A Study On Engels' Religious Views In His Later Year

Religion is a complex cultural phenomenon that has influenced every aspect of human life,such as personal value orientation and the stability of nations.Therefore how to perceive religion rationally and how to deal with it appropriately is very important.Based on the materialistic view of history and the materialist dialectic,Engels’s views on religion in his late years are more mature than his early years’,which are an important part of the Marxist views on religion.Taking the historical background as a logical clue,taking Engels’s classic texts as main contents,this paper adopts a combined historical and theoretical approach to launch a study of Engels’s views on religion in his late years.The research idea of this thesis is divided into three steps.The first step is to explain why Engels studied religion in his late years.The second step is to clarify key elements of Engels’s views on religion in his late years,and the last step is to elaborate on the historical status and contemporary value of Engels’s views on religion in his late years.This Master’s thesis consists of three main chapters.The first chapter of the thesis deals with the practical changes,historical background and Engels’s personal beliefs.The practical changes in society focus on Engels’s criticism of radical atheism and the assertion that eliminates religion compulsorily and his reinterpretation of the theory of historical materialism.The historical background focuses on the German biblical and political criticism and the bourgeois revolutionary movement and religious criticism;the personal beliefs focuses on the complexity of the transformation of his religious thought in his early years and his elaboration of the ambitious ideal of communism.By elaborating on the above three aspects,this chapter is devoted to answering the presupposition of why Engels studied religion in his late years.The second chapter of the thesis is an in-depth study of Engels’s discourses on the nature of religion,the functions of religion,the emergence and development of religion and the demise of religion.In the proposition on the nature of religion,the succession and transcendence of Engels’s "theory of religious reflection" to Marx’s early religious thought and the academic debate on the nature of religion are mainly discussed.In the proposition on the functions of religion,Engels’s "theory of religious mask" is mainly discussed.In addition,a textual and lexical examination of "the mask of religion" is made in this proposition.In the proposition on the emergence,development and demise of religion,the origins and roots of religion,the three modes of religious development,and the long-term exist of religion.Through a detailed discussion of the above propositions,it is dedicated to a more systematic presentation of the main elements of Engels’ views on religion in his late years.The third chapter mainly explains the important historical position of Engels’s views on religion in his late years in his ideology theoretical systems and Marxist views on religion and clarifies its contemporary value in China.In conclusion,as the process of religious pluralism and secularization accelerates,the issue of religion becomes more and more complex and deep-rooted.Therefore,it is necessary to return to Engels’ discourse on religion in his late years and to explore its intrinsic ideological and theoretical values.Seeing Engels’s views on religion in his late years as a theoretical basis and methodological guide and combining the specificities of Chinese religions,we can do better in the practice of actively guiding the adaptation of religion to socialism,which is a key to solve the issues of religion in China.