In The Theological Metaphors of Marx, Enrique Dussel provides a groundbreaking combination of Marxology, theology, and ethical theory. Dussel shows that Marx unveils the theology of capitalism in his critique of commodity fetishization. Capitalism constitutes an idolatry of the commodity that undergirds the capitalist expropriation of labor. Dussel examines Marx’s early writings on religion and fetishism and proceeds through what Dussel refers to as the four major drafts of Capital, ultimately situating Marx’s philosophical, economic, ethical, and historical insights in relation to the theological problems of his time. Dussel notes a shift in Marx’s underlying theological schema from a political critique of the state to an economic critique of the commodity fetish as the Devil, or anti-God, of modernity. Marx’s thought, impact, and influence cannot be fully understood without Dussel’s historic reinterpretation of the theological origins and implications of Marx’s critiques of political economy and politics.
Translator’s Note / Camilo PÉrez-Bustillo vii Foreword: On Karl Marx’s Negative Meta-Theology / Eduardo Mendieta xi Preliminary Words / Enrique Dussel xxi Prologue to the English-Language Edition: The Criticism of Theology as the Criticism of Economics / Enrique Dussel xxxiii Part I: The Critique of Fetishism 1 1. Fetishism in the Young Marx, 1835–1857 3 2. Fetishism in the Four Versions of Capital, 1857–1882 24 3. A Critique of Capital’s Fetishistic Character 46 Part II: Theological “Metaphors” 73 4. Marx’s “Metaphorical” Theology 75 5. The Cultic Sacrifice of the Fetish: The Use of Biblical Texts 107 6. Marx’s Atheism and That of the Prophets of Israel 141 Appendix: The Epistemological Decolonization of Theology 159 Notes 169 Index 235
Enrique Dussel (1934–2023) was Emeritus Professor, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, and the author of many books, including Twenty Theses on Politics and Ethics of Liberation: In the Age of Globalization and Exclusion, both also published by Duke University Press.
Camilo PÉrez-Bustillo is coauthor of Human Rights, Hegemony, and Utopia in Latin America.
Eduardo Mendieta is Professor of Philosophy and Latina/o Studies at Pennsylvania State University.
“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)
