The Christian Question

Interview with Roland Boer

Abstract

Roland Boer’s five-volume work, On Marxism and Theology (2007–2013), explores the connections between Marxism and Christianity. In this interview, Boer speaks about some of the pressing issues and knotty questions raised in the series. Beginning with questions of Boer’s intellectual and political formation, of previous work on the Marxism–Christianity link, and contemporary claims about the return of religion, the discussion moves to the treatment of religion by Marx and Engels, by key Second International thinkers, and within Russian Marxism. The interview then turns to the Western Marxist tradition and the importance of Ernst Bloch and Theodor Adorno in Boer’s work. Responding to a final set of questions, Boer reflects on post-secularism and the new atheism, ethics and grace, and the contemporary struggle over the Christian legacy.