The German materialist and atheist anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach would signal a new turn in materialism through his book, The Essence of Christianity (1841), which provided a humanist account of religion as <answer>the outward projection of man's inward nature</answer>. Feuerbach's materialism would later heavily influence Karl Marx.
What did the author of "The Essence of Christianity" consider religion to be?
the outward projection of man's inward nature