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Historical Materialism #18
Criticism of Heaven: On Marxism and Theology
This volume consists of a critical commentary on the interactions between Marxism and theology in the work of the major figures of Western Marxism. It deals with the theological writings of Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Louis Althusser, Henri Lefebvre, Antonio Gramsci, Terry Eagleton, Slavoj Žižek and Theodor Adorno. In many cases their theological writings are dealt with for the first time in this book. It is surprising how much theological material there is and how little commentators have dealt with it. Apart from the critical engagement with the way they use theology, the book also explores how their theological writings infiltrate and enrich their Marxist work. The book has three parts: Biblical Marxists (Bloch and Benjamin), Catholic Marxists (Althusser, Lefebvre, Gramsci and Eagleton), and the Protestant Turn (Žižek and Adorno).
472 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Roland Boer
52 books44 followersRoland Theodore Boer is a Marxist philosopher based in China. His research concerns the many dimensions of the construction of socialism, especially in China but also elsewhere.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 11, 2022
Going in blind, and being a fervient atheist, I can say without hesitation that this book doesn't only is a great critique of religion through marxist lenses, but it also is a great critique of western marxists.
The study is dense, profound and interesting.
Hell, it even made me think of a new concept.
The study is dense, profound and interesting.
Hell, it even made me think of a new concept.
May 23, 2020
"In the first three volumes of his five-volume series, The Criticism of Heaven and Earth, Roland Boer examines the influence of the Bible and theology on twenty-four key Marxist thinkers. Such an influence will undoubtedly surprise some readers, given the widespread perception—not wholly undeserved—of historical materialism as a discourse which is fundamentally antithetical to religion. Accordingly, an overriding goal of Boer’s series is to counter such a prejudice, to demonstrate that the Bible and theology have an “indispensable” or “crucial” role in the development of seminal Marxist works (2007, pp. xi–xii); that the impact of the Bible and theology is not only evident in the recent fetishization of Paul within certain fashionable coteries of European Marxian philosophy, but is manifest throughout twentieth-century Marxism, and even, as volume four seeks to show, in the voluminous works of Marx and Engels.
"It is certainly a bold claim. Yet it is broadly consistent with, and contributes to, the growing critical consensus that the “secularisation thesis” has blinded scholars—in particular historians, sociologists, literary critics, and philosophers—to the precise role of religion in modernity. In this regard, Boer’s series provides a welcome corrective to those earlier studies of Marxist thinkers which have overlooked or downplayed biblical and theological dimensions in their work. And thus the series has the most to offer as a contribution to Marxist criticism.[...]
"Boer’s deepest wish, which guides his interpretations of these Marxist thinkers, is not for the
supersession of theology but for its sublation; for a dialectical theology of the future, one that will
move through its Marxist historicization and materialization into some, currently unimaginable,
form. In the short period since the publication of these books, Boer’s tenacious insistence on an
ongoing role for theology seems to have been more enthusiastically received by theologians than by
his targeted Marxist readership—for whom supersession might typically be the more attractive
option. From a more orthodox Marxist perspective, it is difficult to see how Boer can advocate for
the position he does without advocating for an idealist component to the materialist dialectic. Yet
there is certainly a legitimate role within Marxism for the analysis of idealism within past and
present social formations, based on the relative autonomy of the superstructure from the economic
base and the so-called reciprocal action of the superstructure on that base. There is value in this
series, therefore, even for the recalcitrant Marxist who harbours a deep and ingrained suspicion of
“metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties”. For Boer’s The Criticism of Heaven and Earth is
now the foremost resource for understanding the role of the Bible and theology within the writings
of a wide range of key historical and contemporary Marxist thinkers."
--Excerpt from a review by Deane Galbraith, University of Otago, in The Bible & Critical Theory, Vol. 9, No. 1-2, p. 149-152.
"It is certainly a bold claim. Yet it is broadly consistent with, and contributes to, the growing critical consensus that the “secularisation thesis” has blinded scholars—in particular historians, sociologists, literary critics, and philosophers—to the precise role of religion in modernity. In this regard, Boer’s series provides a welcome corrective to those earlier studies of Marxist thinkers which have overlooked or downplayed biblical and theological dimensions in their work. And thus the series has the most to offer as a contribution to Marxist criticism.[...]
"Boer’s deepest wish, which guides his interpretations of these Marxist thinkers, is not for the
supersession of theology but for its sublation; for a dialectical theology of the future, one that will
move through its Marxist historicization and materialization into some, currently unimaginable,
form. In the short period since the publication of these books, Boer’s tenacious insistence on an
ongoing role for theology seems to have been more enthusiastically received by theologians than by
his targeted Marxist readership—for whom supersession might typically be the more attractive
option. From a more orthodox Marxist perspective, it is difficult to see how Boer can advocate for
the position he does without advocating for an idealist component to the materialist dialectic. Yet
there is certainly a legitimate role within Marxism for the analysis of idealism within past and
present social formations, based on the relative autonomy of the superstructure from the economic
base and the so-called reciprocal action of the superstructure on that base. There is value in this
series, therefore, even for the recalcitrant Marxist who harbours a deep and ingrained suspicion of
“metaphysical subtleties and theological niceties”. For Boer’s The Criticism of Heaven and Earth is
now the foremost resource for understanding the role of the Bible and theology within the writings
of a wide range of key historical and contemporary Marxist thinkers."
--Excerpt from a review by Deane Galbraith, University of Otago, in The Bible & Critical Theory, Vol. 9, No. 1-2, p. 149-152.
May 28, 2013
What a brilliant, wide-ranging, boundary-scoffing book. Boer rampages through Western Marxist thought for almost 500 pages, dissecting and challenging the theological and Biblical aspects that are part of the approach of these thinkers. Fine. Others have noted such influence. What's magnificent is that by the end, Boer's helped you understand these major, fascinating figures more deeply and also inspired you to think about the continued possibilities as we move forward from here to seek to build a better world.
I'm not sure how many people are anxious to read 50-page chunks on the theological/Biblical aspects of Bloch, Benjamin, Althusser, Lefebvre, Gramsci, Eagleton, Zizek, and Adorno. But if you think that might be you, hie thee to your browser and order this delight from Haymarket Books.
I'm not sure how many people are anxious to read 50-page chunks on the theological/Biblical aspects of Bloch, Benjamin, Althusser, Lefebvre, Gramsci, Eagleton, Zizek, and Adorno. But if you think that might be you, hie thee to your browser and order this delight from Haymarket Books.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews