Grace and Grief

Writers on the left have generally looked upon religion from two opposing perspectives. Beginning in the nineteenth century socialists influenced by Marx’s writings tended to regard religion as a species of “false consciousness” that must be extirpated before the working class could become fully aware of its true mission. More recently, in the writings of such Marxist historians as E. P Thompson and the late Herbert Gutman, religion has come to be appreciated as a cultural and spiritual resource that has enabled workers to resist capitalist ideology and to promote the communal values of a “moral economy” based upon provision rather than profit. Yet there remains a third perspective on religion that the socia...