Synthesized answer
The "humanisation of God" means that God is understood not as a separate, transcendent being, but rather as something related to humanity. Ordinary theology makes God a subject like a human subject, attributing human thoughts and feelings to him, essentially making his essence and standpoint the same as humanity's [2]. However, this can lead to a contradiction where God is supposed to be non-human but is actually described in human terms [3].
This humanisation necessitates the transformation and dissolution of theology into anthropology because if God is understood in human terms, then the study of God becomes the study of humanity itself. Protestantism, for example, moved away from what God is in himself and focused on what he is for man, becoming essentially "religious anthropology" [1]. Modern philosophy itself is described as theology dissolved and transformed into philosophy [5]. The passages suggest that when God is understood as human, the focus shifts from a divine being to human essence and standpoint, leading to anthropology [2, 1].
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
The religious or practical form of this humanisation was Protestantism. The God who is man, that is to say the human God, Christ, this and only this is the God of Protestantism. Unlike Catholicism, Protestantism is no longer concerned with what God is in himself, but only with what he is for man; hence, it knows no speculative or contemplative tendency like Catholicism. It has ceased to be theology — it is essentially Christology; that 1s, religious anthropology. §3 However, Protestantism negated God-in-himself or God as God — for only God-in-himself is, strictly speaking, God — only…
For ordinary theology, God is an object just like any other sensuous object; but, at the same time, he is also a subject for it, and, indeed, just like the human subject. God creates things that are apart from himself, he is referred back to himself in a reflexive self-relationship and is related to other things existing apart from him; he both loves and contemplates himself simultaneously with other beings. In short, man makes his thoughts, even his feelings, the thoughts and feelings of God; his own essence and standpoint are made the essence and standpoint of God. Speculative…
In ordinary theology, God is thus a contradiction with himself, for he is supposed to be a non-human, a super-human being, and yet with respect to all his determinations, he is in truth only a human being. In speculative theology or philosophy on the other hand, God is in contradiction to man; he is supposed to be the essence of man — at any rate of reason — but he is in truth a non-human, a super-human, that 1s, an abstract being. In ordinary theology, the super-human God 1s only an edifying phrase, a mere idea, a toy of fantasy; in speculative philosophy, on the other hand, he is…
Pantheism is theological atheism or theological materialism; it is the negation of theology while itself confined to the standpoint of theology, for it turns matter, the negation of God, into a predicate or an attribute of the Divine Being. But he who turns matter into an attribute of God, declares matter to be a divine being. The realisation of God must in principle presuppose godliness, that is, the truth and essentiality of the real. The deification of the real, of that which exists materially — materialism, empiricism, realism, and humanism — or the negation of theology, 1s the…
Modern philosophy proceeded from theology; it is itself nothing else but theology dissolved and transformed into philosophy. The abstract and transcendent being of God could therefore be realised and superseded only in an abstract and transcendent way. In order to transform God into reason. reason itself had to assume the quality of an abstract, divine being. The senses, says Descartes, do not yield true reality, nor being, nor certainty; only the intellect separated from all sensuousness delivers the truth. Where does this dichotomy between the intellect and the senses come from? It…
More questions about this book
- Distinguish between Protestantism and speculative philosophy according to Feuerbach. What is the crucial theoretical limitation Feuerbach identifies in Protestantism's approach to God-in-himself, and how does speculative philosophy explicitly aim to overcome this gap?
- Feuerbach claims, "what is other-worldly to religion, is this-worldly to philosophy." Unpack what this statement means in practical terms. How does this reorientation change the fundamental object and method of inquiry for philosophy compared to religion?
- How does Feuerbach's assertion that "God qua God is nothing but the essence of reason itself" fundamentally challenge the concept of God presented by "ordinary theology and Theism"? What are the logical consequences for human understanding of divinity if God is solely reason's essence, rather than a separate independent being?
- Synthesize the initial arguments presented. What "new philosophy" is Feuerbach proposing, and how does it fundamentally redefine the relationship between humanity, theology, and reason in a way that differs from the historical approaches he critiques?