Bloch's Humanistic Interpretation of Christianity
Author: CHEN Ying, Lecturer, Beijing Language and Culture University; Ph. D. Candidate, School of Liberal Arts, Renmin University of China
Abstract:
Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) is an independent thinker of the 20th century. His theory deliberately identifies various utopian surpluses from any cultural form. Bloch’s cultural critique, especially his theory on theology and Marxism, has exerted a tremendous impact on the intellectual arena. His observation and understanding of Marxism and Christianity are unique in as much as Marxism was the beginning and end of his perspective on religion. This paper demonstrates how Bloch, by combing through the Christian heritage, reveals discrepancies between Christianity and the Church, and how he, on this basis, subverts traditional readings of Moses and the biblical exodus, revealing the relationship between Jesus and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Whilst analyzing the Blochian approach towards the critical and resistant descriptions and readings of the Bible, this paper explores Bloch’s cultural critique of a clear utopian dimension, which together with an essential hope, points towards a humanist heaven and a Marxist religious view.
Keywords:
humanism, Marxism, Kingdom, critique
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