1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910453363703321

Autore

Boer Roland <1961->

Titolo

In the vale of tears : on Marxism and theology, V / / by Roland Boer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Leiden : , : BRILL, , [2013]

©2014

ISBN

90-04-25234-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (391 p.)

Collana

Historical materialism book series

Disciplina

261.21

Soggetti

Atheism

Communism

Philosophy, Marxist

Religion

Theology

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Includes index.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographies and index.

Nota di contenuto

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Chapter One: Atheism -- Chapter Two: Myth -- Chapter Three: Ambivalence -- Chapter Four: History -- Chapter Five: Kairós -- Chapter Six: Ethics -- Chapter Seven: Idols -- Conclusion: On Secularism, Transcendence and Death -- References -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

In the Vale of Tears brings to a culmination the project for a renewed and enlivened debate over the interaction between Marxism and religion. It does so by offering the author's own response to that tradition. It simultaneously draws upon the rich insights of a significant number of Western Marxists and strikes out on its own. Thus, it argues for the crucial role of political myth on the Left; explores the political ambivalence at the heart of Christianity; challenges the bent among many on the Left to favour the unexpected rupture of kairós as a key to revolution; is highly suspicious of the ideological and class alignments of ethics; offers a thorough reassessment of the role of fetishism in the Marxist tradition; and broaches the question of death, unavoidable for any Marxist engagement with religion. While the book is the conclusion to the five-volume series, The Criticism of Heaven and Earth , it also



stands alone as a distinct intervention in some burning issues of our time. Winner of the 2014 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize.