): indiana
University
Press 1984, p.
Hegels Philosophy of the Historical Religions
(the particular) lies outside the posited unity, it is a content that lacks divinity--it is the egoism of the individual, seeking satisfac- tion apart from god, in particular interests.
it lies outside reason; lordship stands cold and egoistic on one side, and the individual equally on the other.
" (l2 24, 50-501/399-400)
the discussion of the configuration of this god (imperial authority) and the gods in the second subsection (b) and the cultus in the third (c) in these 1824 lectures is taken from the Manuscript but condensed. emphasis is laid on the seriousness and functionality of the Roman reli- gion, in contrast to the cheerfulness and serenity of the greek religion, which was essentially free. the two necessities it serves are world domin- ion and the exigencies of everyday life. "thus everyday requirements, the arts of understanding, were viewed as something essential, as gods, even though they are concerned with wholly subordinate matters, relating to everyday life, in which the only religious aspect is the formal one that these purposes have now achieved the empty shape of essentialities. " (l2 24, 504/403) again, Hegel mentions many of these gods in the texts, and wonders: "(i)t is hard for us to grasp how such things can be vener- ated as gods. the content can be anything, provided it appears essential for the common needs; it can be any situation, which is then compre- hended without phantasy and on its own, all idealization and all living phantasy being excluded. it is consistent with this prosaic situation in regard to power that the Romans later came to worship their emperors too as gods. " new gods are introduced whenever particular needs arise, be it relief from the plague, be it public sanitation, victory in battle, etc. in a word: Roman worship is a "theogony in progress. " (l2 24, 509/407) moreover, "(w)e see the Romans conquering magna graecia, sicily, plun- dering and destroying the temples and carrying off whole shiploads of gods to Rome. in Rome there is toleration: the syrian, egyptian, Jewish, christian, greek, persian religions, mithraism--the Romans seize on all of them, and precisely in this fusion what gives each religion its shape, the particularity that pertains to art and phantasy, is lost. " (l2 24, 507/405) in fact, "Rome becomes the pantheon in which all the gods of all the peoples are set up side by side, so that they extinguish one another; and they are all subject to the one Jupiter capitolinus, the one necessity, or to the one Rome and her fortuna. " (l2 24, 506/404)
in discussing the cultus, Hegel first mentions the religious disposition of the believer, which amounts according to him to a political disposition: "the religious disposition as such means in Rome that lordship or the universal in general is owed to the gods; it belongs to fortuna, to Juno or
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Jupiter, to a power that is in and for itself, and which is recognized and venerated in Rome's dominion. " (l2 24, 507-508/405) on the subjective side the religious pathos here is what is called Roman virtue. subjective consciousness has only value, insofar as it concentrates itself on the sal- vation of the state. the second aspect of this disposition is that human beings, as concrete, have many other purposes, interests, wishes. imagi- nation equates real worldly purposes with the infinite. therefore, "(t)his religion is consequently one of dependence; the prevailing feeling is one of dependence, of unfreedom. " (l2 24, 508/406) according to Hegel, this dependence leads to superstition, but he does not go that far as to con- tend, as he did in the Manuscript, that this feeling of dependence ulti- mately leads to the veneration of evil and the worship of the devil. this indirect charge to schleiermacher he made then, obviously could not be sustained. (l2 24, 508/406, footnote 723) the second moment of the cul- tus proper is characterized by the fact that the gods are recognized and reverenced in regard to the purposes that the believers want to achieve. "the Romans worship the gods because they need them, in other words primarily at times of stress and anxiety, i. e. , because they wish to have their own narrow interests maintained as essential. " (l2 24, 509/407) lordship of power exists only as the successful accomplishment of par- ticular purposes. Hegel closes this description, again, with an analysis of the Roman spectacles, games and festivals. in fact, nothing more than a process of death devoid of spirit, a murder game, willed by irrational caprice, serving only to give the spectators something to feast their eyes on. "this is a necessity that is mere caprice, murder without content, or having only itself for content. this and the envisagement of fate are the acme of experience, to die imperturbably through an empty caprice, not from natural causes, nor through the external force of circumstances, nor in consequence of offending against something ethical. thus dying is the only virtue a Roman patrician could exercise, and it is one he has in com- mon with slaves and with condemned criminals. " (l2 24, 510/408)
after having briefly mentioned, again, the role of the emperor ("an individual, whose wilful caprice is inevitably devoid of right and of ethi- cal life"), (l2 24, 511/408) Hegel concludes his treatment of the Roman religion, as a transition to the next stage, rather differently from the Manuscript. What we find in the Roman religion is an infinitization and universalization of the finite; the finite subject as a matter of fact. "this infinitude of subjectivity as such can be expressed more precisely as per- sonality, the category into which a human being enters as a person in the realm of right. as a person a human being owns property, has the right
hegel and the roman religion 173
of possession. it is the person who enjoys recognition as such, but only the abstract person, the abstractly juridical person capable of ownership. it goes no further than that, and i count as infinite in this sphere only; as the infinite reference of myself to myself, i am the absolute, self-sustaining atom. " (l2 24, 511-512/409)26 in Roman religion there appears thus for the first time an infinitude of subjectivity, but only as empirical, immediate, untrue, which cannot be maintained. in this sense, there is still after all place for the Roman religion in this section B. The Religions of Spiritual Individuality, albeit a very abstract and limited one. in the next stage, infi- nite subjectivity will be taken in a much higher sense, as pertaining to the idea, to absolute spirit as it mediates itself with itself. this is the true infinite as opposed to the spurious deification of the finite ego, the most blatant form of which is worship of the Roman emperors. "the stage has been set for the confrontation between christ and caesar. "27
The Lectures of 1827
Hegel's treatment of the Roman religion in the 1827 lectures differed not much from that of 1824, both in content and length. the only remark- able differences are the transitions. now that the religion of expediency has regained an independent status again (as section c. ), just behind B. The Elevation of the Spiritual above the Natural, as the religion in which purposiveness is not yet spiritual. as a matter of fact, what is still lack- ing here, is a divine purposiveness that is holy, universal, and concrete at once. By contrasting it with the greek and Jewish religion, Hegel once again attempts to find a proper place for the Roman religion in his phe- nomenology (or typology) of determinate religions. in greek religion, con- creteness in ethical content of their gods was achieved, but what was still lacking was holiness. moreover, universality was sacrificed to multiplicity. on the other hand, the god of israel was one and holy, but was asserted as the god of a particular people, whose laws were abstract. Roman reli- gion, according to Hegel, was a relative totality, in which the greek and Jewish religions "indeed loose their one-sidedness, but both of the prin- ciples perish conjointly, each by means of assimilation into its opposite; still, it is this very homogeneity that interests us in them. the religion of
26 note that this concept of the person, as bearer of rights such as property, is treated extensively by Hegel in his Philosophy of Right (1821). the entire first section of it, Abstract Right, deals with it. the Roman origin of this concept is convincingly accounted for.
27 Hodgson, 'editorial introduction', l2, 56.
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beauty loses the concrete individuality of its gods and hence also their ethical, independent content; the gods are reduced to means. the religion of sublimity loses the orientation toward the one, the eternal, the tran- scendent. " (l2 27, 688/580) due to its external, empirical, finite, utilitarian character, the universal purposiveness of the Romans is flawed. "Religion, when reduced to a means to extrinsic, worldly ends, is finally destroyed. Roman religion is the religion to end all religion--a fact symbolized by collecting the gods of all the religions into a single pantheon, where they are subjected to Jupiter capitolinus and destroy one another, a veritable Go? tterda? mmerung. "28
the conclusion of this section is very elliptical, and therefore the tran- sition to the next and final stage of religion, christian religion, is very difficult to reconstruct. it reads that when the moments which subsist in contradiction and in a spiritless way are unified in Roman religion, then we shall have advanced to the "next and final stage of religion. " (l2 27, 699/591) presumably these very moments are the authentic moments of the religions of beauty and sublimity, as well as the heritage of the reli- gions of nature--moments that have been "homogenized" in Roman reli- gion, but not truly unified. 29 it is not for determinate religion to truly unify preceding moments.
The Lectures of 1831
the text of 1831 on the Roman religion is very short and fragmented, and consists mainly of excerpts made by david friedrich strauss. it need not be summarized again, because the content is virtually identical with that of the preceding lectures, apart from some transitional nuances that will be discussed here.
Hegel makes the transition from greek to Roman religion as follows. 30 free spirit must come to recognize that "its value no longer consists in its being merely the free spirit of the greeks, of the citizens of this or that state, but humanity must be known freely as humanity, and god is the god of all humanity, the comprehensive, universal spirit. "31 in fact, this happens when one of the limited folk-spirits "raises itself to become the fate of all the others. " it does so through pretensions of universality,
28 idem, p. 72. 29 idem, p. 72. 30 idem, p. 86. 31 idem.
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through the politics of world mastery and of oppression, so that other peoples would become conscious of the weakness of their gods. "the fate that overthrew the world of the greeks was the world of Rome. "
However, this fate was an advance, as a matter of fact. the way by which spirit was cleansed of its finitude was by way of the absolutization of finitude, with the ensuing result that the whole world of finite gods finally collapsed itself. "the Romans orchestrated this Go? tterda? mmerung, and this was their service to the history of religion. "32 much that was good perished as well in this collapse--the happiness, serenity, and beauty of greek religion, and the transcendence, sublimity, and holiness of the god of israel, the vitality and diversity of the religions of other peoples as well. in sum: "(t)his brought to naught the serene happiness of the previous religion. this abstract power [of the emperor] brought into the world the monstrous unhappiness and anguish that were to be the birthpangs for the religion of truth. it was by renouncing satisfaction in this world that the soil for the true religion was prepared. and in the fullness of time, i. e. , when this state of despair had been brought about in the spirit of the world, god sent his son. " (l2 31, 760/642)
conclusion
it is clear from our investigation of Hegel's view on the Roman religion that this religion plays a pivotal role in the transition from the determi- nate religions to the consummate, revelatory religion: christianity. Hegel's idea that all religions preceding christianity in one way or another paved the way to it, more or less culminates in his treatment of the Roman reli- gion. Hegel's contribution to the subsequent scholarly image of Roman religion is remarkably substantial, especially his characterization of it as a religion in which fulfilment of an aim plays a decisive role. 33 His decon- struction of the commonly held view, embodied in the work of moritz,34 according to which greek and Roman religion are more or less alike, is of special significance. it enabled him to take a fresh and unprejudiced look at this religion, which resulted in a relatively new view on it, with definitively lasting importance. now in this conclusion, we shall draw a few modest inferences from Hegel's analysis, also for our present age.
32 idem.
33 see the authors mentioned in footnote 2: especially mensching and latte. 34 see footnote 21 and the corresponding text, above ? 3, introduction.
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as we have seen, the religion of the Romans is all about everyday human affairs: personal and political success, well-being, prosperity etc. gods are worshipped (and sometimes even invented) for very concrete, subjective purposes. moreover, these purposes are of a personal, maybe even selfish nature. not only is private egoism served, but public, collective egoism as well. no wonder the Roman emperor could in due course attain god-like characteristics. the ensuing tendency to superstition and finally fear and anguish gives much food for thought.
Hegel shows himself here as a master in the social psychology of reli- gion. He shows what happens in the mind of the believer when the idea of homo mensura (man is the measure of all things, attributed to protagoras) is in fact elevated to a universal, divine standard. this happens when per- sonal aims and wishes become divinised as objects of worship. as we have read in the Ms. , the result is "a crumbling away into momentary enjoy- ment and pleasure, a human animal kingdom from which all higher ele- ments have been abstracted. "35 in a way, Hegel can be read here as a critic of modern Western culture, in which--due to mass secularization-- 'all higher elements have been abstracted' in large areas of the population. categories that can be attained already in this world are nowadays gener- ally regarded as sacrosanct, like individual happiness, well-being, welfare, security, etcetera. 36 and when these are somehow threatened or jeopar- dized, either because of immigration, globalization or due to economic crisis, it can come as no surprise that fear becomes an important factor in people's minds and souls. With Hegel in mind, when he speaks on the Roman religion, we can only hope that this monstrous unhappiness and anguish will in the end prove to be the birthpangs of the religion of truth. What religion that is, remains to be seen.
? 35 Hegel, op. cit. p. 229.
36 charles taylor, A Secular Age, cambridge mass. , the Belknap press of Harvard uni- versity press: 2007, passim.
Hegel on CatHoliC Religion Peter Jonkers
1. introduction
among the vast number of books and articles about Hegel's philosophy of religion the overall majority of them focuses on his interpretation of Christianity in general, while relatively few discuss his view of Protestant- ism and even less his ideas about Catholic religion. given the importance Hegel attributes to Christianity in comparison to all other religions, and his relative lack of interest for the confessional differences within Christi- anity, this is no wonder. in Hegel's view Christianity is 'the consummate religion', that is the religion in which the abstract concept of religion has fully developed all its implications, not only as such, but also for human consciousness. 1 Since Hegel determines the essence of religion as the self- consciousness of the absolute spirit, it is only in Christianity, especially in its spiritual nature, that this spirit has become fully conscious of itself. Because of this, Christianity is also the revelatory religion: after having passed through its successive shapes, which form the history of religions, the absolute idea has revealed its essence in the spiritual nature of the Christian god, thus reaching a shape that is perfectly identical with its essence. 'Relevatoriness' and self-communication are essentially what god is, viz. spirit: the spirit moves away from immediacy toward the knowledge of what spirit is in and for itself, toward a self-consciousness that is both divine and human. the Christian doctrine of god's incarnation exempli- fies the double movement of the spirit: the divine becoming human (the substance empties itself of itself and becomes self-consciousness), and the human becomes divine (the self-consciousness empties itself of itself and makes itself into a universal self ). the essence of this doctrine is formu- lated in the creed, in particular in the articles on the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. Finally, Christianity is a religion of truth and freedom, since truth, being identical with the spirit, is its content, and since it is the
1 See the contribution of lu De Vos to this volume. Furthermore, i want to thank him for some valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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religion in which all human beings are recognised to be free, not just one (as in the ancient oriental monarchies) or some (as in greek and Roman societies). 2
Because of its consummate, revelatory, true, and free character Chris- tian religion is, in Hegel's view, clearly superior to all other historical reli- gions. While many of them continue to be practised throughout the world, the spirit seems to have left them behind, implying that they only exist in a fossilized form. only Christianity lives, because it is the only religion in which the absolute spirit has become fully manifest, and is conscious of its own revelatory essence. However, (Christian) religion is not the final shape of the absolute idea. its representational form (including all kinds of sensuous elements, such as stories, tradition, rituals, images etc. ) is ill- adapted to its content, the absolute idea. therefore, it is philosophy's task to give a conceptual justification and criticism of the representational character of (Christian) religion. this will lead to a "flight of religion into philosophy", which means that philosophy is to realize the spiritual con- tent of the religious community in its proper, i. e. conceptual form. 3
Within Christian religion, Hegel distinguishes between Roman Catho- lic, lutheran, and Calvinist (or, as he calls it, reformed) confessions. in his times, these three were the dominant religions in Western europe, and also the ones that were privileged in the german federation. 4 as said above, he does not seem to be particularly interested in doctrinal aspects of these inner-Christian distinctions,5 as he considered them of minor importance in comparison to the difference between Christianity as such and the other historical religions. He was profoundly influenced by the spirit of the enlightenment, in particular by lessing's Nathan the Wise, whose ideas about the inherent unity of all religions and about religious tolerance made a strong impression on him ever since his youth. never- theless, Hegel has all his life paid considerable attention to Catholic reli- gion in his writings and lectures, starting as early as his Diary (1775) till his last lectures on Philosophy of History (1830/31) and Philosophy of Religion (1831). His main points of interest relate to Catholicism's sensuous and
2 For an overview of the essential characteristics of Christianity: P. Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology. A Reading of the lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, oxford: oxford University Press 2005, pp. 85 ff, and W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch. Leben-Werk-Schule, Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler Verlag 2003, pp. 467 ff.
3 W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, pp. 474 ff.
4 W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, p. 396.
5 Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology, pp. 193; 260.
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authoritarian character, its place in the history of the world spirit, and its attitude towards the modern state.
generally speaking, Hegel considered himself as an orthodox lutheran professor of philosophy, although he only rarely made a stand for this in public. this explains to some extent his unfavourable personal attitude against Catholicism, to which he gave vent especially in his letters and personal contacts. as his friend, the Frenchman Cousin, remembered in 1866: "as soon as it was question of Catholicism mr. Hegel forgot our com- mon principles [about the indispensability of religion and the possibil- ity of a conciliation between religion and philosophy, PJ] and abandoned himself to flights rather unworthy of a philosopher," overtly showing his contempt for some typically Catholic rituals and practises, which he con- sidered as superstitious. 6
in sum, against the background of Hegel's appreciation of Christian- ity as such, regardless of its internal confessional differences, it is strik- ing that he expresses himself from time to time in a clearly depreciative way about Catholicism. as i will show below more in detail his position with regard to Roman Catholicism was fuelled by a mix of personal and political elements. therefore, i shall start with analyzing two important biographical and political facts that influenced Hegel's view of this matter. as will become apparent below, they are important to understand Hegel's philosophy of religion.
2. Personal and Political elements
the duchy of Wu? rttemberg, in which both Stuttgart, where Hegel was born, and tu? bingen, where he studied theology, lie, was a Protestant enclave in the dominantly Catholic south of germany. Hegel grew up in a family that was well aware of its strong Protestant roots, with a keen awareness of the existence of religious differences and with the convic- tion of their momentous consequences: according to a story, which was told in his family, his ancestors had emigrated from Catholic austria in the 16th Century, where the Protestants had been required to convert to Catholicism, and gone to Protestant Wu? rttemberg. 7
6 g. nicolin (ed. ), Hegel in Berichten seiner Zeitgenossen, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag 1970, p. 528 [Hegel, The Letters. Translated by C. Butler and Chr. Seiler; with commentary by C. Butler, Bloomington (ind.
): indiana University Press 1984, p. 664].
7 t. Pinkard, Hegel. A Biography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000, pp. 2 f; l. S. Stepelvich, 'Hegel and Roman Catholicism', in: Journal of the American Academy of
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in the course of his life, several incidents, personal as well as politi- cal, reinforced Hegel's negative predisposition towards Catholicism. He vented his feelings about these incidents in his private correspondence, but it is difficult to determine the context of these utterances adequately. therefore i will limit myself here to discussing one incident, which hap- pened at the end of his life. Because of its official character and its possible consequences for his career this incident probably caused the most seri- ous deterioration in Hegel's attitude towards Catholicism, and is probably one of the causes of the sudden change in his philosophical position with regard to Catholic religion. in the winter semester of 1825/26 a chaplain of the St. Hedwig's cathedral in Berlin had complained to minister alten- stein that Hegel had publicly slandered Catholic religion. 8 in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy he had repeated a longstanding Protestant leg- end about the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. according to this legend, Catholics were required to worship a mouse, as well as its excre- ments, if it were to eat the consecrated host, since the transubstantiated body of Christ would be in the mouse's stomach. 9 altenstein deftly passed the problem over to Schulze, who asked Hegel to respond in writing to the complaint. in a confidential letter of april 3, 1826 he gave a quite defiant answer in six points. First, "as professor of philosophy at a Royal Prussian University in Berlin, and as a lutheran Christian, it is only to be expected that [he] should express [him]self in such terms on the teachings and spirit of Catholicism. " Secondly, he has "not sought the opportunity to speak out on the Catholic Church," but has "had to speak of it" in his lec- tures on the history of philosophy, especially in the part about scholastic philosophy. thirdly, he did "not leave the matter [of Catholicism] at the level of generalities of either a mild or timid nature, or of a purely con- demnatory, deprecatory nature. " He has, "on the contrary, had to interpret the Catholic doctrine at its very centre--i. e. the Host, to speak of it, and to speak of it with scientific determinateness. " He has "therefore explained and expressed luther's teachings as true, and as recognised by philoso- phy as true. " Moreover, he is certainly not the only lutheran Christian,
Religion, 60, 4 (1992), p. 674. See also: J. Hoffmeister (ed. ), Briefe von und an Hegel IV/1, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag pp. 1952 ff, 8 [Henceforth: Hegel, Briefe].
8 See Pinkard, Hegel, p. 529, and Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, p. 54.
9 g. W. F. Hegel, Vorlesungen. Ausgewa? hlte Nachschriften und Manuskripte, Bd. 9: Vorlesungen u? ber die geschichte der Philosophie, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag 1986, p. 27 [Henceforth: Hegel, Vorlesungen 9] [Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Edited and translated by Robert F. Brown, Berkeley (Calif. ): University of California Press 2000, p. 47].
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who "declare[s] the Catholic doctrine on the Host to be mere papistic idolatry and superstition. " Fourthly, his remarks were made during his lec- tures, so that he "could invoke the right of oral delivery, the meaning of which, at least with regard to casual remarks, is often based on nuances even in the tone of voice, and therefore can be altered if not completely turned around through slight inconspicuous deviations, eliminations, or additions. " Fifthly, he considers it beneath his dignity to defend himself against those, who, because of the absurd and malicious conclusions they draw from his lectures, took offence at what he said. He declares a portion of the charges against him to be "errors and misunderstandings born of feeblemindedness;" another portion as "falsehoods, and yet another por- tion to be [. . . ] cases of malicious disparagement. " Hegel's conclusion (his last point) is that, if the Catholics did complain about his lectures,
they would have to blame only themselves for attending philosophical lectures at a Protestant university, under a professor, who prides himself on having been baptised and raised a lutheran, which he still is and shall remain. or else they would have to blame their superiors for failing to warn them or--as has happened elsewhere to Catholic theology students--for failing to prohibit their attendance. "10
as a result of this letter, the charges against Hegel were rejected by the Prussian authorities, which can be seen as a confirmation of the prevailing state of liberty in Prussia. nevertheless he took this incident very seriously, as is shown by a remarkable change in attitude towards Catholicism both in his publications and lectures after 1827. in comparison to his Philosophy of Right (1821) and in the Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1822/23) his criticism of the Catholic Church, in particular of its interference in political matters, is much more stinging, as i shall show below in detail. a remark in a letter to his wife during a trip to the low countries, a year after this incident, is also quite revealing in this respect: "We have looked over their universities [of lie`ge, louvain and ghent] as prospective rest- ing place in case the clerics in Berlin make Kupfergraben [the name of the street in which Hegel lived, P. J. ] completely unbearable for me. the Curia in Rome would in any event be a more honourable adversary than the inanities of the inane clerical stew in Berlin. "11
10 Hegel, Werke. Herausgegeben von e. Moldenhauer und K. M. Michel. Band 11, Frank- furt am Main: Suhrkamp 1971, pp. 68 ff. [Henceforth: Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe] [Hegel, The Letters, pp. 531 f. ]
11 Hegel, Briefe III, p. 202 [Hegel, The Letters, p. 663]; see also: Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, p. 54.
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3. Hegel's Philosophical attitude towards Catholicism
turning now our attention towards a philosophical perspective, it is clear for Hegel that, within Christian religion, Catholicism is but an inadequate actualisation of the concept of religion, especially in comparison to Prot- estantism. He gives a number of reasons for this thesis. the external, sensuous element has always prevailed in Catholicism, whereas Protes- tantism is a more 'spiritualised' form of Christianity, and is therefore bet- ter capable to represent god, whose nature is spiritual. in relation to this, Protestantism's idea of god's reconciliation with the world is realised n a purely spiritual way, that is through superseding sensuous nature, whereas Catholicism remains stuck in the sensuous world. Finally, the authoritar- ian character of Roman Catholic religion, specifically expressing itself in the superiority of the clergy over the laity, and its refusal to accept the principle of secular rule, is at odds with the freedom of all people as the principle of the modern state.
Preliminarily, it is important to notice what Hegel has called 'the Protestant principle', which summarizes his attitude towards Protes- tant religion. 12 With this notion he does not refer to classical Protestant figures and doctrines, since they were--with the exception of luther and his abolition of Catholic institutions and practices like monasticism, celibacy, and fasts, as well as the superiority of the lord's Supper with regard to the eucharist--hardly of importance to him; neither does he consider this principle to be fully realised in the actually existing forms of Protestantism of his times. Rather, the Protestant principle serves for him as a constructive, interpretative concept, with the help of which he can clarify the essential reasonableness and spirituality of Protestant religion, which is closely connected to the reasonableness of (modern) history and the spiritual nature of the absolute. 13 He opposes this Protestant principle to Catholic religion, thereby implying that the latter is unable to realize the inherent reasonableness and spirituality of Christianity as adequately as Protestantism. So, although Catholicism as well as Protestantism are manifestations of the Christian principle of god as the self-conscious, free,
12 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 519 [g. W. F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History. Preface by Ch. Hegel and translated by J. Sibree; a new introduction by C. J. Friedrich, new York: Dover Books 1956, p. 438].
13 Cfr. J. Dierken, ? Hegels ? protestantisches Prinzip'. Religionsphilosophische implika- tionen einer geschichtsphilosophischen Denkfigur? , in: e. Weisser-lohmann und D. Ko? hler (Hrsg. ), Hegels Vorlesungen u? ber die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte (Hegel-Studien, Beiheft 38), Bonn, Bouvier 1998, pp. 126-7.
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absolute spirit, the latter is far better able to realize the Christian principle adequately than the former.
3. 1 Catholic Religion in Hegel's Early Writings
as early as in his Early Writings Hegel discusses his main points of dif- ference with regard to Catholic religion. in spite of the fragmentary and overall theological character of these writings, it will turn out that some relevant points with regard to this issue, which he elaborates in his later writings, are already present in this group of texts. in the essays, written during his stay in Bern (1793-1796), Hegel deals with the question whether a 'folk religion' can serve as a remedy for the intellectual and social dis- ruption of modern humankind, and with the search for an explanation why Christianity has perverted into a positive religion in the course of its development. looking from the perspective of the ideal of a free, har- monious and beautiful folk religion, which he thought to be realised in ancient greece, to the actually existing Christian religion, Hegel is con- vinced that the latter fails to meet any of the characteristics of this ideal. in the earliest Christian communities of faith, the germs of positivity were already present, and in the ages thereafter, they developed themselves ever further, eventually leading to a completely positive religion.
Within this general interpretative framework, Hegel focuses on the socio-political aspects of Catholicism and of Protestantism; it will turn out that he is equally critical to both of them, since they both make them- selves guilty of oppressing people. according to Hegel's interpretation of the history of Christianity, after the times of the Reformation people wanted to restore the purity and sincerity of religion and morals of the first centuries. But this movement ended in a failure. By re-establishing the ecclesiastical police-institutions, the Church reformers thought that they had remained loyal to the simplicity of the early Church, but actually they wanted to control the practice of faith of the people. thus, "little by little, this arrogant practice of prying into a person's innards, of judging and punishing his conscience, began insinuating itself [in Christian soci- ety . . . ]. it became incredibly deep-rooted [. . . ] and burgeoned into the most shocking profusion of repressive institutions and ways of deluding mankind: oral confession, excommunication, [and] penances. "14 these
14 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 131 [Hegel, Three Essays, 1793-1795. edited and trans- lated with an introduction and notes by P. Fuss and J. Dobbins, notre Dame (ind. ): Uni- versity of notre Dame Press 1984, p. 72].
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disciplinary practices are not only characteristic for Catholic confession, but have been maintained to a large extent by Protestantism as well, especially the control over the opinions of people. Besides, in the field of politics, both the Catholic and Protestant Church have interfered into the civil state: the fact that the Church, as a spiritual state, unified itself with the civil state, led to a situation, in which the people, whom the Church wanted to exclude from its fellowship, were deprived of their civil rights as well. 15 Hegel considers this as a violation of the very principle of religious freedom, which is essential to the modern state. in his view, reli- gious freedom is a basic human right, and has to be secured by the state: "to be true to one's faith and to be free in the practice of one's religion is a right in which the individual must be protected, not primarily as a Church member, but as a citizen; and a prince in his capacity as such has a duty to secure this right to his subjects. "16 again, it has to be noted that Hegel is convinced that not only one, but all (Christian) Churches have a problem in acknowledging the capacity of individuals to decide about religious matters on the basis of their own reason: "the fundamental error at the bottom of a Church's entire system is that it ignores the rights per- taining to every faculty of the human mind, in particular to the chief of them, reason. "17 the same holds true with regard to the relation between clergy and laity: in the Catholic Church, the rights of the laity to oppose to the laws of faith have always been equal to null, as it had lost its right even to be represented in discussions about faith. in comparison, the fun- damental principle of the Protestant Church is that its contract rests on the unanimity of all its members. Besides, they can only join this confes- sion voluntarily: the faith of every individual Protestant must be his faith because it is his own, not because it is the Church's. However, the teachers who founded this Church have not always been loyal to this principle, and have "tried to regard their authority as more extensive, and to decide among themselves what the Church's faith is. "18 all this shows that, as far the history and the current socio-political situation of Christianity as such are concerned, the first part of Hegel's Early Writings, written during his
15 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 315 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, translated by t. M. Knox. With an introduction, and Fragments translated by R. Kroner, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1948, p. 105].
16 Hegel Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 335 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, p. 127]. Cf. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, pp. 73 f.
17 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 349 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, p. 143]. 18 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 330 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, p. 122].
? hegel on catholic religion 185
stay in Bern, are as critical of Catholic as of Protestant confession. Because of their positive character, neither of them is loyal to the basic principles of the modern state. 19
the fact that Hegel, in this phase of his intellectual development, was primarily interested in the socio-political aspects of Protestantism and Catholicism is also confirmed by a fragment of The German Constitution, written some years later in Jena (1801). in this text, Hegel shows himself for the first time to be more critical of the Catholic than of the Protestant Church. He gives a concrete example of the problematic way in which especially Catholic princes have assumed the responsibility to safeguard the religious rights of the Protestant Church. although the denial of con- ferring civil rights to Protestant or Catholic minorities has occurred both in Catholic and Protestant countries, the Catholic Church has always been "more fanatic" in this. this is so, because the grounds on which this hap- pened seem to be different:
the Catholics were in the position of the oppressors, the Protestant in the one of the people being oppressed; the Catholics had denied the Protestants the right to express their religion freely, as if they were criminals. [. . . ] the ground for the Protestant intolerance could only be either the right to re- compensate the hatred and the intolerance of the Catholics--which would have been an unchristian motive--or a distrust in the strength and truth of their own faith, as well as the fear that their own faithful could be easily seduced by the splendour of Catholic liturgy and the zeal of its adherents. 20
the last part of this quotation shows Hegel's fear that Protestant faithful, whose basic attitude is that of an internal disposition, might be tempted by a kind of religious sensuousness, exemplified by the splendour of the Catholic liturgy, whereas it was clear to him that this kind of un-spiritual religiosity basically had no future.
By comparison, in his writings dating from his Frankfurt period (1797- 1800), and especially in the group of essays, collected under the title The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate Hegel pays far less attention to the differ- ences between Catholicism and Protestantism, and does not focus at all
19 this implies that the opinion of l. S. Stepelvich, according to whom Hegel's theologi- cal Writings might just as well have been entitled anti-Catholic Writings, is simply wrong. See l. S. Stepelvich, Hegel and Roman Catholicism, pp. 683 f. For a more adequate inter- pretation of Hegel's position, cf. e. Weisser-lohmann, ? Reformation und Friedrich ii in den geschichtsphilosophischen Vorlesungen Hegels' in e. Weisser-lohmann und D. Ko? hler (Hrsg. ), Hegels Vorlesungen u? ber die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte (Hegel-Studien, Beiheft 38), Bonn: Bouvier 1998, p. 102.
20 Hegel Gesammelte Werke 5, pp. 96 f.
?
the discussion of the configuration of this god (imperial authority) and the gods in the second subsection (b) and the cultus in the third (c) in these 1824 lectures is taken from the Manuscript but condensed. emphasis is laid on the seriousness and functionality of the Roman reli- gion, in contrast to the cheerfulness and serenity of the greek religion, which was essentially free. the two necessities it serves are world domin- ion and the exigencies of everyday life. "thus everyday requirements, the arts of understanding, were viewed as something essential, as gods, even though they are concerned with wholly subordinate matters, relating to everyday life, in which the only religious aspect is the formal one that these purposes have now achieved the empty shape of essentialities. " (l2 24, 504/403) again, Hegel mentions many of these gods in the texts, and wonders: "(i)t is hard for us to grasp how such things can be vener- ated as gods. the content can be anything, provided it appears essential for the common needs; it can be any situation, which is then compre- hended without phantasy and on its own, all idealization and all living phantasy being excluded. it is consistent with this prosaic situation in regard to power that the Romans later came to worship their emperors too as gods. " new gods are introduced whenever particular needs arise, be it relief from the plague, be it public sanitation, victory in battle, etc. in a word: Roman worship is a "theogony in progress. " (l2 24, 509/407) moreover, "(w)e see the Romans conquering magna graecia, sicily, plun- dering and destroying the temples and carrying off whole shiploads of gods to Rome. in Rome there is toleration: the syrian, egyptian, Jewish, christian, greek, persian religions, mithraism--the Romans seize on all of them, and precisely in this fusion what gives each religion its shape, the particularity that pertains to art and phantasy, is lost. " (l2 24, 507/405) in fact, "Rome becomes the pantheon in which all the gods of all the peoples are set up side by side, so that they extinguish one another; and they are all subject to the one Jupiter capitolinus, the one necessity, or to the one Rome and her fortuna. " (l2 24, 506/404)
in discussing the cultus, Hegel first mentions the religious disposition of the believer, which amounts according to him to a political disposition: "the religious disposition as such means in Rome that lordship or the universal in general is owed to the gods; it belongs to fortuna, to Juno or
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Jupiter, to a power that is in and for itself, and which is recognized and venerated in Rome's dominion. " (l2 24, 507-508/405) on the subjective side the religious pathos here is what is called Roman virtue. subjective consciousness has only value, insofar as it concentrates itself on the sal- vation of the state. the second aspect of this disposition is that human beings, as concrete, have many other purposes, interests, wishes. imagi- nation equates real worldly purposes with the infinite. therefore, "(t)his religion is consequently one of dependence; the prevailing feeling is one of dependence, of unfreedom. " (l2 24, 508/406) according to Hegel, this dependence leads to superstition, but he does not go that far as to con- tend, as he did in the Manuscript, that this feeling of dependence ulti- mately leads to the veneration of evil and the worship of the devil. this indirect charge to schleiermacher he made then, obviously could not be sustained. (l2 24, 508/406, footnote 723) the second moment of the cul- tus proper is characterized by the fact that the gods are recognized and reverenced in regard to the purposes that the believers want to achieve. "the Romans worship the gods because they need them, in other words primarily at times of stress and anxiety, i. e. , because they wish to have their own narrow interests maintained as essential. " (l2 24, 509/407) lordship of power exists only as the successful accomplishment of par- ticular purposes. Hegel closes this description, again, with an analysis of the Roman spectacles, games and festivals. in fact, nothing more than a process of death devoid of spirit, a murder game, willed by irrational caprice, serving only to give the spectators something to feast their eyes on. "this is a necessity that is mere caprice, murder without content, or having only itself for content. this and the envisagement of fate are the acme of experience, to die imperturbably through an empty caprice, not from natural causes, nor through the external force of circumstances, nor in consequence of offending against something ethical. thus dying is the only virtue a Roman patrician could exercise, and it is one he has in com- mon with slaves and with condemned criminals. " (l2 24, 510/408)
after having briefly mentioned, again, the role of the emperor ("an individual, whose wilful caprice is inevitably devoid of right and of ethi- cal life"), (l2 24, 511/408) Hegel concludes his treatment of the Roman religion, as a transition to the next stage, rather differently from the Manuscript. What we find in the Roman religion is an infinitization and universalization of the finite; the finite subject as a matter of fact. "this infinitude of subjectivity as such can be expressed more precisely as per- sonality, the category into which a human being enters as a person in the realm of right. as a person a human being owns property, has the right
hegel and the roman religion 173
of possession. it is the person who enjoys recognition as such, but only the abstract person, the abstractly juridical person capable of ownership. it goes no further than that, and i count as infinite in this sphere only; as the infinite reference of myself to myself, i am the absolute, self-sustaining atom. " (l2 24, 511-512/409)26 in Roman religion there appears thus for the first time an infinitude of subjectivity, but only as empirical, immediate, untrue, which cannot be maintained. in this sense, there is still after all place for the Roman religion in this section B. The Religions of Spiritual Individuality, albeit a very abstract and limited one. in the next stage, infi- nite subjectivity will be taken in a much higher sense, as pertaining to the idea, to absolute spirit as it mediates itself with itself. this is the true infinite as opposed to the spurious deification of the finite ego, the most blatant form of which is worship of the Roman emperors. "the stage has been set for the confrontation between christ and caesar. "27
The Lectures of 1827
Hegel's treatment of the Roman religion in the 1827 lectures differed not much from that of 1824, both in content and length. the only remark- able differences are the transitions. now that the religion of expediency has regained an independent status again (as section c. ), just behind B. The Elevation of the Spiritual above the Natural, as the religion in which purposiveness is not yet spiritual. as a matter of fact, what is still lack- ing here, is a divine purposiveness that is holy, universal, and concrete at once. By contrasting it with the greek and Jewish religion, Hegel once again attempts to find a proper place for the Roman religion in his phe- nomenology (or typology) of determinate religions. in greek religion, con- creteness in ethical content of their gods was achieved, but what was still lacking was holiness. moreover, universality was sacrificed to multiplicity. on the other hand, the god of israel was one and holy, but was asserted as the god of a particular people, whose laws were abstract. Roman reli- gion, according to Hegel, was a relative totality, in which the greek and Jewish religions "indeed loose their one-sidedness, but both of the prin- ciples perish conjointly, each by means of assimilation into its opposite; still, it is this very homogeneity that interests us in them. the religion of
26 note that this concept of the person, as bearer of rights such as property, is treated extensively by Hegel in his Philosophy of Right (1821). the entire first section of it, Abstract Right, deals with it. the Roman origin of this concept is convincingly accounted for.
27 Hodgson, 'editorial introduction', l2, 56.
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beauty loses the concrete individuality of its gods and hence also their ethical, independent content; the gods are reduced to means. the religion of sublimity loses the orientation toward the one, the eternal, the tran- scendent. " (l2 27, 688/580) due to its external, empirical, finite, utilitarian character, the universal purposiveness of the Romans is flawed. "Religion, when reduced to a means to extrinsic, worldly ends, is finally destroyed. Roman religion is the religion to end all religion--a fact symbolized by collecting the gods of all the religions into a single pantheon, where they are subjected to Jupiter capitolinus and destroy one another, a veritable Go? tterda? mmerung. "28
the conclusion of this section is very elliptical, and therefore the tran- sition to the next and final stage of religion, christian religion, is very difficult to reconstruct. it reads that when the moments which subsist in contradiction and in a spiritless way are unified in Roman religion, then we shall have advanced to the "next and final stage of religion. " (l2 27, 699/591) presumably these very moments are the authentic moments of the religions of beauty and sublimity, as well as the heritage of the reli- gions of nature--moments that have been "homogenized" in Roman reli- gion, but not truly unified. 29 it is not for determinate religion to truly unify preceding moments.
The Lectures of 1831
the text of 1831 on the Roman religion is very short and fragmented, and consists mainly of excerpts made by david friedrich strauss. it need not be summarized again, because the content is virtually identical with that of the preceding lectures, apart from some transitional nuances that will be discussed here.
Hegel makes the transition from greek to Roman religion as follows. 30 free spirit must come to recognize that "its value no longer consists in its being merely the free spirit of the greeks, of the citizens of this or that state, but humanity must be known freely as humanity, and god is the god of all humanity, the comprehensive, universal spirit. "31 in fact, this happens when one of the limited folk-spirits "raises itself to become the fate of all the others. " it does so through pretensions of universality,
28 idem, p. 72. 29 idem, p. 72. 30 idem, p. 86. 31 idem.
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through the politics of world mastery and of oppression, so that other peoples would become conscious of the weakness of their gods. "the fate that overthrew the world of the greeks was the world of Rome. "
However, this fate was an advance, as a matter of fact. the way by which spirit was cleansed of its finitude was by way of the absolutization of finitude, with the ensuing result that the whole world of finite gods finally collapsed itself. "the Romans orchestrated this Go? tterda? mmerung, and this was their service to the history of religion. "32 much that was good perished as well in this collapse--the happiness, serenity, and beauty of greek religion, and the transcendence, sublimity, and holiness of the god of israel, the vitality and diversity of the religions of other peoples as well. in sum: "(t)his brought to naught the serene happiness of the previous religion. this abstract power [of the emperor] brought into the world the monstrous unhappiness and anguish that were to be the birthpangs for the religion of truth. it was by renouncing satisfaction in this world that the soil for the true religion was prepared. and in the fullness of time, i. e. , when this state of despair had been brought about in the spirit of the world, god sent his son. " (l2 31, 760/642)
conclusion
it is clear from our investigation of Hegel's view on the Roman religion that this religion plays a pivotal role in the transition from the determi- nate religions to the consummate, revelatory religion: christianity. Hegel's idea that all religions preceding christianity in one way or another paved the way to it, more or less culminates in his treatment of the Roman reli- gion. Hegel's contribution to the subsequent scholarly image of Roman religion is remarkably substantial, especially his characterization of it as a religion in which fulfilment of an aim plays a decisive role. 33 His decon- struction of the commonly held view, embodied in the work of moritz,34 according to which greek and Roman religion are more or less alike, is of special significance. it enabled him to take a fresh and unprejudiced look at this religion, which resulted in a relatively new view on it, with definitively lasting importance. now in this conclusion, we shall draw a few modest inferences from Hegel's analysis, also for our present age.
32 idem.
33 see the authors mentioned in footnote 2: especially mensching and latte. 34 see footnote 21 and the corresponding text, above ? 3, introduction.
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as we have seen, the religion of the Romans is all about everyday human affairs: personal and political success, well-being, prosperity etc. gods are worshipped (and sometimes even invented) for very concrete, subjective purposes. moreover, these purposes are of a personal, maybe even selfish nature. not only is private egoism served, but public, collective egoism as well. no wonder the Roman emperor could in due course attain god-like characteristics. the ensuing tendency to superstition and finally fear and anguish gives much food for thought.
Hegel shows himself here as a master in the social psychology of reli- gion. He shows what happens in the mind of the believer when the idea of homo mensura (man is the measure of all things, attributed to protagoras) is in fact elevated to a universal, divine standard. this happens when per- sonal aims and wishes become divinised as objects of worship. as we have read in the Ms. , the result is "a crumbling away into momentary enjoy- ment and pleasure, a human animal kingdom from which all higher ele- ments have been abstracted. "35 in a way, Hegel can be read here as a critic of modern Western culture, in which--due to mass secularization-- 'all higher elements have been abstracted' in large areas of the population. categories that can be attained already in this world are nowadays gener- ally regarded as sacrosanct, like individual happiness, well-being, welfare, security, etcetera. 36 and when these are somehow threatened or jeopar- dized, either because of immigration, globalization or due to economic crisis, it can come as no surprise that fear becomes an important factor in people's minds and souls. With Hegel in mind, when he speaks on the Roman religion, we can only hope that this monstrous unhappiness and anguish will in the end prove to be the birthpangs of the religion of truth. What religion that is, remains to be seen.
? 35 Hegel, op. cit. p. 229.
36 charles taylor, A Secular Age, cambridge mass. , the Belknap press of Harvard uni- versity press: 2007, passim.
Hegel on CatHoliC Religion Peter Jonkers
1. introduction
among the vast number of books and articles about Hegel's philosophy of religion the overall majority of them focuses on his interpretation of Christianity in general, while relatively few discuss his view of Protestant- ism and even less his ideas about Catholic religion. given the importance Hegel attributes to Christianity in comparison to all other religions, and his relative lack of interest for the confessional differences within Christi- anity, this is no wonder. in Hegel's view Christianity is 'the consummate religion', that is the religion in which the abstract concept of religion has fully developed all its implications, not only as such, but also for human consciousness. 1 Since Hegel determines the essence of religion as the self- consciousness of the absolute spirit, it is only in Christianity, especially in its spiritual nature, that this spirit has become fully conscious of itself. Because of this, Christianity is also the revelatory religion: after having passed through its successive shapes, which form the history of religions, the absolute idea has revealed its essence in the spiritual nature of the Christian god, thus reaching a shape that is perfectly identical with its essence. 'Relevatoriness' and self-communication are essentially what god is, viz. spirit: the spirit moves away from immediacy toward the knowledge of what spirit is in and for itself, toward a self-consciousness that is both divine and human. the Christian doctrine of god's incarnation exempli- fies the double movement of the spirit: the divine becoming human (the substance empties itself of itself and becomes self-consciousness), and the human becomes divine (the self-consciousness empties itself of itself and makes itself into a universal self ). the essence of this doctrine is formu- lated in the creed, in particular in the articles on the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. Finally, Christianity is a religion of truth and freedom, since truth, being identical with the spirit, is its content, and since it is the
1 See the contribution of lu De Vos to this volume. Furthermore, i want to thank him for some valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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religion in which all human beings are recognised to be free, not just one (as in the ancient oriental monarchies) or some (as in greek and Roman societies). 2
Because of its consummate, revelatory, true, and free character Chris- tian religion is, in Hegel's view, clearly superior to all other historical reli- gions. While many of them continue to be practised throughout the world, the spirit seems to have left them behind, implying that they only exist in a fossilized form. only Christianity lives, because it is the only religion in which the absolute spirit has become fully manifest, and is conscious of its own revelatory essence. However, (Christian) religion is not the final shape of the absolute idea. its representational form (including all kinds of sensuous elements, such as stories, tradition, rituals, images etc. ) is ill- adapted to its content, the absolute idea. therefore, it is philosophy's task to give a conceptual justification and criticism of the representational character of (Christian) religion. this will lead to a "flight of religion into philosophy", which means that philosophy is to realize the spiritual con- tent of the religious community in its proper, i. e. conceptual form. 3
Within Christian religion, Hegel distinguishes between Roman Catho- lic, lutheran, and Calvinist (or, as he calls it, reformed) confessions. in his times, these three were the dominant religions in Western europe, and also the ones that were privileged in the german federation. 4 as said above, he does not seem to be particularly interested in doctrinal aspects of these inner-Christian distinctions,5 as he considered them of minor importance in comparison to the difference between Christianity as such and the other historical religions. He was profoundly influenced by the spirit of the enlightenment, in particular by lessing's Nathan the Wise, whose ideas about the inherent unity of all religions and about religious tolerance made a strong impression on him ever since his youth. never- theless, Hegel has all his life paid considerable attention to Catholic reli- gion in his writings and lectures, starting as early as his Diary (1775) till his last lectures on Philosophy of History (1830/31) and Philosophy of Religion (1831). His main points of interest relate to Catholicism's sensuous and
2 For an overview of the essential characteristics of Christianity: P. Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology. A Reading of the lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, oxford: oxford University Press 2005, pp. 85 ff, and W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch. Leben-Werk-Schule, Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler Verlag 2003, pp. 467 ff.
3 W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, pp. 474 ff.
4 W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, p. 396.
5 Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology, pp. 193; 260.
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authoritarian character, its place in the history of the world spirit, and its attitude towards the modern state.
generally speaking, Hegel considered himself as an orthodox lutheran professor of philosophy, although he only rarely made a stand for this in public. this explains to some extent his unfavourable personal attitude against Catholicism, to which he gave vent especially in his letters and personal contacts. as his friend, the Frenchman Cousin, remembered in 1866: "as soon as it was question of Catholicism mr. Hegel forgot our com- mon principles [about the indispensability of religion and the possibil- ity of a conciliation between religion and philosophy, PJ] and abandoned himself to flights rather unworthy of a philosopher," overtly showing his contempt for some typically Catholic rituals and practises, which he con- sidered as superstitious. 6
in sum, against the background of Hegel's appreciation of Christian- ity as such, regardless of its internal confessional differences, it is strik- ing that he expresses himself from time to time in a clearly depreciative way about Catholicism. as i will show below more in detail his position with regard to Roman Catholicism was fuelled by a mix of personal and political elements. therefore, i shall start with analyzing two important biographical and political facts that influenced Hegel's view of this matter. as will become apparent below, they are important to understand Hegel's philosophy of religion.
2. Personal and Political elements
the duchy of Wu? rttemberg, in which both Stuttgart, where Hegel was born, and tu? bingen, where he studied theology, lie, was a Protestant enclave in the dominantly Catholic south of germany. Hegel grew up in a family that was well aware of its strong Protestant roots, with a keen awareness of the existence of religious differences and with the convic- tion of their momentous consequences: according to a story, which was told in his family, his ancestors had emigrated from Catholic austria in the 16th Century, where the Protestants had been required to convert to Catholicism, and gone to Protestant Wu? rttemberg. 7
6 g. nicolin (ed. ), Hegel in Berichten seiner Zeitgenossen, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag 1970, p. 528 [Hegel, The Letters. Translated by C. Butler and Chr. Seiler; with commentary by C. Butler, Bloomington (ind.
): indiana University Press 1984, p. 664].
7 t. Pinkard, Hegel. A Biography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000, pp. 2 f; l. S. Stepelvich, 'Hegel and Roman Catholicism', in: Journal of the American Academy of
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in the course of his life, several incidents, personal as well as politi- cal, reinforced Hegel's negative predisposition towards Catholicism. He vented his feelings about these incidents in his private correspondence, but it is difficult to determine the context of these utterances adequately. therefore i will limit myself here to discussing one incident, which hap- pened at the end of his life. Because of its official character and its possible consequences for his career this incident probably caused the most seri- ous deterioration in Hegel's attitude towards Catholicism, and is probably one of the causes of the sudden change in his philosophical position with regard to Catholic religion. in the winter semester of 1825/26 a chaplain of the St. Hedwig's cathedral in Berlin had complained to minister alten- stein that Hegel had publicly slandered Catholic religion. 8 in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy he had repeated a longstanding Protestant leg- end about the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. according to this legend, Catholics were required to worship a mouse, as well as its excre- ments, if it were to eat the consecrated host, since the transubstantiated body of Christ would be in the mouse's stomach. 9 altenstein deftly passed the problem over to Schulze, who asked Hegel to respond in writing to the complaint. in a confidential letter of april 3, 1826 he gave a quite defiant answer in six points. First, "as professor of philosophy at a Royal Prussian University in Berlin, and as a lutheran Christian, it is only to be expected that [he] should express [him]self in such terms on the teachings and spirit of Catholicism. " Secondly, he has "not sought the opportunity to speak out on the Catholic Church," but has "had to speak of it" in his lec- tures on the history of philosophy, especially in the part about scholastic philosophy. thirdly, he did "not leave the matter [of Catholicism] at the level of generalities of either a mild or timid nature, or of a purely con- demnatory, deprecatory nature. " He has, "on the contrary, had to interpret the Catholic doctrine at its very centre--i. e. the Host, to speak of it, and to speak of it with scientific determinateness. " He has "therefore explained and expressed luther's teachings as true, and as recognised by philoso- phy as true. " Moreover, he is certainly not the only lutheran Christian,
Religion, 60, 4 (1992), p. 674. See also: J. Hoffmeister (ed. ), Briefe von und an Hegel IV/1, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag pp. 1952 ff, 8 [Henceforth: Hegel, Briefe].
8 See Pinkard, Hegel, p. 529, and Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, p. 54.
9 g. W. F. Hegel, Vorlesungen. Ausgewa? hlte Nachschriften und Manuskripte, Bd. 9: Vorlesungen u? ber die geschichte der Philosophie, Hamburg: Meiner Verlag 1986, p. 27 [Henceforth: Hegel, Vorlesungen 9] [Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Edited and translated by Robert F. Brown, Berkeley (Calif. ): University of California Press 2000, p. 47].
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who "declare[s] the Catholic doctrine on the Host to be mere papistic idolatry and superstition. " Fourthly, his remarks were made during his lec- tures, so that he "could invoke the right of oral delivery, the meaning of which, at least with regard to casual remarks, is often based on nuances even in the tone of voice, and therefore can be altered if not completely turned around through slight inconspicuous deviations, eliminations, or additions. " Fifthly, he considers it beneath his dignity to defend himself against those, who, because of the absurd and malicious conclusions they draw from his lectures, took offence at what he said. He declares a portion of the charges against him to be "errors and misunderstandings born of feeblemindedness;" another portion as "falsehoods, and yet another por- tion to be [. . . ] cases of malicious disparagement. " Hegel's conclusion (his last point) is that, if the Catholics did complain about his lectures,
they would have to blame only themselves for attending philosophical lectures at a Protestant university, under a professor, who prides himself on having been baptised and raised a lutheran, which he still is and shall remain. or else they would have to blame their superiors for failing to warn them or--as has happened elsewhere to Catholic theology students--for failing to prohibit their attendance. "10
as a result of this letter, the charges against Hegel were rejected by the Prussian authorities, which can be seen as a confirmation of the prevailing state of liberty in Prussia. nevertheless he took this incident very seriously, as is shown by a remarkable change in attitude towards Catholicism both in his publications and lectures after 1827. in comparison to his Philosophy of Right (1821) and in the Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1822/23) his criticism of the Catholic Church, in particular of its interference in political matters, is much more stinging, as i shall show below in detail. a remark in a letter to his wife during a trip to the low countries, a year after this incident, is also quite revealing in this respect: "We have looked over their universities [of lie`ge, louvain and ghent] as prospective rest- ing place in case the clerics in Berlin make Kupfergraben [the name of the street in which Hegel lived, P. J. ] completely unbearable for me. the Curia in Rome would in any event be a more honourable adversary than the inanities of the inane clerical stew in Berlin. "11
10 Hegel, Werke. Herausgegeben von e. Moldenhauer und K. M. Michel. Band 11, Frank- furt am Main: Suhrkamp 1971, pp. 68 ff. [Henceforth: Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe] [Hegel, The Letters, pp. 531 f. ]
11 Hegel, Briefe III, p. 202 [Hegel, The Letters, p. 663]; see also: Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, p. 54.
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3. Hegel's Philosophical attitude towards Catholicism
turning now our attention towards a philosophical perspective, it is clear for Hegel that, within Christian religion, Catholicism is but an inadequate actualisation of the concept of religion, especially in comparison to Prot- estantism. He gives a number of reasons for this thesis. the external, sensuous element has always prevailed in Catholicism, whereas Protes- tantism is a more 'spiritualised' form of Christianity, and is therefore bet- ter capable to represent god, whose nature is spiritual. in relation to this, Protestantism's idea of god's reconciliation with the world is realised n a purely spiritual way, that is through superseding sensuous nature, whereas Catholicism remains stuck in the sensuous world. Finally, the authoritar- ian character of Roman Catholic religion, specifically expressing itself in the superiority of the clergy over the laity, and its refusal to accept the principle of secular rule, is at odds with the freedom of all people as the principle of the modern state.
Preliminarily, it is important to notice what Hegel has called 'the Protestant principle', which summarizes his attitude towards Protes- tant religion. 12 With this notion he does not refer to classical Protestant figures and doctrines, since they were--with the exception of luther and his abolition of Catholic institutions and practices like monasticism, celibacy, and fasts, as well as the superiority of the lord's Supper with regard to the eucharist--hardly of importance to him; neither does he consider this principle to be fully realised in the actually existing forms of Protestantism of his times. Rather, the Protestant principle serves for him as a constructive, interpretative concept, with the help of which he can clarify the essential reasonableness and spirituality of Protestant religion, which is closely connected to the reasonableness of (modern) history and the spiritual nature of the absolute. 13 He opposes this Protestant principle to Catholic religion, thereby implying that the latter is unable to realize the inherent reasonableness and spirituality of Christianity as adequately as Protestantism. So, although Catholicism as well as Protestantism are manifestations of the Christian principle of god as the self-conscious, free,
12 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 519 [g. W. F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History. Preface by Ch. Hegel and translated by J. Sibree; a new introduction by C. J. Friedrich, new York: Dover Books 1956, p. 438].
13 Cfr. J. Dierken, ? Hegels ? protestantisches Prinzip'. Religionsphilosophische implika- tionen einer geschichtsphilosophischen Denkfigur? , in: e. Weisser-lohmann und D. Ko? hler (Hrsg. ), Hegels Vorlesungen u? ber die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte (Hegel-Studien, Beiheft 38), Bonn, Bouvier 1998, pp. 126-7.
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absolute spirit, the latter is far better able to realize the Christian principle adequately than the former.
3. 1 Catholic Religion in Hegel's Early Writings
as early as in his Early Writings Hegel discusses his main points of dif- ference with regard to Catholic religion. in spite of the fragmentary and overall theological character of these writings, it will turn out that some relevant points with regard to this issue, which he elaborates in his later writings, are already present in this group of texts. in the essays, written during his stay in Bern (1793-1796), Hegel deals with the question whether a 'folk religion' can serve as a remedy for the intellectual and social dis- ruption of modern humankind, and with the search for an explanation why Christianity has perverted into a positive religion in the course of its development. looking from the perspective of the ideal of a free, har- monious and beautiful folk religion, which he thought to be realised in ancient greece, to the actually existing Christian religion, Hegel is con- vinced that the latter fails to meet any of the characteristics of this ideal. in the earliest Christian communities of faith, the germs of positivity were already present, and in the ages thereafter, they developed themselves ever further, eventually leading to a completely positive religion.
Within this general interpretative framework, Hegel focuses on the socio-political aspects of Catholicism and of Protestantism; it will turn out that he is equally critical to both of them, since they both make them- selves guilty of oppressing people. according to Hegel's interpretation of the history of Christianity, after the times of the Reformation people wanted to restore the purity and sincerity of religion and morals of the first centuries. But this movement ended in a failure. By re-establishing the ecclesiastical police-institutions, the Church reformers thought that they had remained loyal to the simplicity of the early Church, but actually they wanted to control the practice of faith of the people. thus, "little by little, this arrogant practice of prying into a person's innards, of judging and punishing his conscience, began insinuating itself [in Christian soci- ety . . . ]. it became incredibly deep-rooted [. . . ] and burgeoned into the most shocking profusion of repressive institutions and ways of deluding mankind: oral confession, excommunication, [and] penances. "14 these
14 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 131 [Hegel, Three Essays, 1793-1795. edited and trans- lated with an introduction and notes by P. Fuss and J. Dobbins, notre Dame (ind. ): Uni- versity of notre Dame Press 1984, p. 72].
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disciplinary practices are not only characteristic for Catholic confession, but have been maintained to a large extent by Protestantism as well, especially the control over the opinions of people. Besides, in the field of politics, both the Catholic and Protestant Church have interfered into the civil state: the fact that the Church, as a spiritual state, unified itself with the civil state, led to a situation, in which the people, whom the Church wanted to exclude from its fellowship, were deprived of their civil rights as well. 15 Hegel considers this as a violation of the very principle of religious freedom, which is essential to the modern state. in his view, reli- gious freedom is a basic human right, and has to be secured by the state: "to be true to one's faith and to be free in the practice of one's religion is a right in which the individual must be protected, not primarily as a Church member, but as a citizen; and a prince in his capacity as such has a duty to secure this right to his subjects. "16 again, it has to be noted that Hegel is convinced that not only one, but all (Christian) Churches have a problem in acknowledging the capacity of individuals to decide about religious matters on the basis of their own reason: "the fundamental error at the bottom of a Church's entire system is that it ignores the rights per- taining to every faculty of the human mind, in particular to the chief of them, reason. "17 the same holds true with regard to the relation between clergy and laity: in the Catholic Church, the rights of the laity to oppose to the laws of faith have always been equal to null, as it had lost its right even to be represented in discussions about faith. in comparison, the fun- damental principle of the Protestant Church is that its contract rests on the unanimity of all its members. Besides, they can only join this confes- sion voluntarily: the faith of every individual Protestant must be his faith because it is his own, not because it is the Church's. However, the teachers who founded this Church have not always been loyal to this principle, and have "tried to regard their authority as more extensive, and to decide among themselves what the Church's faith is. "18 all this shows that, as far the history and the current socio-political situation of Christianity as such are concerned, the first part of Hegel's Early Writings, written during his
15 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 315 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, translated by t. M. Knox. With an introduction, and Fragments translated by R. Kroner, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1948, p. 105].
16 Hegel Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 335 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, p. 127]. Cf. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, pp. 73 f.
17 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 349 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, p. 143]. 18 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 330 [Hegel, Early Theological Writings, p. 122].
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stay in Bern, are as critical of Catholic as of Protestant confession. Because of their positive character, neither of them is loyal to the basic principles of the modern state. 19
the fact that Hegel, in this phase of his intellectual development, was primarily interested in the socio-political aspects of Protestantism and Catholicism is also confirmed by a fragment of The German Constitution, written some years later in Jena (1801). in this text, Hegel shows himself for the first time to be more critical of the Catholic than of the Protestant Church. He gives a concrete example of the problematic way in which especially Catholic princes have assumed the responsibility to safeguard the religious rights of the Protestant Church. although the denial of con- ferring civil rights to Protestant or Catholic minorities has occurred both in Catholic and Protestant countries, the Catholic Church has always been "more fanatic" in this. this is so, because the grounds on which this hap- pened seem to be different:
the Catholics were in the position of the oppressors, the Protestant in the one of the people being oppressed; the Catholics had denied the Protestants the right to express their religion freely, as if they were criminals. [. . . ] the ground for the Protestant intolerance could only be either the right to re- compensate the hatred and the intolerance of the Catholics--which would have been an unchristian motive--or a distrust in the strength and truth of their own faith, as well as the fear that their own faithful could be easily seduced by the splendour of Catholic liturgy and the zeal of its adherents. 20
the last part of this quotation shows Hegel's fear that Protestant faithful, whose basic attitude is that of an internal disposition, might be tempted by a kind of religious sensuousness, exemplified by the splendour of the Catholic liturgy, whereas it was clear to him that this kind of un-spiritual religiosity basically had no future.
By comparison, in his writings dating from his Frankfurt period (1797- 1800), and especially in the group of essays, collected under the title The Spirit of Christianity and Its Fate Hegel pays far less attention to the differ- ences between Catholicism and Protestantism, and does not focus at all
19 this implies that the opinion of l. S. Stepelvich, according to whom Hegel's theologi- cal Writings might just as well have been entitled anti-Catholic Writings, is simply wrong. See l. S. Stepelvich, Hegel and Roman Catholicism, pp. 683 f. For a more adequate inter- pretation of Hegel's position, cf. e. Weisser-lohmann, ? Reformation und Friedrich ii in den geschichtsphilosophischen Vorlesungen Hegels' in e. Weisser-lohmann und D. Ko? hler (Hrsg. ), Hegels Vorlesungen u? ber die Philosophie der Weltgeschichte (Hegel-Studien, Beiheft 38), Bonn: Bouvier 1998, p. 102.
20 Hegel Gesammelte Werke 5, pp. 96 f.
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