The Essence of Christianity

Religion is what distinguishes human beings from all other animals. Human beings have religion because they are conscious in a way other animals are not: “Consciousness in the strictest sense is present only in a being to whom his species, his essential nature, is an object of thought” (13). Because humans are able to contemplate themselves as humans, they are also able to contemplate the nature of things outside themselves. In addition, human beings are distinguished from animals by their ability to exercise the powers of reason, will, and affection. In the exercise of these powers, humans come to recognize themselves: The way in which the human relates to the exterior object of contemplation reflects the way in which the individual relates to their own nature and existence.

In contemplating the things that seem highest and most expansive, humans come to understand the infinite and ascribe certain powers to objective reality. However, humans’ apprehension of these powers only shows that they recognize those powers within themselves. One must conclude that all “feelings” of the infinite and divine are rather the recognition that the infinite and divine exist within the human, not outside the human as an infinite and divine being.