As long as he is a Jew, the restricted nature which makes him a Jew is bound to triumph over the human nature which should link him as a man with other men, and will separate him from non-Jews. |
But in Christianity, by contrast, the freedom of the children of God was also freedom from all important worldly interests, from all art and science, etc. |
His very chains helped to deceive him about the harshness of his service. |
The sight of nature fascinates, the family tie has a sweet enchantment and patriotism gives the religious spirit a fiery devotion to the powers that it reveres. |
Thus in Christianity the alienation had become total, and it was this total alienation that was the biggest obstacle to the progress of self-consciousness. |
When religion has reached the point that man makes up its content, then the climax of this opposition has been reached. |