Karl Marx and Religion: Life, Influences, Ideas and Legacies

About the lecture

In this lecture, we provide a broad introduction to the life, influences, ideas and legacies of Karl Marx, focusing in particular on: (i) his life and times, including his early life and education, his collaboration with Friedrich Engels, and some of his major works; (ii) the influence of the German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) on Marx's thought, including Hegel's conception of the history of the world as "the progress of the consciousness of freedom" and his famous philosophical method of "dialectic logic"; (iv) the influence of the philosopher of Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-72), including the concept of 'alienation', which Marx applied to both capitalism and religion; and (v) the shift in Marx's thought around 1845, after which point his writings become less philosophical and Hegelian, and more sociological.

About the lecturer

Dr Paul-François Tremlett is a Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at The Open University. He is interested in theory and method in Religious Studies, and, as well as ethnographic research in the Philippines, has conducted research in Hong Kong and London on the Occupy movement.