The Theological Metaphors of Marx

“Originally written in 1993, Enrique Dussel’s The Theological Metaphors of Marx could not be more relevant today. Drawing from Marx’s less-known and mature work, Dussel reveals how theology became a cog of capitalism and colonial domination, and, relatedly, how theology-based criticism becomes a critique of politics and human existence past-present. A crucial text for understanding the rapid rise of the Christian Right throughout the world and for undertaking theological decolonization as an ethics of liberation.” - Catherine E. Walsh, author of (Rising Up, Living On: Re-existences, Sowings, and Decolonial Cracks) “Enrique Dussel provides an exemplary methodology to navigate the rising critique of the secular and appeals to post-secularity. He offers a sophisticated exploration of the extent to which Christian theology, biblical narratives, and Christian discourses served as both references and scaffolding for nineteenth-century philosophy and political economy and a strong argument for a Christian theology that is informed and infused by Marx’s critique of capitalism. Dussel’s deep knowledge of the history of Christianity and the history of modern philosophy and his acute hermeneutical abilities are in full display in this text.” - Nelson Maldonado-Torres, author of (Against War: Views from the Underside of Modernity) "The book opens important theological questions and convincingly shows how Marx can be a resource to respond to such questions. Dussel has offered to both theologians and Marxist scholars a refreshing reading of Marx that takes his theological metaphors seriously and opens potentials to recover Marx as an ethical thinker by locating him as a thinker of the exteriority of capitalism." - Joseph Drexler-Dreis (Theological Studies)