Source of the Idea of God according to Feuerbach
Written by Adel Elsherif
What if God was never divine to begin with, but merely human, magnified?In the turbulent wake of Hegelian idealism, Ludwig Feuerbach dared to ask the unthinkable:
What if theology is just anthropology in disguise? What if every divine attribute, love, nothing more than a reflection of human longing?
Feuerbach argues that God is not a distinct, external, or supernatural being, but rather a projection, personification, and objectification of human qualities, emotions, and needs.
God as the Objective Nature of Man
Religion, Feuerbach claims, arises from the essential difference between humans and animals, animals have no religion.
What man holds to be absolute is his own nature.
The power attributed to the object of feeling, intellect, or will is simply the power of feeling, intellect, or will itself.
God is the outward manifestation of man’s inner nature, and religion is the solemn unveiling of man’s hidden treasures.
The proposition “God loves man” is, in plain terms, a declaration that “the highest is the love of man.”
The deeper mystery of Christian ttheology, such as divine love, is ultimately a reflection of human self-love.
Theology, in its ultimate truth, is anthropology: the knowledge of God is nothing other than the knowledge of man.
The beginning, middle, and end of religion is Man.
The “divine being” is the “human being glorified by the death of abstraction,” and the supernatural nature of God is reducible to elements of human nature.
Projection of Human Qualities and Feelings
Human feelings and wishes are projected onto God.
God is conceived in human form, with human emotions and thoughts, making Him the object of worship and veneration.
- Love: Divine love is simply human love made objective. Love is a higher power than deity, and it is love that leads God to renounce His divinity.
- Suffering: The mystery of the suffering God reflects human suffering. A being without suffering is a being without a heart.
- Reason: God as a rational being is reason intensified and made objective. Human reason is not dependent on God; rather, God depends on reason.
- Will: In creation, man affirms the divinity of human will. Omnipotence is the power of im
agination or self-will.
- Imagination: Miracles are expressions of imagination. God, conceived through the senses but freed from their limits, is imagination in its limitless activity.
Divine attributes such as love, wisdom, and justice are divine in themselves.
God possesses them because they are divine, not the other way around.
The religious person is unaware that the consciousness of God is the self-consciousness of man; this ignorance is fundamental to religion.
Origin in Man’s Dependence on Nature
Nature is the first and enduring source of religion.
Man’s feeling of dependence on natural elements:light, air, water, earth, and food, gives rise to the concept of God.
Polytheism originates from the direct worship of natural forces and objects, such as the sun, moon, rivers, and mountains.
These are revered because they are essential to human existence.
Monotheism emerges when man interprets nature as created for his benefit.
The unity of God in monotheism reflects the unity of human conscience and intellect, which can comprehend diverse natural phenomena.
Concepts such as divine power, eternity, and kindness are derived from observing nature’s phenomena, thunder, sunrise, rain.
The "Supernatural" as the Human Transformed
Religion transforms nature’s essence into a subjective, human form, making it an object of prayer and worship.
When man transcends nature through will and intellect, God becomes a
supernatural being.
Man’s dominion over nature leads to the worship of a “creator of Nature.”
The belief that nature is animated by a distinct being-spirits or demons-is essentially the projection of human imagination. Nature becomes a symbol and mirror of man’s being.
The distinction between a pantheistic and personal God reduces to the difference between reason and emotion.
The superhuman God is, in essence, the supernatural heart.
Feuerbach concludes that God is nothing but the essence of man’s imagination and heart, and that the true nature of God is humanity itself.
The so-called supernatural elements of religion are merely natural human phenomena, desires, emotions, and intellectual faculties projected and magnified into an external divine form.
Source : the essence of Christianity
