- Title
- The new Luther? Marx and the Reformation as revolution
- Creator
- Boer, Roland
- Relation
- Monthly Review Zine Issue 18.01.11
- Relation
- http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/boer180111.html
- Publisher
- Monthly Review Foundation
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- Towards the close to what is arguably Karl Marx's most well-known treatment of religion appears the following sentence: Germany's revolutionary past is theoretical, it is the Reformation. As the revolution then began in the brain of the monk, so now it begins in the brain of the philosopher . . . But if Protestantism was not the true solution it was at least the true setting of the problem. (Marx 1844 [1975]-a: 182; 1844 [1974]: 385)1. The monk in question, in whose brain those revolutionary thoughts first stirred, is of course Martin Luther. Luther? Why would Luther interest Marx? Let me begin my answer with a brief exegesis of the quoted text, which yields the following three points: the Reformation was revolutionary to some degree (theoretical); it constitutes the first of two revolutionary phases in German history, the second of which begins with a (contemporary) philosopher; that first revolution was in some respects incomplete, which is why the second is now required, although in the text Marx phrases the third statement in a way that recognises the abiding effect of the Reformation -- as the true setting of a problem. Boiled down, we are left with two issues, namely two phases of revolution and the nature of the Reformation as that first stage. In this sense, Marx's text has provided me with the major foci of the discussion that follows.
- Subject
- Karl Marx; Martin Luther; Reformation; religion; revolution
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1044408
- Identifier
- uon:14321
- Identifier
- ISSN:0027-0520
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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