In this, one of the most influential works of the post-Hegelian era, Feuerbach captures the synthesis that emerges from the dialectical process of a transcending Godhead & the rational & material world. In understanding the true nature of what it means to be fully human, he contends that we come face to face with the essence of Xian theology: human beings investing ordinary concepts with divine meaning & significance. The true danger to humanity occurs when theology is given the force of dogma & doctrine. Losing sight of its anthropological underpinnings & dependence upon or emergence from human nature, it then acquires an existence separate from that of humankind. He leaves nothing untouched: miracles, the Trinity, Creation, prayer, resurrection, immortality, faith & much more.

The essential nature of man

The essence of religion considered generally

God as a being of the understanding

God as a moral being or law

The mystery of the incarnation; or, God as love, as a being of the heart

The mystery of the suffering God

The mystery of the Trinity & the mother of God

The mystery of the Logos & divine image

The mystery of the cosmogonical principle in God

The mystery of mysticism, or of nature in God

The mystery of providence & creation out of nothing

The significance of the creation in Judaism

The omnipotence of feeling, or the mystery of prayer

The mystery of faith, the mystery of miracle

The mystery of the resurrection and of the miraculous conception

The mystery of the Christian Christ, or the personal God

The distinction between Christianity & heathenism

The significance of voluntary celibacy & monachism

The Christian heaven, or personal immortality

The essential standpoint of religion

The contradiction in the existence of God

The contradiction in the revelation of God

The contradiction in the nature of God in general

The contradiction in the speculative doctrine of God

The contradiction in the Trinity

The contradiction in the sacraments

The contradiction of faith & love

Concluding application