Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

SUBSCRIBE NOW

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Articles

Luther’s Contribution to Feuerbach’s Atheism

Van Harvey traces one of the more unexpected consequences of the Reformation.

In October 2017, Protestants throughout the world will celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the religious revolution that began when Catholic monk and local professor of moral theology Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theses to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. He was protesting against indulgences, which were certificates people could purchase from the Church to reduce their or their loved ones’ punishment in Purgatory for their sins. We can expect numerous articles and books praising Luther and his return to St Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith and not by works. What we cannot expect will be many articles explaining how those same writings could become an important step in the development of the atheism of the nineteenth century German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach. Reading Luther’s theology confirmed Feuerbach’s conviction that Christianity was rooted in the human wish to be free from evil, sin, and death; and that the Christian God was “nothing but the satisfied urge towards happiness, the satisfied self-love of the Christian man” (The Essence of Faith According to Luther, Ludwig Feuerbach, trans Melvin Cherno, p.

…