The German materialist and atheist anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach would signal a new turn in materialism through his book which presented a humanist account of religion as the outward projection of man 's inward nature .
His book is the Essence of Christianity ( 1841 ) .
The German materialist and atheist anthropologist Ludwig Feuerbach would signal a new turn in materialism through his book , The Essence of Christianity ( 1841 ) , which presented a humanist account of religion as the outward projection of man 's inward nature .