On the History of Early Christianity

A work by Engels applying the viewpoint of historical materialism to clarify the religious question. Written between June 19 and July 16, 1894, originally published in Die Neue Zeit, Vol. 1, Nos. 1 and 2, 1894–1895.

From June 19 to July 16, 1894, at the request of Die Neue Zeit, Engels wrote this article, which comprehensively introduced the emergence of Christianity and its essence and systematically elaborated scientific atheism. In this article, Engels first gave a scientific explanation of the historical reasons for the emergence of Christianity and the process of its evolution. On the basis of his analysis of a large number of historical sources, especially the Book of Revelation, he pointed out that the early Christians came mainly from the suffering people belonging to the lowest strata of the people, who, under cruel oppression and exploitation, could only find a way out in the religious sphere. Engels held that Christianity, as a religion that induced people to place their hopes in the world beyond, was inevitably exploited by the ruling class, so that 300 years after its creation this world religion went from being the religion of the slaves and emancipated slaves, of poor people deprived of all rights, from being the religion of the oppressed masses of the slave society to being the official state religion of the exploiters, and to being the instrument of the spiritual subjugation of the working man. Then, Engels compared the early Christianity with the modern workers’ movement and pointed out that they had some notable common points: “Like the latter, Christianity was originally a movement of oppressed people... Both are persecuted and baited, their adherents are despised and made the objects of exclusive laws, the former as enemies of the human race, the latter as enemies of the state, enemies of religion, the family, social order.” Next, Engels expounded on the essential difference between religion and the modern workers’ movement. He pointed out that although both early Christianity and workers’ socialism preached forthcoming salvation from bondage and misery, they were essentially different, “Christianity places this salvation in a life beyond, after death, in heaven; socialism places it in this world, in a transformation of society.”

On the History of Early Christianity is Engels’ research achievement of analyzing early Christianity from the viewpoint of historical materialism, which further enriched the Marxist conception of religion.