Religion and Dialectics carries to a new level, the critical dialogue between religious belief, dialectical thinking, and socialist practice, which has given birth, among other things, to the theology of liberation and to a new Marxist sociology of religion. On the one hand, Anthony Mansueto argues that, contrary to the claims of Marx and the dialectical materialist tradition, religion is fundamentally a force for human development and social progress and that atheism, far from being integral to the socialist project, in fact helps to legitimate the market order. On the other hand, Mansueto sharpens considerably the dialectical critique of Christianity, asking just what elements of this tradition are conducive to human development and social progress, and which are not.
