Marxist Perspective On Religion And Liberation Theology

According to Gutiérrez, “This is the foundation of the praxis… in history.” (Gutiérrez p. 7) However, if theology is based on a narrow observation of historical events, it contributes to the investigation of their meaning. The true interpretation of the meaning revealed from theology is only found in historical praxis. To add, Gutiérrez’s quote “can be only static and, in the long run, sterile,” implies that Theology can be a liberating mechanism for mankind and Religious communities, preventing them of solidarity and proclivity over a long period of time. The significance behind this is showing that theology has a pivotal role in liberation from all forms of religious alienation, which is fostered by the ecclesiastical institution when it’s based from an authentic approach towards the Word of God. Between society and church, theology is an understanding that grows and changes through out the progression of history. For instance, if the commitment of a religious community takes different forms in its history, its understanding of the commitment will be constantly refreshed, renewed, and take unforeseen

Religion has held an important role in society since the beginning of civilisation and it has such power over people’s minds and shape the way our world developed. Whilst some sociological theories such as functionalist sees religion as performing a positive function in society as it can lead to social solidarity, integrating people into society, other sociological theories such as Marxist and Feminist totally disagrees with this and would argue that religion leads to instability and conflict in society.

Weber argues that religious beliefs contributed to major social change- specifically the emergence of modern capitalism in Northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Modern capitalism differs from capitalism as it is based on systematic, efficient and a rational pursuit of profit and profit for its own sake rather than consumption. Weber calls this the spirit of capitalism.

This paper explores the different views of religion between three sociologist writers, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim. It discusses a few different religions and the percent of Indiana that is religious. It will go into examples about how religion has developed over time and how Christians all have one big thing in common. Throughout the paper, it will explain how Christians are trying to share the word of God and make their community a better place.

Marxist believe that religion acts inevitably as a conservative force because religion is an ideological state apparatus which spreads capitalist ideas, thus maintains the social hierarchy, and in doing so maintains harmony and consensus in society. This is reinforced by Marx who claims religion is the opium of the people hence religion dulls the pain of oppression for them. Marx claims that religion is still a conservative force as through the use of ideology it justifies the oppression of the proletariat e.g. in the hymn ‘rich man at his castle the poor man at his gate, god made them high and ordered their estate’. This suggests god created inequality; as a result

The Role of Religion as a Conservative Force and as an Indicator of Change FUNCTIONALISM Emiline Durkheim believed that religion is central to the reproduction and maintenance of social order in societies. The major function of religion is to socialise society’s members into value consensus by the following. * Setting certain values apart and infusing them with special significance.

Have you ever realized that John Steinbeck talked about Religion in his book Grapes of Wrath? Well, if your answer is NO, let me inform you that Steinbeck did talk about Religion in his book. There are many similarities in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and Christ’s story. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck presents religion in different ways ranging from Jim Casy’s similarities to Christ, the use of Christian theology, and the symbolism of some characters as pastors. Throughout his book, Steinbeck recounts the great depression era and its effects on proletariats. The major theme throughout this book is the role of Christianity in the society. Marxism is a better theoretical lens to utilize for this paper because the book itself contains several Marxist key terms. By applying the Marxist theory on Steinbeck’s book Grapes of Wrath, we can better understand how he uses Christian theology to advance his critiques of capitalism.

Conversely, according to (Turner 23-109), Durkheim points out that religion is part and parcel of the society and that each society has religion. Emile Durkheim’s purpose was to assess the connection between particular religions in various cultures, and finding a common cause. Basically, he wanted to comprehend the three major aspects of religion; that is the empirical together with the social and the spirituality components. His definition of religion is that; it is a joining arrangement of beliefs together with practices in relation to sacred things. According to him, it is religion that establishes the contemporary society as

While it is undeniable that Feuerbach’s The Essence of Christianity had a profound impact on Marx’s atheism, and ultimately led to the ‘Feuerbachian-Marxist postulate that human emancipation’ could be achieved through liberation from religion, the approaches toward this objective considerably vary. Despite Ricoeur’s defence that Feuerbach should be considered a ‘master of suspicion’, because Marx’s atheism is ‘an elaboration... a further development of Feuerbachianism’, this questions whether Feuerbach’s and Marx’s atheisms are as compatible as initially perceived.

When reading The Essence of Christianity by Feuerbach and a few pages of Marx’s critiques, both authors had similarities and differences in their theories. Both Marx and Feuerbach criticize the idea of religion. However, Christianity is the main focus in particular. Feuerbach’s main thesis in Essence of Christianity was that the conception of the “divine” or “God” was actually human projection. Marx agreed with Feuerbach on the idea that God was created in the image of human. However, Marx differed greatly when he introduced politics and social economy into the mix. Feuerbach and Marx constructed a web of theories; which lead to the belief that God is merely just a projection from the human consciousness. However, we must ask if these theories

“The weber thesis” is the argument that turned Marx on his head: Instead of capitalism causing religion, religion actually caused capitalism” as stated in Collins (pg. 47). Weber goes on to stating as the Catholic Church was broke down during the 1517 by Martin Luther, he abolished the monasteries, the priests could get married but also the Bible could get translated from Latin to German so the people could read it for themselves. This meant that the priests were just like ordinary people and people could find their own way to embed their beliefs of God within their own lives. Weber then established religion was having a major effect in producing modern capitalism. Max Weber and Karl Marx are established as the two well-known theorists of the 19th Century. Many argue that there are various comparisons between these sociologist 's theories, however although Marx and Weber both examined similar ideas, they noticeably came to two drastically different conclusions. This essay will go on to critically analyse what the role of religion was in the rise of capitalism and discuss how Weber’s work was criticised by numerous sociologists e.g. Marxism and Durkheim.

For Weber, the idea of rationalism rational thought based on societal efficiency and productivity, runs through his works particularly The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In this seminal work, Weber argues that the idea of Protestantism contributes to history and economics in that piety and the chance for a better life after death cause humans to strive for economic gain in certain ways, whereas that is not always using work as an expression of self - it is work, as Marx might say, for the ends justifying the means, rather than the means justifying what work is being done. Authority, then, rather than being solely economic, does have at its

The functionalist analysis of religion is concerned with the contribution religion makes to meeting society's needs such as social solidarity, value consensus and harmony and integration between its parts. Durkheim = == ==

A religion can be seen as a unified system of beliefs and practices which are relative to sacred things and beliefs (Giddens 1972, p.224). It can shape ones thoughts and feelings and gives people a sense of hope and something to believe in. All three main sociologist writers Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim offer different perspectives on religion and how important it is to society. Some of the theorists chose to have a positive view whilst others argue the unimportance of religion. This essay attempts to discover which theorist has the most accurate perspective of religion in modern times. This is done by firstly explaining the basic ideas regarding to religion put forward by Marx, Weber and Durkheim. Then both Marx's and

Similarly to Weber, Durkheim believed that religion plays an integral part in society. He defined religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things… beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a church...” (Durkheim EF: 47). This functional definition describes what Durkheim believes what role religion plays in contemporary society: it unities it. He analyzed religion within the context of the entire society and recognized its influence on people’s thoughts and behaviors. Durkheim was interested in the communal bonds forged by participating in religious activities and stressed the importance of the communal aspect of religion.