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Bloch’s Messianic Marxism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

John Marsden
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Extract

Esoteric and often frustratingly organised, his utopian philosophy has been dismissed, by Christians and Marxists alike, as a confused and idiosyncratic amalgam of heresies. Yet within his writings, which span half a century (born in 1885, he died at nine-two), there can be shown to be a remarkable unity of thought. Furthermore, themes and perspectives can be discerned which arguably continue even today to be of relevance to both Christianity and Marxism and to the dialogue between them, and which make Bloch a philosopher of more than just historical interest.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 70 , Issue 823 , January 1989 , pp. 32 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 For biographical information see Hudson, W., The Marxist Philosophy of Ernst Block, London, Macmillan, 1982, p. 5ffCrossRefGoogle Scholar; the translators’ introduction in The Principle of Hope (hereinafter PH), trans. N. Plaice, S. Plaice and P. Knight, Oxford, Blackwell, 1986, p. xixff; Jurgen Moltmann's introduction to E. Bloch, Man on his Own (anthology), trans. E.B. Ashton, New York, Herder, 1970, p. 19–29; J. Bentley, Between Marx and Christ, London, Verso, 1982, p. 79ff; Gross, D., ‘Ernst Bloch: The Dialectics of Hope’, in Howard, D. and Klare, K., The Unknown Dimension, London/New York, Basic Books, 1972Google Scholar, p. 107ff; Lowy, M., ‘Interview with E. Bloch’, New German Critique, No. 9, 1976, p. 35–45Google Scholar.

2 See Atheism in Christianity, trans. Swann, J. T., New York, Herder, 1972, p. 268fGoogle Scholar.; also W. Hudson, op. cit., p. 56.

3 Bloch, E., On Karl Marx (anthology), trans. Maxwell, J., New York, Herder, 1971 pp. 21, 23Google Scholar (PH, 1358f.).

4 See ibid, p. 22f. (PH, 1358f.)

5 ibid, p. 18–20 (PH, 1355–7).

6 ibid, p. 88 (PH, 274).

7 ibid, p. 21 (PH, 1358).

8 ibid, p. 76f. (PH, 264f.).

9 ibid, p. 36 (PH, 1370).

10 See ibid, p. 16–45, esp. p. 44f. (PH, 1354ff., esp. 1375f.), and ibid, p. 172. Also Atheism in Christianity, p. 270ff; A Philosophy of the Future, trans. Cumming, J., New York, Herder, 1970, p. 96Google Scholar and p. 138; W. Hudson, op. cit, p. 99ff. and p. 202ff; D. Gross, op cit. p. 121ff.

11 See On Karl Marx, p. 30ff (PH, 1365 ff); PH, p. 205ff.; and Atheism in Christianity, p. 268f.

12 On Karl Marx, p. 171f.

13 See ibid, p. 139. Also p. 39ff (PH, 1371ff).

14 ibid, p. 33 (PH, 1367).

15 Man On His Own, p. 118 (PH, 496).

16 ibid, p. 119 (PH, 497).

17 Atheism in Christianity, p. 100.

18 ibid, p. 103.

19 Man On His Own, p. 126 (PH, 502f.).

20 ibid, p. 131 (PH, 507).

21 ibid, p. 130 (PH, 506).

22 ibid, p. 133f. (PH, 509).

23 ibid, p. 135 (PH, 510).

24 ibid, p. 137 (PH. 512).

25 Atheism in Christianity, p. 52.

26 ibid, p. 5Iff.

27 ibid, p. 38ff. 42ff.

28 On setting Utopian hopes ‘on their feet’ see On Karl Marx, p. 23ff (PH, 1359ff), and the discussion by W. Hudson, op. cit, p. 55, 63. Regarding the importance of vital and elemental drives, etc. see Mannheim, K., Ideology and Utopia, London, Routledge, 1936 (1979), p. 190ff.Google Scholar, and Tillich, P., The Socialist Decision, trans by Sherman, F., New York, Harper, 1977, p. 132–7Google Scholar.

29 Atheism in Christianity, p. 58–63.

30 ibid, p. 210. Also see Man On His Own, p. 209ff. (PH, 1284ff.), and W. Hudson, op cit, p. 185.

31 Man On His Own, p. 219ff. (PH, 1293ff.).

32 Athism in Christianity, p. 239.

33 ibid, p. 69. See also ibid, p. 9 and Man On His Own, p. 147ff. (PH, 1189ff).

34 Man On His Own, p. 169/70 (PH, 1233/4). For the term ‘meta‐religion’ see p. 163, 213 (PH. 1201, 1288).

35 ibid, p. 223 (PH, 1296).

36 See P. Tillich's discussion of the ‘polarity of freedom and destiny’ in his Systematic Theology, London, SCM, 1978Google Scholar, Vol 1, p. 182–6; Moltmann, J. in Religion, Revolution and the Future, New York, Scribners, 1969, p. 63ffGoogle Scholar.

37 Atheism in Christianity, p. 272.

38 Solomon, M., ‘Marx and Bloch: Reflections on Utopia and Art’, Telos, Vol. 13. p. 68–85 (p. 75–7).Google Scholar

39 Oilman, B., ‘Marx's Vision of Communism: A Reconstruction’, Critique, No. 8, Summer 1977, 4–41 (p. 9)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

40 Karl Mannheim, op. cit, p. 215ff.