831—Religion. 4. Philosophy, Modern—19th century. 5. Philosophy, German--19th century. 6. Theology— Germany—History—19th century. i. Title. B3305.M74B59 2012 200.92’2—dc23 2011052364 iSSn 1570-1522 iSBn 978 90 04 22557 2 E-iSBn 978 90 04 22558 9 Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill nV, Leiden, The netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, idC Publishers and Martinus nijhoff Publishers. All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood drive, Suite 910, danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents Preface ............................................................................................................... ix introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 Synopsis ........................................................................................................ 3 The terrain of struggle: theology and the Bible ...................................... 9 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 21 1. The Subterranean Bible ............................................................................. 25 Outwitting the censor ................................................................................ 27 Against the ruling class ............................................................................. 32 Clergy as part of a corrupt ruling class ................................................... 37 Economic allusions .................................................................................... 40 Against other opponents ........................................................................... 44 Appropriation and ambivalence .............................................................. 47 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 50 2. The Leading Article: Theology, Philosophy and Science ..................... 53 Theology and scientific research .............................................................. 54 Theology and philosophy ......................................................................... 56 Church and state ........................................................................................ 61 Fetishism and idolatry ............................................................................... 65 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 67 3. Against the Theological Hegelians i: Bruno Bauer ............................... 69 The Book of isaiah (with Herr Licentiate Bauer) ................................... 71 ‘My friend of many years standing . . .’ ................................................... 79 The Jewish question ................................................................................... 86 Holy families ............................................................................................... 95 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 103 vi • Contents 4. Against the Theological Hegelians ii: Max Stirner and the Lever of History .................................................................................................... 109 Stirner’s ego, or, the lever of history ....................................................... 111 The engine-room of historical materialism ............................................ 114 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 124 5. Against the Theological Hegelians iii: Ludwig Feuerbach’s inversion 127 inversion ...................................................................................................... 128 idealism and theology ............................................................................... 132 The theological springboard .................................................................... 135 irreligious criticism, or, completing the criticism of religion .............. 137 The new Luther .......................................................................................... 145 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 150 6. Hegel, Theology and the Secular State ................................................... 153 The formal theologian ............................................................................... 154 The theological state .................................................................................. 156 The death of theology? .............................................................................. 160 The paradox of the secular state .............................................................. 165 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 173 7. idols, Fetishes and Graven images .......................................................... 177 History of religions .................................................................................... 178 idolatry ........................................................................................................ 185 Economy ...................................................................................................... 191 Alienation and labour ........................................................................... 191 Money and Christology ........................................................................ 195 Commodities and capital ...................................................................... 197 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 203 8. Of Flowers and Chains: The Ambivalence of Theology ....................... 207 Theological tension and the Gospel of John ........................................... 208 The Bible and class-conflict  ...................................................................... 219 The two sides of opium ............................................................................. 223 Marx’s demurrer: on grace ....................................................................... 230 Contents • vii 9. Engels’s Biblical Temptations ................................................................. 233 Engels’s self-exorcism .............................................................................. 234 The challenge of contradictions ............................................................. 244 Schelling, the philosopher in Christ ...................................................... 260 Conclusion: on the loss of faith .............................................................. 269 10. Revelation and Revolution ..................................................................... 273 The two minds of Friedrich Engels ....................................................... 274 doctrinaire atheism ............................................................................. 275 Revolutionary versus reactionary Christianity ............................... 279 The ambivalent Calvinism of F.W. Krummacher ............................... 281 A soft spot for apocalyptic ...................................................................... 284 On Thomas Müntzer and the peasants ................................................. 292 Early Christianity ..................................................................................... 297 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 306 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 307 References ........................................................................................................ 325 index ................................................................................................................. 361 Preface i have put off writing this book for too long, daunted by the endless volumes of Marx and Engels’s writings. At long last, I opened the first volume of their  Collected Works. Over the next eight months, i read the whole lot, instead of the select pieces I had read until then, finishing the last volume on the eve- ning before boarding a freighter-ship bound for new Zealand in June 2008. Vast, tiring and exhilarating, it was one of the greatest reading experiences i have ever had. From the nooks and crannies of their youth, with bad poetry, love-letters, angry and worried parents, the story unwound in volume after volume. Marx soon showed up as an obsessive and brilliant writer who cared noth- ing for his health, even when there was a long history of unstable health on his side of the family. Engels, by contrast, obviously knew how to enjoy himself and unwind: good beer, fine wine, exquisite tobacco and women,  mixed in with long-distance hiking and a love for swimming. We follow them through the obstacle-course of early political journalism in the face of cen- sorship, arrests and exile in Paris, Brussels and then London. i found myself enticed by Engels’s background, one that was so similar to my own, as well as his remarkable ability with languages (i have come across French, Eng- lish, Spanish, italian, Portuguese, danish, dutch, Frisian, Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, devanagari or Sanskrit, as well as classical Hebrew and Greek). While Engels passed through his hawkish phase and wrote some amazing pieces on battles, campaigns, and the histories of matters such as infantry, rifles and castles, Marx buried himself in piles of economic data and wrote  endless notebooks working out his breakthrough-theories. As Marx peaked and burned himself out with the monumental first volume of Capital, Engels kept the whole show together, maintaining his partnership in the firm in  Manchester, sending Marx endless pound-notes in the post, until at last he could retire and set up both Marx and himself in relative comfort. The for- mality of intellectual work and the immediacy of journalism finally make x • Preface way for the intensely personal correspondence. Here, Marx’s obsession with his declining health – especially the interminable reports on those famous carbuncles – shows up starkly (if before he disregarded his health, now it is at the centre of his attention), as does Engels’s patience and irrepressibly jovial take on life. And this is how the story closes, with Engels dutifully ensuring Marx’s legacy through a mountain of editorial work on Marx’s unfinished  manuscripts (not always understanding them) and yet utterly enthused by the strides taken by the working-class and socialist movement. When i began writing, i became conscious of the fact that Marx and Engels too were primarily writers. i started to gain respect for Engels as a writer. At times, he may have been too categorical and doctrinaire, not quite shin- ing as bright as Marx, but, at other times, his texts sparkle with insight and observation. Unlike Marx’s intense and obsessive prose, Engels could have a lightness of touch and way of turning a phrase that draws one in. i have read his accounts of the walk from Paris to Berne in Switzerland many times, the travel-notes on Sweden and denmark, his glorious description of the cotton- bale that passes through so many handlers and merchants (swindlers) before reaching Germany, or his letters full of comments on smoking, drinking and women, or indeed his continuous doodles, portraits and battle-scenes. Only Engels could write, ‘. . . now i can shit in peace and then write to you in peace. . . . damn, there’s somebody sitting in the lavatory and i am bursting’.1 no won- der he lived to a good age. His motto, written in young Jenny’s notebook, would have helped: ‘Your favourite virtue – jollity; Motto – take it easy’.2 Often, Engels had to remind Marx to get some fresh air and exercise instead of sitting on a broken chair at a worn desk in order to write. For Marx was driven by a demanding muse, one that allowed him three or four hours’ sleep a night, rushed breaks for meals and those endless cups of coffee and reams of tobacco. There are plenty of notes in the letters about working all night, or for thirty hours straight until his eyes were too sore to go further, or Jenny taking over letter-writing since he had dropped from sheer exhaustion. no wonder he became so ill – liver, carbuncles, sores, abscesses, rheumatism, lungs (the letters are full of them) – and no wonder he recovered when on the sea at Margate where he ate well, went for long walks (up to 27 kilometres to 1. Engels 1839ff, p. 411; Engels 1839gg, p. 354. 2. Engels 1868k, p. 541.