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- Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Western Theology: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
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Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Texts'. Each of the volumes in the series focuses upon one particular theologian of note. These volumes are of use to students, seminarians, ministers and other readers interested in the development of theological ideas in the modern and postmodern world. Each volume is a reader of key texts from the theologian highlighted - the text entries are annotated a bit by the editors, and the editor of each volume provides an introduction setting the general stage for context and understanding. Editor Peter Hodgson describes Hegel as being a significant theologian of the spirit for Christianity.
Hegel is generally classified under the heading 'philosophy' rather than theology -- he believed the universe to be rational, and this was important in every aspect of his philosophy. Hegel envisioned his word 'Phenomenology of the Spirit' as just an introduction to a larger system he had in mind -- at over pages, this is some introduction! Unfortunately, much of Hegel's hoped-for publication and writing was never completed.
Many of the texts used here in Hodgson's compilation are newly translated; explorations of Hegel's explicitly theological thought are rare. Much of Hegel's work was not published during his lifetime; much remains collected along lines of interest to philosophers looking at metaphysics and politics Hegelian principles are very strong in later Marxist frameworks. The difference between the philosophy of religion and theology is always a tricky one to navigate; with Hegel, this can be even more confusing, given that his immediate successors rarely agreed amongst themselves about Hegel's original intentions and meanings.
Hodgson's description of Hegel as a theologian of the spirit has much to do with the ontological view of God -- both philosophy and theology get at the truth; God as spirit is a self-revealing and relational being knowable to the world in different ways. He goes beyond subjective spirit and objective spirit towards an absolute, an infinity that contains within itself the finite. Hodgson draws on the large body of Hegel's work in a largely chronological rather than topical arrangement.
Early theological writings pre are followed by Hegel's writings at Jena; the major work 'Phenomenology of the Spirit' was done in Tracts from the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences were done from to ; during this period, other writings and lectures are presented. Each volume in this series also has a selected bibliography section -- this one for Hegel is divided into collected works of Hegel, major single works by Hegel primary sources in English , and works about Hegel's religious thought. The book well indexed.
This is a very good book for scholarship. The translations of the works from the original German is new, preserving some of the language uses masculine pronouns for God while modifying others gender neutral translations for terms such as Mensch, Menschen.
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With regard to Hegel's philosophical framework, translation can be particularly difficult for the term 'being' -- Sein, Dasein, Seiende, and Wesen are variously translated; notes accompany problematic texts. I should refrain from saying anything about who, if anyone might, would be adhering to the wrong religious doctrines in our own times. Though the legacy of Hegel after his death is controversial, this book allows us to consider him "a philosopher of religion" p.
With his knowledge of philosophy, Hegel was able to break religion down into four stages, in which the Greek religion based on art was considered the second stage. Political superpower ideology seems to follow this as the Roman stage followed the height of Greek civilization. At the time of this dismembering for which there was no reconciliation, and of this universality that had no life--in this boredom of the world when peace was lord over all the civilized earth--the original identity had to rise out of its rent condition, it had to lift its eternal force above its grief and come again to its own intuition.
Otherwise the human race must have perished inwardly. I was most impressed by the connection between humor and legal oppression that arises in this situation, as if Hegel was also aware that comedy and law play to the same audience. It knows that such validity is rather a complete loss; it is itself the conscious loss of itself and the divestment of knowledge from itself. We see that this unhappy consciousness constitutes the counterpart and completion of the comic consciousness that is perfectly happy in itself. Into the latter all divine being returns--the complete divestment of substance.
The unhappy consciousness, on the other hand, is conversely the tragic fate of the certainty of self that aims to be in and for itself. In fact, for Hegel, being is already pertained to concept and the transition from concept to being occurs in the word through action and movement According to him, every concept has contradictions in itself, and this is not failure as Kant saw it in antinomies Rather, we can arrive at a scientific metaphysical knowledge of being as well as concept by observing the contradictions and their necessary inner movement.
Hegel argues that logical examination of concept tells us that any concept necessarily contains its opposites within it, and they pass over to the opposites producing the truth of the opposite which is the unity of the two. This is the process of dialectics, and this process of passing over is a dynamic movement. As a pure abstraction, the concept of being negates being completely, and thus becomes nothingness.
The concept of nothing is implicit in the concept of being, and the being negates itself and passes over to nothing, and brings the truth of the becoming, which is the unity of being and nothing. As the two opposites of being and nothing exist in the concept of being, there is a fluctuation on both sides. This fluctuation of the concept is stabilized in determinate beings where the limits are set and the universal amalgam of the two becomes particular and determinate. Thus the dialectics entails new concepts, and they are connected by the internal necessity which leads us to the complete scientific system of ideas.
Indeed, our thinking or Reason sees its own inward movement not only conceptually but also really in the world history. God is Spirit immanent in the world and comes to self-consciousness in human Reason. Our idea of God reveals the being of God, and in fact Reason itself becomes God. The spiritual consciousness attains the universality in thought and realizes that the worldly is indeed the divine.
Although the world is not wholly other than God, but intrinsically one with God, humanity elevated itself to the level of God, eating the forbidden fruit. What the story of the Fall means is not that this event actually happened. Acquiring this cognition, humanity now knows the good and the evil. If anguish arises from the relation to God, but, of course, this needs to be understood in a special way, unhappiness comes from the dissatisfaction with the external world Both anguish and unhappiness call for the need for reconciliation.
Hegel asserts that we cannot speak of God with attributes since those determinate predications often create unsolvable conflicts and contradictions with one another. According to Hegel, God, in his absolute idea, is essentially triune. He states that spirit differentiates itself and begets Son. Yet Son is not utterly other than God, but he is God.
Holy Spirit is love, which is the whole activity of this differentiation and reconciliation. Thus God is eternally in and for itself Trinity In the Phenomenology of Spirit , Hegel traces the historical development of forms of consciousness.
Hegel uses a similar theme, but instead of focusing on an individual, he envisions this process taking place throughout history involving mankind as a whole. The ultimate state that is reached is called Absolute Knowledge. Hegel believed he had acquired this knowledge which enabled him to discern the pattern of the historical development of consciousness.
In his system of logic, the dialectic is seen to generate the categories of experience such as Being, Essence, and Concept. But Grace informs the individual that his nature is in reality not alien to the divine nature. Once this is grasped, the individual can be reconciled to God. Hegel tries to treat the problem of evil by giving philosophical support to the idea that history is the process of the development of Geist which is moving toward a good result. In his discussion of logic, both in the Science of Logic and in the Encyclopedia , Hegel offers his greatest rejection of Kantian thought.
He firmly rejects the supposition that concepts and categories are static, and that knowledge is constructed by their interrelation and application. To view the categories and individual concepts as static entities is to deny the very nature of thought itself. At every point, thought overturns the bases from which it proceeds, for each basis is itself conflictual and incomplete Hegel , xiii.
For example, one may posit A. In the very positing of A , there emerges the thought of that which is not-A. That is, A, as a concept or category, contains in itself the very concept of its negation, an element of conflict. Logically, therefore, one proceeds from A to not-A. Thus thought, specifically, dialectical thought, contains in it the element of negation.
To the Understanding, which seeks to categorize and separate, dialectic appears as solely negative and destructive Hegel , xvi. Yet it also contains the element of inclusion, for in A , and not-A , there exists implicitly its opposite. Logical thought, therefore, is not merely the negation of static categories, of immediate things, but a making explicit what is implicit in each of its elements.
Thus, not-A , by its very difference, aids the expression of A. The purpose of dialectic, of the transition from immediacy the given category or concept to a mediate stage wherein the immediate is negated in the assertion of its opposite , is a full, harmonious, concrete and synthetic expression of that which was contained abstractly in immediacy. This third stage is the stage of Reason, wherein the Notion - the truth present in thesis and antithesis, though only particularly and imperfectly - is most fully articulated. This Notion is present, though only implicitly in the first stage, the thesis.
Through negation and differentiation, an antithesis is posited. In Reason, thesis and antithesis are harmonized in a synthesis which is a fuller expression of the Notion. Thus the thought process has a directionality: Through the narrowing of the variations and their negation, there arises precision in definition. Furthermore, the Notion is concrete, as it is ever that which drives forward the logical process and which is also its concrete result.
Each Notion in itself, however, is not an isolated and static thing. Rather, every notion is necessarily related to all other Notions. Thought seeks to articulate this fundamental connection, and in so doing, arrives at the Idea. As each notion is itself the synthesis of competing and apparently contradictory instances of its expression, so the Idea is the ultimate synthesis of the "competing absolutes" which are the Notions themselves. Thus, for Hegel, logic is necessarily a dynamic. To affirm static categories and ideas is artificially cut short the inherent process, and thereby sever the means by which one arrives at truth , or, more appropriately, the means by which truth finds its fullest expression and apprehension.
Each finite and static expression of the truth is, of itself, necessarily true. But, as static, it falls short of final expression. It holds within itself its negation, its relative falsehood. The goal of logic, therefore, is not the construction of truths from static Notions, but rather the explicit expression of the truth implicit in them, and the synthesis of these notions into the Idea. Flux and dynamism are therefore not only attributes of the world of appearances, but the nature of that which orders those appearances Hegel , xvi.
From his classical studies, Hegel had developed a deep appreciation for ancient Greek culture. After Hegel, scholarly interest in ancient history burgeoned in Germany. He saw within it an integrated, harmonious society whose citizens enjoyed self-determination. This sharply contrasted with his own culture which was marked by individual alienation and political discord.
G. W. F. Hegel: Theologian of the Spirit
To differentiate between these two types of culture, Hegel used the terms understanding Verstand and reason Vernunft. As Hegel saw it, his contemporary culture sought understanding which is theoretical and lifeless, an external authority, while the Greeks used reason to gain knowledge which enabled individuals to direct their own lives.
At seminary, Hegel was exposed to rational theology against which he reacted in his posthumously published, Early Theological Writings. For Hegel, religion has a crucial influence on the character of a culture. When he examined the Christian church of his time, he found it to have a negative effect. Christianity seemed to be little more than a collection of creeds, rituals and dogmas.
Using his terms, it was a religion of understanding, not reason. As Hegel reflected on the Greeks, he conceived of an ideal religion which taught that the good life could be achieved through wisdom and virtue, a religion that could be embraced from the heart. Such a religion touches the spirit of people and Hegel believed that culture could be improved if it had a new understanding of religion along such lines. At this point in the development of his thought, Hegel had come to consider religion to be essentially and primarily internal, a matter of the heart.
In addition, religion must not only accommodate the needs of the individual, but also those of the entire population. Thus Hegel identifies community as an important dimension of religion. These considerations gave rise to requirements that any adequate religion must satisfy. Hegel recommended that the doctrines of religion be grounded on universal reason, not just authority; that they be understandable by the general public; and that they not contain moral demands which are beyond their reach. In other words, religion should not be a repressive burden.
Hegel considered Kant to be his principle disputant and he diverged from Kant in a number of ways. For example, Kant held that the categories of thought that structure our experience are static, but Hegel considered them to be dynamic, to have developed over history according to the dialectic process. In his Critique , Kant concluded that knowledge of the thing-in-itself was impossible since the objects of experience are modified by our cognition of them. Hegel considered this to be an undesirable type of scepticism and wanted to overcome it. But Hegel reasoned that if we have no conception of the thing-in-itself, then it lacks content and can have no meaning.
Hence, the putative thing-in-itself is not, in principle, something about which we can have knowledge. Hegel can still accept a theory of truth in which thought corresponds to the object, but the object corresponded to is not the thing-in-itself, but rather the thing that is thought. So knowledge for Hegel is modeled as a kind of reflective self-consciousness, a thinking about thought.
Hegel moves to a pure idealism: In order to detect the limits of reason, you must be on higher ground, but where is such a ground? There can be no transcendent vantage point from which can we judge human reason because reason itself is our only means of judgment. But in reply, Kant could say that some limits, such as a horizon, can be detected from an immanent vantage point, so the possibility of determining limits depends on the type of limit in question.
On the title page of the first edition of the Phenomenology , Hegel introduces the volume as "Science of the Experience of Consciousness" and later terms it his "voyage of discovery. The Phenomenology , wherein Hegel articulates the "science of philosophy," was to be the first part of a system which would be completed in the Encyclopedia , wherein the philosophical sciences as a whole - those of nature, logic and mind - are examined. Nevertheless, Hegel writes with some notion of the full system in mind.
His argument is often circular, and one has to have to have some conception of the scope and end of the project in order to understand its course. Further, it is necessary to have a sense of the intellectual context of the work. Hegel seeks to overcome the limits of reason set by Kant, and to arrive at Absolute Truth.
His system is a concerted effort to "intellectualize Romanticism," affirming the ultimate unity of the world, and respecting its fundamental vitality and beauty, and to "spiritualize the Enlightenment," affirming the primacy of reason while restoring its dynamic element cf. With regards to religion, Hegel was also responding to the popularity of Schleiermacher, whose notion of dependency as the foundation for religion he rebuked with the comment that if a sense of absolute dependency were indeed the font of religion, then the dog would be the most religious of creatures.
With Schelling, Hegel affirmed that above the diversity of experience and the competing antinomies of reason, there was a higher unity. In seeking to find a basis for a more synthetic unity of the variety of experience, Hegel focuses upon human consciousness. The human mind is confronted with a variety of experiences, which it manages to analyze and classify. Yet the human mind is also capable of synthesizing such variety into a persisting unity, the unity of its consciousness. By examination of the human consciousness, one can arrive at a vision of an ultimate unity of experience which is fundamentally rational, as it is necessarily based in the human thought process.
He outlines the "historical" development of human consciousness, arising from a primordial insensibility, to a recognition of self as subject amidst a world of alien objects. The human mind seeks to take in this world of variety, to categorize and codify. In so doing, it transforms the world mentally. The mind also effects physical transformation of the world, through the development of culture and civilization. From this stage of differentiation, it moves into a stage of increasing recognition of an identity of the subject with the object.
It should here be noted that in his discussion, Hegel treats not only the individual mind, but the human mind as manifest on a societal level. Consciousness, in its collective form, also passes through such a recognition. Indeed, each individual may come to a realization that the society, or people Volk into which he or she is born, is not an alien and external force, but rather the manifestation of human mind and spirit of which the individual is a particular manifestation.
The historical and societal context and the individual influence one another, and share a common spirit. There is, as ever, and underlying unity. The workings of the human spirit are not isolated operations, but rather the finite manifestations of a universal process. The differentiation and integration which take place in human reason bespeaks a broader force at work in and through the world.
By examination of human consciousness and human reason, one gains access to that force.
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This force, as understood by Hegel, is Geist , Spirit. While there is much debate over the appropriate translation of this multifaceted German term, for the purposes of this paper I have elected to use the term Spirit as opposed to mind, for while Geist is eminently rational, it contains within itself, as a process, that which transcends reason.
Spirit is at work in the world, in natural history and in the history of social groups, as a process of emerging determinate self-consciousness and integration. It proceeds from an ideal, totally abstract state, a state of immediacy without self-consciousness, through a realization of difference, to a self-conscious unity, wherein difference is not obliterated, but harmonized in a greater rationality. Such conflict, however, is subsumed into the abiding unity of the divine life. In understanding the positivity of religion there are two things to take into consideration, first how one can verify the spiritual, and second, how external features display religion.
According to Hegel verifying the spiritual cannot be done externally, but occurs when spirit bears witness to spirit, "The spiritual as such cannot be directly verified by the unspiritual, the sensible" Hegel , For example, in the case of miracles, there is no need to investigate their truth because it cannot be obtained in the finite sphere in which miracles occur. The spiritual for Hegel can only be witnessed through itself. Since miracles occur externally there is no criteria in them for truth. Hegel asserts that there is no need to either verify or attack miracles because they are not the way to know truth.
The spirit is what bears witness to the truth Hegel , God made himself known in consciousness, and through this reconciliation can then occur, "God made himself known not in just an external history, but in concsiousness" Hegel , Even thought there is one universal spirit there are two aspects to it, the human spirit and the universal spirit. The two spirits cannot be separated from each other because the universal spirit works in the human spirit, "however, the latter is not an autonomous singular activity but the inner working of the holy and universal spirit" Hegel , Everything stems from the spirit, the spirit is the foundation, and it is through this foundation then that reasoning and understanding can occur.
According to Hegel philosophy embodies spirit because it has insights into its own truths. Truth is innate in an individuals spirit, and so the universal spirit awakens that spirit in an individual. Hegel points out that truth is not only revealed through philosophy, but also in a second handed nature through "authority and testimonies" Hegel , God is the universal idea and the foundation for all thought.
God creates a finite world which he separates himself from, and at the same time plans to be reconciled with, which is the particularity. The process of reconciliation occurs in such a way that the spirit returns to itself which is singularity Hegel , God makes himself present in nature, therefore the eternal spirit recognizes God in this finite existence. There must be both a finite spirit and an infinite spirit so that reconciliation can take place: God comes in the form of finite so that the finite spirit can know the infinite.
Spirit is both finite and infinite, and that this distinction must be made between the infinite spirit and the spirit of essence:. Consciousness is precisely the mode of finitude of spirit: One thing is on one side, another on the other side; something has its limit or end in something else, and this way they are limited. Finite is this distinguishing which in spirit takes the form of consciousness Hegel , The finite and the infinite have to come work together for truth to be revealed.
The process by which the concept of religion becomes absolute spirit occurs in different moments of the concept. Religion begins as a concept, and then moves to determinateness, and from there to absolute religion,. The universal is the seed of all truth. Self-determination is the finite state. If reconciliation is to occur the finite has to acknowledge this separation, and then it is possible for it to return.
According to Hegel one can never know God, but only know our relation to Him. And it is through consciousness that this knowledge of God occurs at all. Hegel says that our spirit bears witness only by its connection to the universal spirit.
Theologian of the Spirit (Making of Modern Theology)
Absolute spirit is found in consciousness, "our conviction about it rests on the assent of our own spirit, on our consciousness, that spirit finds this content within itself" Hegel , In consciousness we find knowledge which is God, therefore consciousness and spirit cannot be separated.
For Hegel philosophy makes religion the object of its conversation. The impetus for knowledge can be external, but the way one knows is only by the spirit which is manifested in consciousness. Spirit manifests what is already present in both philosophy and religion. This same spirit of consciousness that holds together philosophy is in Religion:. Philosophy actually occurs in religion, and in this sense is said to be above religion. In Christianity God is revealed to the world through history - so we have come to the level of consciousness. Through the Christian religion Hegel expressed his theology by suggesting that what has been revealed in History Jesus now needs to be conceived in thought Livingston, This is the system being displayed in Christianity.
The incarnation and death represents for Hegel the finitude and the resurrection of Christ represents the return of spirit to itself. Therefore, Christianity becomes the manifestation of the spirit in history. This statement brings forth the fundamental relationship that Hegel posited between philosophy and religion.
For Hegel philosophy elucidates religion. That is philosophy penetrates religious representations in order to bring forth their true content. According to Peter C.
Hodgson, Hegel lectured on the topic of philosophy of religion in the years , , , and at Berlin Hodgson, ed. Hegel made modifications to the Lectures as he saw the need to respond to the philosophical and theological climate of his day. Schleiermacher, and later, with Pietism Merklinger Instead, Williams argues, Hegel sought to bridge the post-Enlightenment gap between philosophy and theology by transforming religious representations Vorstellungen into philosophical concepts Begriffe.
For Hegel religion describes a dynamic thought process, which embraces the absolute idea and humanity. This relation has two poles, namely God as absolute idea, and humanity. This relationship is progressive and can be accounted for from each of its poles Hegel, p.
For Hegel the progressive unfolding of the absolute idea has three moments. First the absolute idea is wholly enclosed within itself Hegel, p. The absolute idea has no internal differentiation. God is reconciled when the initial distinction brought about by consciousness is overcome. Furthermore, although the internal life of God as absolute idea can be organized for analytical purposes into these three moments, Hegel sustains that the absolute idea is this dynamic process for eternity Hegel, p. On the other side of the equation, on the side of humanity, religion reflects a historic progression through three stages.
The first one is the moment of religion in general. Here human consciousness is related to God as absolute idea. The concept of religion contains all its possible determinations. However, the content of the concept is not yet developed. The nature of religion is in the concept as potentiality but has not yet come out into existence Hegel, p. The second moment is the moment of determinate religion. Here human consciousness is related to God in its self-consciousness. God as absolute idea enters the historic realm, the realm of existence and is confronted with the finite, with its negation.
Determinate forms of religion are already part of the content of the general concept of religion. However, determinate religion does not yet embody the realization of the concept of religion. Finally, the last stage of the progression is consummate religion. Hegel identifies Christianity as the consummate or absolute religion.
Here humanity is related to the absolute idea in its own reconciliation. According to Hegel, humanity suffers the anguish caused by the cleavage of self-consciousness. Hence, humanity is in dire need of reconciliation. Likewise, humanity can only be reconciled when it knows itself in its realization. Because humanity does not know how it ought to be it exists in a state of untruth Hegel, p. It is in freedom that humanity is able to pursue the contradiction of self-consciousness to its limit, at the point where it learns itself in need of reconciliation Hegel, p.
The fundamental act of freedom is thought Hegel, p. Precisely because of its inner cleavage from God, from itself, and from nature, humanity is driven by freedom to know the truth Hegel, p. Thus, reconciliation is finally achieved when God, absolute reason, becomes flesh.
G. W. F. Hegel: Theologian of the Spirit | Fortress Press
At that point humanity, by an act of sensible cognition overcomes its contradiction. The consummate religion or the absolute religion is hence the revealed religion where spirit is self-manifesting. According to Hegel, religious representations are images that give expression to an inner meaning Hegel, p.
Religious representations may give expression to religious feelings and they may as well evoke such feelings. Hegel stresses the point that religion is grounded in thought, that religious knowledge is above feeling. Yet, he is also arguing that religious knowledge finds expression in representations that ought to be interpreted in light of the concept of God as absolute idea. In a way Hegel is positing the speculative concept of God as a hermeneutical principle able to crack open religious representations found in the form of texts, dogma, and even in history Hegel, p.
All religious representations, in particular those of the absolute religion give expression to the dynamic thought process of spirit by means of which it moves from its self-enclosedness through its self-limiting and up to its self-reconciliation. This is no other than the trajectory of human consciousness towards its absolute realization.
By means of this method, Hegel is able to establish the linkage between philosophy and religion, or theology.