in this case, it is not
holiness
or (Catholic) sanctity, which is abstract and retired from the word, which is important, but rather the justification and sanctification of the rational ethical world.
Hegels Philosophy of the Historical Religions
F.
Hegel, Vorlesungen u?
ber die Beweise vom Daseyn Gottes (gW 18: 228-317).
see also d.
murphy, Gottesbeweis in: P.
Cobben e.
o.
(ed), Hegel-Lexikon, darmstadt: WBg 2006, pp.
247-249.
? 254 lu de vos
'heterodox',32 but is the result of the philosophical insight that the imme- diate (ontological) understanding of religion (in terms of separate enti- ties, such as a god independent of the use of religious words, or immortal souls) is not rational. the proofs of the existence of god are the explication of religious consciousness and, in that sense, of religion itself. the most important of these proofs is the ontological one (anselm, descartes and Wolff ), which is used only in Christian times. in this case, Hegel is address- ing the Christian tradition in general, not a particularly lutheran or particu- larly Protestant one, insofar as this proof is itself rational and not based on any particular faith alone. in this proof, as well as in Hegel's philosophy of religion generally, the being or the objectivity is indicated and justified in terms of the concept, for, only in the case of god, does its substance include his own being in himself. this philosophical exposition of the ontological proof is just the return to that concept that is posited at the beginning of the philosophy of religion.
educated religious people exercise their religious identity and proper ele- vation through a particular system of religious worship (i. e. 'cult'), which gives them a real unity with 'god'. in the elevation of the proofs of god's existence, which presuppose a (metaphysical) concept, it remains unclear for the religious consciousness that it is itself that is elevating itself. at this level, however, religiously knowing consciousness remains within in its own representation, separated from its divine object. to overcome this represented separation or presupposed split is the purpose of ritual and ceremonial practices (i. e. cult). Cult thus provides the highest form of enjoyment to self-consciousness, in the way in which it reconciles that consciousness with the absolute. Participation in this (represented) reconciliation, which is (for the religious subject) fully and already per- formed by the divine act of salvation, is the basic activity of cult. this cult takes on a multiplicity of different forms; it is first of all devotion or con- templative prayer, which is active faith, or, in other words, it is engaged religious thinking, participating in god, so that the reconciliation is actual for him.
the particular forms of sacrifice, however, are secondly, from the point of view of the religious subject, essential. these forms are outer or exter- nal, but, from the point of view of the religious subject, essential. the external forms reproduce the reconciliation in little sacrifices and sac- ramental rites. in such practices, the religious subject is performing the
32 see C. o'regan, The Heterodox Hegel, albany: sUnY Press 1994.
? hegel and protestantism 255
same elevation, but now for and with his own consciousness, so that the form of representation is destroyed. such a ritual sacrifice is the negation and offering of some finite thing through which the subject demonstrates that he is enjoying ('geniessend') the unity of himself with his god. 33
the most important and authentic form of sacrifice is the sacrifice of the heart, not only in the sense of the purification of desire and of par- ticular passions, but also in the production of spirituality in the form of universality. the finitude or particularity of every subject has to elevate itself to its own purity, so that there is a universal law (of reconciliation), recognisable for everybody. this is the promotion of ethicity (Sittlichkeit) or the production of such an actuality that manifests the reconciliation in this world, but with which the consciousness of the truth remains reli- giously linked. ethicity, then, does not involve simply the singular act of repentance, as it were merely a response to something bad, but it is a genuine form of reconciliation. such a realisation of the annihilation of the particularity of the heart is not so much an extension of the cult as it is the true liberation of the freedom of the world to its own (spiritual) affair ('Sache'). even better, it is not a particular grace, but everyone's actual striving toward real reconciliation! such an account, that it is not the enjoyment of the external cult, but the purification of the heart, as the highest form of cult, may seem to be particularly Protestant in its inspira- tion (as will become clear in Hegel's presentation of Christianity). the true consciousness of the actual purification in ethicity seems to be insightful religion, or that it has become a practical insight available to everybody, or, in other words, that it has become philosophy. religion depends upon this ethicity insofar as such an elevation (or purification) is linked with philosophy as the consciousness of truth, and also in as far as it is only out of this ethicity that god is no longer only a religious substance, but also interpreted as 'free spirit' (e3 ? 552 a).
at this point, this internally elaborated concept could be an illusory or merely an internal philosophical concept (or a merely semantic defini- tion) without validity, even with its allusion to real forms like sacraments and ethicity. to prove such forms have more than a merely illusory, inter- nal, or semantic validity, they should be singularised for consciousness in real religion(s).
33 Hegel is describing all religious forms, in and through his own religious attitude, in terms of Christianity. However, the sense of this conceptual presentation is formal, valid for every religion.
? 256 lu de vos
b. Revealed or Consummate Religion is Christianity34
Hegel claims that the Christian religion fulfils, in historical actuality, the concept of religion, and is, as the result of the conceptual development of all other religions, therefore also true religion. in this rational form ('Gestalt'), the philosophical presentation of Christianity must be recogn- isable for everyone, including faithful or religious people. so, such a philo- sophical presentation must not be based only on a traditional view, or a view that is guaranteed by a religious authority or by the faithful, because a philosophical interpretation of Christianity is not a form of catechism (Dritter Replik, 16: 273). However, in such an interpretation, even religious people should not miss essential features of their faith (e. g. in Christianity, there must be attention to Jesus, who is their Christ) and this exposition should be a philosophical presentation of theological insights. in his sum- mary, Hegel claims that the specifically essential aspects of Christianity are the trinity (which was not taken to be theologically very essential during his time), the appearance of Jesus as Christ, the immortality of the soul and the state (when understood as the modern version of the King- dom of god) (l. c. , 16: 270). 35
in as far as Christianity is the truth of the concept, as well as of other forms of religion, all marks of such religious conceptions are emphasised, and where the central preconceptions are Christian ones. 36 in this reli- gion, the full realisation of such views is asserted, such as the trinity (in the form of religious triplicity), the incarnation (V5, 236, from W2) and the death of god (in Jesus). the differences in the views on immortal- ity between pre-Christian and Christian religions are elaborated in the courses, in order to point to the essential meaning of Christianity.
not presupposed, however, is the concrete concept of spirit. this con- cept is the idea of religion, specifying the concept of god, insofar as it
34 For a reliable english version: P. Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology, oxford: oxford UP 2005; the best philosophical books on Hegel's religion remain, however, W. Jaeschke, Die Religionsphilosophie Hegels, darmstadt: WBg 1983 and Jaeschke, Die Ver- nunft, (o. c. ).
35 this claim is very difficult, insofar as religious people (and religious authorities) seem to be unaware of their (particular) assumptions (e. g. the so-called transcendence or infin- ity or being as well as formulations from the ecumenical Councils), but miss the point, that a philosophy should provide an insight into not just of the claimed truth of a particular religion, but of the truth of religion as such, which would apply even for atheists. For a different summary, see st. rocker, Hegel's Rational Religion, madison & london: Fairleigh dickinson UP 1995, p. 189.
36 For a discussion of other religions, see the rest of this book.
? hegel and protestantism 257
has returned in itself. in the consummate religion, god is in himself his own distinction. only by grasping this distinction of the concept and this distinction as the self-distinction of god, is there a spiritual religion: with this self-distinction, god is spirit. as spirit, He is not (only) substance, but spirit in its distinction; such a spirit is (minimally) spirit appearing for, or manifesting itself for spirit. in true religion, Spirit is the object of religion and vice versa; (absolute) spirit is so for spirit, and spirit is the form of appearing of spirit. revelation from god is the self-manifestation of spirit for spirit itself. With this interpretation or presentation, Hegel does not stress as much the specifically Christian character of religion, but discovers, in a religious form ('Gestalt'), his own determination of spirit. spirit is the activity of the self-distinction of spirit. it manifests the particular moment(s) of its own essence or universality, through which it is never without exis- tence (i. e. being-there or 'Daseyn') (e3 ? 383-384). 37 absolute spirit is just the correspondence of the concept thereof with its own reality. revelation is the form, which is given by spirit to itself; it is rational, insofar as we can also recognise ourselves in that form ('Gestalt') as rational.
this revelation, however, is, in the Christian religion, also positive. 'Posi- tive' here means that there is an enduring object, or something present for consciousness itself. a positive side is necessary for revelatory religion, insofar as even religion must appear (for consciousness), and thus for rep- resentation, as spirit must be present for everybody (or, in as far as the content of 'a spirit' is taken up by them). as positive, however, the Bible contains the doctrine, which can be elaborated by specific churches as well as by theology, where the witness of spirit is known in scientific form. even as spirit, the content or doctrine has its positiveness. only in his concretion as activity, is god a living god, in the act of determining his own spiritual concept himself.
the content of religion, even in forms of representation, is also one of thinking, or truth. 38 religion claims to have a truth over and above that of other religions (and against other forms of [finite] consciousness). truth is present where spirit appears in religion as consciousness of its own spirit. Verification can only be the witness of spirit itself, in as far as it inte- grates or internalizes its own spirit, which appears in humans as reason or
37 With such a presentation, Hegel determines the manifestation of spirit (as god) in terms of his own logic. 'god' is also thought to be a very specific singularisation of the concept (as idea).
38 see for an (insufficient) truth discussion, insofar as Hegel seems again and again to be interpreted as a dogmatic rationalist: st. rocher, Hegel's Rational Religion, pp. 137-162.
? 258 lu de vos
thinking. thinking sublates the split between both sides of the same spirit in the proofs of god's existence (as spirit, or out of the concept). these proofs start from spirit, which is truth and, more specifically, absolute spirit, which lives through its own determination and from this determination, and is also observable in the conceptual determination(s) of earlier religions. in this way, it contains finite forms in determining itself as itself, which is its self-positing. spirit has to contain (religious) finitude in itself in order to be real spirit. the point made by the ontological proof is important: only the concept attains liberation from positiveness and is real freedom or the essence of spirit for itself. 39 the transition, however, is to spirit itself, which exists as absolute subjectivity and as absolute personality. With its exposition as absolute spirit, spirit arrives at its definition as (authentic or true) spirit. thus, spirit is spiritual in its positive appearance and pres- ents spirit as absolute spirit; both are moments of its own actuality, which it manifests as spirit.
as in the concept of religion, the first moment (the abstract specificity) appears in a different form for religion (available for everybody, in repre- sentation). the first determination is god in his eternal essence, before the creation of the world, the inner trinity of god, where, in his eternal essence through his son, he becomes spirit only for himself, at the level of god's persons loving one another. in this view, Hegel uses its own (theology- based) terminology: the immanent trinity (as opposed to the 'economic' or revealed trinity) does not mean immanent in the world, but immanent in god himself. the reference to the trinity before Jesus' appearance on earth is in Hegel's view 'in itself ', and thus not transcendent. if that which is 'in itself ' is to be significant and not remain an empty concept, it must be 'fulfilled' or developed. immanence used in this sense is not opposed to transcendence. What could be called transcendence is just Hegel's imma-
39 only when the traditional form of religious expression is taken as being the 'one true' form (as in supernaturalism), is philosophy considered to be hostile to religion, when it is critical of the 'self-evidence' or the presuppositions within traditional ways of speaking. Philosophy, however, is just the analysing all these truth claims, in such a way, that truth itself is its topic (of inquiry), which is not the case for physics (nature), nor for religion (god as Christ). theology, on the other hand, most of the time provides just such a truth- inquiry to philosophy, and takes over such claims. in doing so, it comes to an apory: if god is the truth, then theology has the only object of truth, but in as far as truth also comes from other (discursive) forms of knowing, theology is dependent on just such a doctrine of truth-claims (like logic), in which there is no place (or no exclusive place) for god. if, on the other hand, a religion is only a particularity (one narrative among others), then it can have no further claim on universal recognisability and has destroyed its own claims on truth.
? hegel and protestantism 259
nence as 'Jenseits' (or 'beyond'). the trinity could be a 'Jenseits', if it were not already related to our religious Christian knowledge, knowledge being the only possible topic of philosophy! in as far as an entity can be com- pleted without being known (as is the case for every content containing knowledge that is not philosophical), theology and religious conscious- ness can claim, within their own form or domain (i. e. religion) that there is such independent, infinite thing. 40 However, insofar as this thinking claims to be true (in Hegel's sense), even the trinity cannot remain on the other side of actuality. truth requires the determination of its own concept. it must appear as (religiously knowable) spirit. 41
the second moment is the creation of the son as an earthly person,42 through whom the oppositions between Heaven and earth, god and man, good and bad, are instantiated. really appearing and developing, god reveals himself in the suffering and death of the temporalised, eternal son, through which this son becomes spirit. to grasp this sensuous actuality as spiritual and religious actuality, finite spirit must intuit and remem- ber the birth and death of the reconciler, so that finite spirit can iden- tify itself with this reconciliation and the community may constitute the actual presence of spirit (for itself ). in the death of the reconciler, which is, at the same time, the death of god as merely abstract or immanent (in itself ) it is shown that man takes up the true religion, so that, through the reconciler, the eternal history of god has arisen into consciousness. in this way, god is the process of giving up his immanence to deliver himself to
40 in itself or immanent (trinity/Father) is only the opposite phenomenon (the 'eco- nomic' trinity/son), but neither are explicated as concrete (Parousia/spirit); that, at least, is Hegel's critical version of the Kantian argument. only metaphysical (and not so much theological) statements stress the so-called transcendence of god. However, such a god is not a trinitarian god!
41 With this thesis, a Christian theologian could see a difficulty or danger; god 'should' be free not to manifest himself, but for Hegel such a freedom is empty, and is demonstrated to be empty, in as far as god has created, and has manifested himself. even though the trinity seems to indicate some conceptual moments, Hegel's logic is not god, (as seems to be desmond's point, W. desmond, Hegel's God, aldershot: ashgate 2003, p. 130), but rather all definitions of the (metaphysical) absolute are contained in the logic (H. F. Fulda, 'spekulative logik als die eigentliche metaphysik', in: d. Pa? tzold & a. Vanderjagt, Hrsg. ), Hegels Transformation der Metaphysik, Ko? ln: dinter 1991, pp. 9-27). Without their (own) speculative methodical generation, however, which is the very contribution of the theory or doctrine of rationality, Hegel's logic has also taken up (and replaced) the philosophical importance of what was the religious (and mistakenly metaphysical) concept of god. this is really the core of every (logical) concept, which is insofar as it is an objective concept; and god is--therefore--a concept, even the main example of the logical concept, that the idea is such a truth, is therefore also a logical exposition (Darstellung).
42 Within a mythological representation, this is the first adam.
? 260 lu de vos
the resurrection in spirit. on this point, there are no differences between Christian denominations, in as far as the title of 'son of god' is not inter- preted in borrowed, metaphysical terms. every Christian church accepts the basic form of Jesus as (the) Christ.
the third element of Hegel's concept of religion is the community, inspired by the Holy spirit. it is the Kingdom of god, where god is spirit. this community includes all the people who have faith in the spiritual history of god, as well as those who elaborate the spiritual development of the kingdom of god, of which they are members. the community is existing spirit and is believed in by spirit in its concreteness and reality. the religious moments present just this transformation of every spirit that manifests itself in the trinitarian way, the passing away from the senses of the singular subject, and the resurrection as universal spirit, by giving its testimony of truth. in the existent community, the doctrine of faith is grasped as valid truth. this truth of spirit is, in Christian religion, true for all people. individual members are born into it through Baptism and are educated to its truth; the church teaches freedom and educates non- spiritual people to freedom. they receive absolution within the commu- nity of reconciliation and they enjoy the presence of god in the eucharist. the process of the community is, furthermore, the whole divine process, in and through which the subject is spiritualised.
Hegel's Protestantism is apparent in his discussion of the sacraments. in both the courses of 1827 and 1831, he restricts the sacraments to just two, Baptism and the eucharist. on forgiveness or absolution, the remark about the Catholic sacrament of Confession (1821, V5, 89) is left out; it may be open to discussion, which person can, as spirit, 'undo the past' ('das Geschehene ungeschehen machen'). 43 such an action is included within the church in the form of education (1821, V5, 260). in fact, such an act is vis- ible as the real and legal power of the king.
more important, however, is Baptism, where the child learns that it will be educated toward the freedom of its own good actions, and in which it is confirmed that evil is subdued so that the subject can do good in such a reconciled world. the subsistence of the community is fully realised through participation in the eucharist. specifically for the philosophy of religion, the differences on the eucharist are presented. 44 the eucharist
43 see my 'das geschehene ungeschehen machen', in: Jahrbuch fu? r Hegel-Forschung 4/5, 2000, pp. 221-230.
44 For m. Westphal (Hegel and Protestantism, in: r. Perkins (ed. ), History and System, albany, 1985, p. 82 as well for Jonkers (in this volume) the basic difference between Cathol-
? hegel and protestantism 261
(or lord's supper) is the participation in the resurrection of Christ by the religious subject. Here, Hegel stresses how lutheranism accepts the spiri- tual transubstantiation in spirit and faith: god as Christ is present in acts of the eating and drinking themselves, not independently in the bread and wine (Catholicism) or only in memory (Calvinism). in this Communion, the individual, Christian subject enjoys ('geniesst') the presence of god.
However, in as far as it is only the Christian individual or the particular community who enjoys the reconciliation, this reconciliation is not yet actual. such a community has a further task: it is insufficient to produce only an abstract reconciliation in opposition to the actuality proper. With the subject's purification to spirit, the grace of reconciliation for all men is discovered and may be realised in a free world. such a grace is not in opposition to freedom, as was discussed in traditional Protestantism (1821, V5, 302), but it is the grace of freedom itself (V5: 262; 288). so it becomes clear: it is not the cult that is the realisation of community, but rather a universal ethicity in a free world that is the realisation of the spiritual- ity of the community, and thus, of a spirituality available to everyone. 45 ethical life, which is the form of universal law justifiable for everybody, is in fact the divestment by the Christian community of its particular form in view of the full realisation of spirit. it is a giving up, by the Christian community, of its own particularity, for the sake of the redemption of the world (i. e. of everyone). as such, this realisation is not the promotion of a particularly Protestant way of life or of a 'Protestant' state, but rather of a really free community, which is aware that the form of the community itself is itself rationally good.
in this case, it is not holiness or (Catholic) sanctity, which is abstract and retired from the word, which is important, but rather the justification and sanctification of the rational ethical world. For Hegel, it is not celibacy, poverty, or the servitude to others (priests) that is holy, but rather marriage, work, and political freedom under the self-given law that are sanctified (e3 ? 552 a). 46 in this way, true religiosity can appear
icism and Protestantism is their respective understandings of eucharist. this, however, is only an inner theological discussion. the point Hegel emphasises is not as such a theologi- cal one, but a basic concept, fully linked with Christianity, of the constitutive concept of freedom, where only the Protestants are not restoring spiritual servitude and make no fatal contradiction. this point is completely missed by m. lilla, Hegel and the Political Theology of reconciliation, in: The Review of Metaphysics 54, 2001, pp. 859-900; esp. 885 ff.
45 see the review of the end of the four courses, st. rocker, Hegel's Rational Religion, madison & london, 1995, pp. 166-176.
46 in german, Hegel can play with the words 'geistlich' and 'geistig', both rooted in spirit (Geist), (Vie, 191); the perversion in the roman-Catholic church consists for Hegel in the
? 262 lu de vos
as true ethicity, in which the structures of an objective (and not subjective) world, that is reconciled as such or (minimally) in itself, are justified. 47 the modern secular world, based on Protestantism, substitutes ('ersetzt') the church as the spiritual realm in which reconciled spirit actualises itself.
in other words: in Hegel's view on Protestantism, there are two cleri- cal or confessional sacraments and there is the actual (sacrament of the) salvation of the world, in which grace is visible and acts as freedom, which is the task of all spirits, recognised as spirit, and not only of a particular confessional church.
the contribution of 'religion' to man is first and foremost that he be conscious of this gracious freedom of the world itself and to justify it (in Protestant religion or in philosophy). With this actualized reconciliation, to which consciousness has no opposition--as would be the case if there were another, separate holiness through which the actual justified world itself--the religious consciousness proposes itself in an ideal way as the consciousness of truth. this religious knowing that the subject is recon- ciled with god, has different forms; it may be 'naive', (and, for such critics, the church remains subsistent), but this knowing has become for itself also thinking (enlightenment rationalism); in reaction against enlighten- ment, religious knowing appears as immediate feeling (pietism V: 266) or even it remains in an unfree way within the claimed and confessed recon- ciliation (Catholicism V5: 267). none of these forms of knowing is aware in itself of what is actual. that is the task of philosophy. Philosophy as such (within the Protestant world) therefore replaces the form of cult. e3 restates this: philosophy is the definite form of religious content; it is the religious content developed in the free manner of spirit as such (e3 ? 552 a, and ? 573). there, philosophy posits this reconciliation as the peace of god which is not higher than all reason, but which is known by reason as the truth (V5, p. 269).
3. Protestantism is lutheranism
is the lutheran or Protestant version of Christianity indeed important for Hegel's philosophy, and if so, why? it is neither the eucharist as
replacement of 'geistig' with 'geistlich', in as far as all spiritual people (geistig) become servants of the clergy (geistlich).
47 it is a sin against the Holy spirit to deny the possibility of salvation or reconciliation (or the possibility of overcoming evil (besiegten Bo? sen (V5: 288). this is entailed in the assertion that there is evil as (radical) evil, as an entity or as an event, like auschwitz.
? hegel and protestantism 263
participation or as prolepsis of the eschaton, where there is only a theo- logical difference (which is the basic form of lutheranism), nor the reduc- tion of the content of Christianity to the Bible alone (sola scriptura) that is interesting to Hegel. rather, what is important for Hegel is the purifi- cation of the singular heart (through education and action) in the ethi- cal, free life of a spiritual community. only this community may be seen as actual: just such an active spirit for the salvation of all is, for Hegel, the philosophically significant discovery of Protestantism. spirit is active in constituting what it is in itself (i. e. real love or real freedom), a spirit which lives through the community.
a. Why Protestantism?
Protestantism is characterised by a community of equally spiritual, free members, which is realised in and for salvation. this community is reli- gious, consists of a church that teaches and has a cult. this church has no priests, no members of another status, but rather fully equal mem- bers. thus, it demonstrates a real freedom, in which conscience is not bound again (and therefore in servitude) to any 'superiors' (e3 ? 503a or Grundlinien ? 66a). While Hegel's Protestantism seems to be an anti- Catholic mentality, in taking up not-insightful, unequal exteriority as the distinguishing feature of Catholicism (in the Catholic eucharist, in the dif- ference between the holy priests and worldly layman, and in the prayers only performed by the priests, in the name of the other people, e3 ? 552a), it is in fact a very reflective position, as we will see.
Hegel's philosophical view is not a cultivated Protestantism or a cul- tural Protestantism, but seems more inspired in its Protestantism by his anti-Catholic education (out of historical and familial motives),48 and his personal aversion to the Catholic faith. on the other hand, his philosophy is not interested in a (particular) church, but in a non-confessional, non- denominational presentation of Christian religion. in this philosophical position, it is not the independence of a church in view of the Kingdom of god (nor of the priests, nor of the cultic practices done in a particular church) that is important, but rather the view that the salvation given in that Kingdom itself is stressed as actual. in as far as the form of a church is exclusively particular, the living spirit (and with spirit, it is also my spirit who is at the foreground) discovers and actualises the salvation of the
48 see the contribution on Hegel's opposition to Catholicism by Peter Jonkers (in this volume).
? 264 lu de vos
world, which is reconciled in itself (i. e. the world has to bring about itself this form of reconciliation). spirit is thus the spirit of the people itself; its substance and authority do not lie in some particular, external entity, but rather in the testimony that spirit is itself the autonomy of all people.
For Hegel, the point here is that, to an unfree particularisation of reli- gion, there can only correspond a particularised (and exclusive, only external) freedom, in which the true universality of freedom (as children of god) is excluded. insofar as it is learned and proclaimed by an hierar- chy of specific (also particular) people, the priests, and is not spiritually performed by the people as a whole, and there is no universality. 49 only if there is no particular class, one above another, can there be an emphasis on the sanctification of all in freedom. this Protestantism is Protestantism in the sense of spirit as living in a community, but not that of a singular spirit. 50 From this point, it follows that for the individual, only a Protestant conscience has no problem of a double consciousness, insofar as it can adopt communal laws as laws given by the authority of god, in as far as there is no other object or subject for these laws (e3 ? 552 a). it is just this sort of merely atomistic individualism that will be promoted by Protestant liberalism of the United states. However, it remains for Hegel a real prob- lem, how this liberal individualism can be linked with a rational state. 51
What is not brought to the foreground, but must be added, is the self- destruction of Christian churches antagonistic to one another: if there are two churches, who each claim the same freedom and love, but who each deny of the freedom the other (see V3: 357-8, on the wars of religion), then the message itself has a fundamental problem. as far as the war of religions was devastating to persons and communities, it put an end to
49 this may be observed in, for example, church history after Vatican ii. Where Vatican ii defined the church as 'people of children of god' and 'service of the world', the hierarchy has (from John-Paul ii on) since returned to the speaking about the church as the totality of specific clergymen.
50 insofar as Hegel stressing this kind of Protestantism, he is neither subjectivist, nor interpreting that as (moral or political) autonomy, nor conflating the two, as Westphal suggests, m. Westphal, art. cit. , p. 77. Cf. also a. shanks, Hegel's Political Theology, Cam- bridge: Cambridge UP 1991, pp. 116-122. Hegel, on the contrary, has problems with the inte- gration of american Protestantism and their liberal opinions (Vie, 59 ff. ) For an account of Protestantism around 1800, see Fr. schlegel, Vom Charakter der Protestanten (1804), in: Fr. schlegel, Schriften zur Kritischen Philosophie, Hamburg: meiner Verlag 2007, p. 181, where he stresses the audacity to have faith by autonomous thinking alone.
51 With this thesis, the principle of subjectivism is not accepted, for, the subject must give up its particular aspects (its heart) in view of his universal, rule-governed custom. autonomy, on the contrary, is accepted, insofar as the freedom of the spirit in all its forms has the structure of autonomy or has integrated it.
? hegel and protestantism 265
any absolute claims for the Christian message in relation to the commu- nity. Following these events, the freedom and reconciliation of all appear practicable (and sanctified) with thinking, where a rational ethicity is (more) recognised, neither by luther nor by the Catholic Church (which returns to absolute and universal claims in respect to the concrete world), but in the evolution of some forms of 19th century Protestantism.
b. How Protestant?
Hegel is lutheran insofar as he is a child of his time. 52 therefore, he offers a very reflected Protestantism, that has learned to avoid the nonsensical (metaphysical) versions of (pre-enlightened) Christianity. if we now look at lutheran Protestantism in relation to three common topics, the three 'sola-principles' of luther, we can try to discern how and in what way Hegel is reacting on them.
does Hegel's philosophy accept 'sola fide'? For Hegel, faith is necessary in relation to Christ's death and resurrection, (V5: 284) to begin a reli- gious Christian community. But faith is only one of the religious expres- sions and is one-sided, although Hegel also accepts devotion as a kind of practical faith. Hegel presents specific theological topics from Christian faith, such as the trinity, the son of man, and spirit. spirit is considered the basic notion of religion, as well as of the philosophical doctrine of religion. For, in the pietist Protestantism of his day, there is the minimal form of immediate knowledge, where god is given in consciousness as spirit. it is just this form that is interesting to Hegel, so that he can link that consciousness with philosophy, which justifies it.
is there a philosophical understanding of 'sola scriptura'? Hegel accepts the Bible as the basis of Christian faith and as a book of the people (in their own language). However, such a Biblical basis is not sufficient. Hegel is aware of the problems of reading the Bible and of translation, and exegetical, (rationalistic) ways of reading the text,53 and that, in modern times, a lot of problems have arisen for which 'the letter' alone has no solution. thus, only 'the spirit' could provide a solution, but it must be inspired spirit, and that inspiration is only certain by the witness of that spirit; and the highest witness is for him: philosophical thinking.
52 insofar as he is not taking into account the eastern churches (deliberately, in his manuscript V5: 89).
53 Hegel is here alluding to the discussion between lessing and goeze, as well as to schleiermacher.
? 266 lu de vos
is there a philosophical justification of 'sola gratia'? Hegel remarks in his courses54 that there seems to be a theological opposition between grace and freedom. He himself, however, interprets the enjoyment ('Genuss'), that i am in the grace of god, or that his spirit is living in me, as the conscious union of reconciliation. it is just this reconciliation for all (not just for individuals or particular communities) that provides a conceptual solution to the problem. if everyone can use his own freedom (or spirit) to realise spirit, then grace is present for everybody. Perhaps here, this strange sort of philosophical interpretation is not bound to a particular church but is really aware of the Christian sense of salvation. it is in fact not the church that is the aim of the Christian message, but the salvation of the world (by Christ himself and not some church or another), sublated in spirit as such. For the sake of participation in this reconciliation, Hegel is interested in the sacrifice of the heart, not through a symbolic cultic act, but in reality, so that the subject attains an "absolute conviction" ('Gesin- nung') (V5, p. 284), which is at the same time the Christian (Protestant) inspiration for (and the guarantee of ) worldly institutions! such a convic- tion instantiates the morally active subjectivity (of everybody), the result of the freedom of history, within ethical institutions, insofar as these are absolutely guaranteed by god. such a conviction is not the same as Prot- estant-theological moralism, or the (felt) claim of absolute moral 'ought's' about families or states. Hegel's critique of such forms is the critique of a (in Hegel's view) sectarian (or traditionally understood) Protestantism (as the case of de Wette has shown). the same philosophical argument is valid against Catholicism: neither a church, nor theologians (as semi- priests) has the authority to render binding decisions (or to criticise in a sermon legally discussed decisions), for, in that case, they repeat the servitude of the laymen by prescribing what is valid for, and also the valid insight of, everybody!
Hegel's philosophical view of the Protestant position is thus not a tra- ditional, 'nai? ve' (or felt) lutheran view. Very specifically, and against com- mon Protestant inspiration, it consists only of three main views. these topics are indeed taken from the Christian tradition, but are worked out in such a way that they are rationally understood (but not of course in the sense of simply being de-mythologized and reduced to preconceived
54 in both courses, there are no further remarks about the teleologically difficult prob- lem that the activity of grace could present difficulties in relation to freedom (V3: 249, 1824).
? hegel and protestantism 267
scientific results) and elevated to a rational core available to everybody, which is the task of philosophy itself.
First of all, God as spirit is a philosophical interpretation, although spirit is a topic common to both the theology of spirit and the philosophy of spirit. spirit is not a simple topic, nor only one of faith (fide), but is instead linked with reason and knowledge in such a way that the empty, rationalistic (i. e. enlightenment) result is avoided. 55 the move from 'god' to 'spirit' can be explained by Hegel's aversion to theology, in as far as it has borrowed determinations from metaphysical ontology without inquir- ing into their validity. if, on the contrary, spirit is really the topic of the Christian or Christian-inspired community, then--according to Hegel's argument--everybody can accept that content containing (absolute) spirit. such a spirit is never a being that is fully independent of subjective and objective spirit, for, only in developing its notion, does spirit show how far it can take up the concept and thus being, in consciousness, also the full singularisation of its concept.
secondly, although Hegel accepts the doctrine of immortality as a specifically Christian one, he gives a philosophical interpretation of it; immortality must be interpreted as (its) own knowledge and thus as eter- nal (V5, 227 or also 140). this knowledge accepts the right of the subject to perform its action with insight. that is, morality does not imply strange or universalistic (or even Christian) commands, but the subjective version of a freedom (of infinite value) in conformity with a common freedom. in this way, it would be possible (in principle) for everybody to accept this philosophical reconstruction. However, such an account or interpretation seems not to be in conformity with scripture, according to a fundamental- ist reading of the Bible.
thirdly, Hegel offers a very specific interpretation of 'grace': it is not specifically only grace for some (as in the doctrine of predestination), but rather a task (in or of freedom) for everybody, insofar as grace is the recon- ciliation performed in and through spirit. according to this doctrine, evil is (after Christ) reconciled (not only for particular religious people, but also for everybody). evil is (according to Christianity) not an ontological
55 on this point, t. guz makes a difficult statement; his overall thesis is that Hegel's logic and philosophy is only a development of lutheran theology; but at least on one point he himself gives the counterexample: faith for luther is not ex ratione, whereas Hegel accepts the rationality of every religion and of faith. see t. guz, Zum Gottesbegriff G. W. F. Hegels im Ru? ckblick auf das Gottesversta? ndnis Martin Luthers: eine metaphysische Untersu- chung, Frankfurt am main: P. lang 1998, p. 230, note 193!
? 268 lu de vos
category (that would be a return to manichaeism or to the religion of the Pharisees)56 (V5, 226-7), but a thought (linked with consciousness) and a moral one (with implications for ethicity--in the relation of the subjec- tive part in ethical relations, or insofar as it may not concretise its duty in the right way). evil is just a moral category, and indicates in its communal form a 'bad existence', that may happen to exist ('Daseyn'), as there are bad states (e. g. tyranny), bad religions (for Hegel, this includes the roman Catholic version of Christianity), bad sciences (e. g. phrenology), (16: 261), but it does not have actuality ('Wirklichkeit') in a philosophical sense, insofar as a merely bad existence is an existence that will end at a certain moment without achieving its own purpose and without concep- tual result. 57 the claim valid for everybody, however, is to realise the rec- onciliation, in as far as everybody presents him- or herself as spirit. 58 even if this is contrary to specific (Protestant) doctrines of particular grace, it makes sense in terms of the Christian doctrine of reconciliation of, and salvation for all people of 'good willing', i. e. for all those who are acting in a really free way. in this interpretation, it is only the Protestant thematic principle of grace that enables, in its radical (philosophical) account, for everybody, the independence of the law of the community from specific Christian doctrine, so that there historically arises inner justice and ethic- ity of the state (see 18: 173).
c. Protestantism is Not Only a Religious, but also an Historical Principle59 Protestantism is not only a distinct theology, not only a doctrine of sal-
vation in the development of cult, but it also has, as such a doctrine, an
56 accordingly, no historical event is such a bad 'in itself '. the only event of such impor- tance could be the crucifixion of Jesus out of which (o felix culpa) he has appeared for the community as Christ.
57 even the genocides of the 20th century (of Hitler, stalin, Pol Pot, etc. ) have had--too late--an end: the result is, at least in one case, a resurrection of common freedom.
58 even in history, there is no theodicy-problem of evil. Bad and evil events are not pro- duced by a world spirit, but are produced by spirits, the sense of which is to be reconciled by considering, that--even with such elements--there may be a progression of freedom and of consciousness thereof. For a discussion of history as theodicy of freedom and not of god, see W. Hu? ffer, Theodizee der Freiheit. (Hegel-studien. Beiheft 46), Hamburg: Bouvier Verlag 2002. that there is no notion of god who could be the object of protest for what humans themselves do in history, see W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, stuttgart & Weimar: J. B. metzler 2003, pp. 412-414.
59 see J. dierken, Hegels 'protestantisches Prinzip', in: Hegels Vorlesungen u? ber die Philoso- phie der Weltgeschichte (Hegel-studien. Beiheft 38), Bonn: Bouvier Verlag 1998, pp. 123-146. For a composite view, see r. gascoigne, Religion, Rationality and Community, dordrecht: martinus nijhoff Publishers 1985, pp. 266-7.
? hegel and protestantism 269
historical principle out of cult (see specifically V3, 340 as well as V5, 269). With this specific insight into the structure of history in Christian times, we come to Hegel's most specific (later) insight, that the Protestant world is that world in which Christian freedom appears in actuality ('Wirklich- keit') for everybody, insofar as only therein is rational ethicity (which is attainable in principle for everyone) the realised, free goal of the devel- opment of Protestant Christianity, in opposition to the 'Catholic' non- realisation.
this claim in principle, on the political and historical differences between the Christian churches, is given by Hegel on the occasion of a festival in the Oratio in Sacris Saecularibus tertiis Traditae Confessio- nis Augustanae (Speech for the Celebration of the Jubilee of the Confessio Augustana, 1830). 60 this Oratio (speech) has a negative thesis: against Catholicism, Hegel posits that faith and doctrine are no longer the pur- view of a commission of scholars nor of a spiritual-clerical ('geistliche') authority. Furthermore, there is no need for a separate holiness, because it is just such a view on holiness that makes impossible any real reconcili- ation among Catholic states, either as ethicity or in their constitution. .
the positive doctrine of the Oratio amounts to one main point. reli- gion is not merely a private affair, but rather, the (Christian) religion is the womb of real freedom. 61 Because Christian religion teaches freedom, there can be no possible separation of religion and state.
? 254 lu de vos
'heterodox',32 but is the result of the philosophical insight that the imme- diate (ontological) understanding of religion (in terms of separate enti- ties, such as a god independent of the use of religious words, or immortal souls) is not rational. the proofs of the existence of god are the explication of religious consciousness and, in that sense, of religion itself. the most important of these proofs is the ontological one (anselm, descartes and Wolff ), which is used only in Christian times. in this case, Hegel is address- ing the Christian tradition in general, not a particularly lutheran or particu- larly Protestant one, insofar as this proof is itself rational and not based on any particular faith alone. in this proof, as well as in Hegel's philosophy of religion generally, the being or the objectivity is indicated and justified in terms of the concept, for, only in the case of god, does its substance include his own being in himself. this philosophical exposition of the ontological proof is just the return to that concept that is posited at the beginning of the philosophy of religion.
educated religious people exercise their religious identity and proper ele- vation through a particular system of religious worship (i. e. 'cult'), which gives them a real unity with 'god'. in the elevation of the proofs of god's existence, which presuppose a (metaphysical) concept, it remains unclear for the religious consciousness that it is itself that is elevating itself. at this level, however, religiously knowing consciousness remains within in its own representation, separated from its divine object. to overcome this represented separation or presupposed split is the purpose of ritual and ceremonial practices (i. e. cult). Cult thus provides the highest form of enjoyment to self-consciousness, in the way in which it reconciles that consciousness with the absolute. Participation in this (represented) reconciliation, which is (for the religious subject) fully and already per- formed by the divine act of salvation, is the basic activity of cult. this cult takes on a multiplicity of different forms; it is first of all devotion or con- templative prayer, which is active faith, or, in other words, it is engaged religious thinking, participating in god, so that the reconciliation is actual for him.
the particular forms of sacrifice, however, are secondly, from the point of view of the religious subject, essential. these forms are outer or exter- nal, but, from the point of view of the religious subject, essential. the external forms reproduce the reconciliation in little sacrifices and sac- ramental rites. in such practices, the religious subject is performing the
32 see C. o'regan, The Heterodox Hegel, albany: sUnY Press 1994.
? hegel and protestantism 255
same elevation, but now for and with his own consciousness, so that the form of representation is destroyed. such a ritual sacrifice is the negation and offering of some finite thing through which the subject demonstrates that he is enjoying ('geniessend') the unity of himself with his god. 33
the most important and authentic form of sacrifice is the sacrifice of the heart, not only in the sense of the purification of desire and of par- ticular passions, but also in the production of spirituality in the form of universality. the finitude or particularity of every subject has to elevate itself to its own purity, so that there is a universal law (of reconciliation), recognisable for everybody. this is the promotion of ethicity (Sittlichkeit) or the production of such an actuality that manifests the reconciliation in this world, but with which the consciousness of the truth remains reli- giously linked. ethicity, then, does not involve simply the singular act of repentance, as it were merely a response to something bad, but it is a genuine form of reconciliation. such a realisation of the annihilation of the particularity of the heart is not so much an extension of the cult as it is the true liberation of the freedom of the world to its own (spiritual) affair ('Sache'). even better, it is not a particular grace, but everyone's actual striving toward real reconciliation! such an account, that it is not the enjoyment of the external cult, but the purification of the heart, as the highest form of cult, may seem to be particularly Protestant in its inspira- tion (as will become clear in Hegel's presentation of Christianity). the true consciousness of the actual purification in ethicity seems to be insightful religion, or that it has become a practical insight available to everybody, or, in other words, that it has become philosophy. religion depends upon this ethicity insofar as such an elevation (or purification) is linked with philosophy as the consciousness of truth, and also in as far as it is only out of this ethicity that god is no longer only a religious substance, but also interpreted as 'free spirit' (e3 ? 552 a).
at this point, this internally elaborated concept could be an illusory or merely an internal philosophical concept (or a merely semantic defini- tion) without validity, even with its allusion to real forms like sacraments and ethicity. to prove such forms have more than a merely illusory, inter- nal, or semantic validity, they should be singularised for consciousness in real religion(s).
33 Hegel is describing all religious forms, in and through his own religious attitude, in terms of Christianity. However, the sense of this conceptual presentation is formal, valid for every religion.
? 256 lu de vos
b. Revealed or Consummate Religion is Christianity34
Hegel claims that the Christian religion fulfils, in historical actuality, the concept of religion, and is, as the result of the conceptual development of all other religions, therefore also true religion. in this rational form ('Gestalt'), the philosophical presentation of Christianity must be recogn- isable for everyone, including faithful or religious people. so, such a philo- sophical presentation must not be based only on a traditional view, or a view that is guaranteed by a religious authority or by the faithful, because a philosophical interpretation of Christianity is not a form of catechism (Dritter Replik, 16: 273). However, in such an interpretation, even religious people should not miss essential features of their faith (e. g. in Christianity, there must be attention to Jesus, who is their Christ) and this exposition should be a philosophical presentation of theological insights. in his sum- mary, Hegel claims that the specifically essential aspects of Christianity are the trinity (which was not taken to be theologically very essential during his time), the appearance of Jesus as Christ, the immortality of the soul and the state (when understood as the modern version of the King- dom of god) (l. c. , 16: 270). 35
in as far as Christianity is the truth of the concept, as well as of other forms of religion, all marks of such religious conceptions are emphasised, and where the central preconceptions are Christian ones. 36 in this reli- gion, the full realisation of such views is asserted, such as the trinity (in the form of religious triplicity), the incarnation (V5, 236, from W2) and the death of god (in Jesus). the differences in the views on immortal- ity between pre-Christian and Christian religions are elaborated in the courses, in order to point to the essential meaning of Christianity.
not presupposed, however, is the concrete concept of spirit. this con- cept is the idea of religion, specifying the concept of god, insofar as it
34 For a reliable english version: P. Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology, oxford: oxford UP 2005; the best philosophical books on Hegel's religion remain, however, W. Jaeschke, Die Religionsphilosophie Hegels, darmstadt: WBg 1983 and Jaeschke, Die Ver- nunft, (o. c. ).
35 this claim is very difficult, insofar as religious people (and religious authorities) seem to be unaware of their (particular) assumptions (e. g. the so-called transcendence or infin- ity or being as well as formulations from the ecumenical Councils), but miss the point, that a philosophy should provide an insight into not just of the claimed truth of a particular religion, but of the truth of religion as such, which would apply even for atheists. For a different summary, see st. rocker, Hegel's Rational Religion, madison & london: Fairleigh dickinson UP 1995, p. 189.
36 For a discussion of other religions, see the rest of this book.
? hegel and protestantism 257
has returned in itself. in the consummate religion, god is in himself his own distinction. only by grasping this distinction of the concept and this distinction as the self-distinction of god, is there a spiritual religion: with this self-distinction, god is spirit. as spirit, He is not (only) substance, but spirit in its distinction; such a spirit is (minimally) spirit appearing for, or manifesting itself for spirit. in true religion, Spirit is the object of religion and vice versa; (absolute) spirit is so for spirit, and spirit is the form of appearing of spirit. revelation from god is the self-manifestation of spirit for spirit itself. With this interpretation or presentation, Hegel does not stress as much the specifically Christian character of religion, but discovers, in a religious form ('Gestalt'), his own determination of spirit. spirit is the activity of the self-distinction of spirit. it manifests the particular moment(s) of its own essence or universality, through which it is never without exis- tence (i. e. being-there or 'Daseyn') (e3 ? 383-384). 37 absolute spirit is just the correspondence of the concept thereof with its own reality. revelation is the form, which is given by spirit to itself; it is rational, insofar as we can also recognise ourselves in that form ('Gestalt') as rational.
this revelation, however, is, in the Christian religion, also positive. 'Posi- tive' here means that there is an enduring object, or something present for consciousness itself. a positive side is necessary for revelatory religion, insofar as even religion must appear (for consciousness), and thus for rep- resentation, as spirit must be present for everybody (or, in as far as the content of 'a spirit' is taken up by them). as positive, however, the Bible contains the doctrine, which can be elaborated by specific churches as well as by theology, where the witness of spirit is known in scientific form. even as spirit, the content or doctrine has its positiveness. only in his concretion as activity, is god a living god, in the act of determining his own spiritual concept himself.
the content of religion, even in forms of representation, is also one of thinking, or truth. 38 religion claims to have a truth over and above that of other religions (and against other forms of [finite] consciousness). truth is present where spirit appears in religion as consciousness of its own spirit. Verification can only be the witness of spirit itself, in as far as it inte- grates or internalizes its own spirit, which appears in humans as reason or
37 With such a presentation, Hegel determines the manifestation of spirit (as god) in terms of his own logic. 'god' is also thought to be a very specific singularisation of the concept (as idea).
38 see for an (insufficient) truth discussion, insofar as Hegel seems again and again to be interpreted as a dogmatic rationalist: st. rocher, Hegel's Rational Religion, pp. 137-162.
? 258 lu de vos
thinking. thinking sublates the split between both sides of the same spirit in the proofs of god's existence (as spirit, or out of the concept). these proofs start from spirit, which is truth and, more specifically, absolute spirit, which lives through its own determination and from this determination, and is also observable in the conceptual determination(s) of earlier religions. in this way, it contains finite forms in determining itself as itself, which is its self-positing. spirit has to contain (religious) finitude in itself in order to be real spirit. the point made by the ontological proof is important: only the concept attains liberation from positiveness and is real freedom or the essence of spirit for itself. 39 the transition, however, is to spirit itself, which exists as absolute subjectivity and as absolute personality. With its exposition as absolute spirit, spirit arrives at its definition as (authentic or true) spirit. thus, spirit is spiritual in its positive appearance and pres- ents spirit as absolute spirit; both are moments of its own actuality, which it manifests as spirit.
as in the concept of religion, the first moment (the abstract specificity) appears in a different form for religion (available for everybody, in repre- sentation). the first determination is god in his eternal essence, before the creation of the world, the inner trinity of god, where, in his eternal essence through his son, he becomes spirit only for himself, at the level of god's persons loving one another. in this view, Hegel uses its own (theology- based) terminology: the immanent trinity (as opposed to the 'economic' or revealed trinity) does not mean immanent in the world, but immanent in god himself. the reference to the trinity before Jesus' appearance on earth is in Hegel's view 'in itself ', and thus not transcendent. if that which is 'in itself ' is to be significant and not remain an empty concept, it must be 'fulfilled' or developed. immanence used in this sense is not opposed to transcendence. What could be called transcendence is just Hegel's imma-
39 only when the traditional form of religious expression is taken as being the 'one true' form (as in supernaturalism), is philosophy considered to be hostile to religion, when it is critical of the 'self-evidence' or the presuppositions within traditional ways of speaking. Philosophy, however, is just the analysing all these truth claims, in such a way, that truth itself is its topic (of inquiry), which is not the case for physics (nature), nor for religion (god as Christ). theology, on the other hand, most of the time provides just such a truth- inquiry to philosophy, and takes over such claims. in doing so, it comes to an apory: if god is the truth, then theology has the only object of truth, but in as far as truth also comes from other (discursive) forms of knowing, theology is dependent on just such a doctrine of truth-claims (like logic), in which there is no place (or no exclusive place) for god. if, on the other hand, a religion is only a particularity (one narrative among others), then it can have no further claim on universal recognisability and has destroyed its own claims on truth.
? hegel and protestantism 259
nence as 'Jenseits' (or 'beyond'). the trinity could be a 'Jenseits', if it were not already related to our religious Christian knowledge, knowledge being the only possible topic of philosophy! in as far as an entity can be com- pleted without being known (as is the case for every content containing knowledge that is not philosophical), theology and religious conscious- ness can claim, within their own form or domain (i. e. religion) that there is such independent, infinite thing. 40 However, insofar as this thinking claims to be true (in Hegel's sense), even the trinity cannot remain on the other side of actuality. truth requires the determination of its own concept. it must appear as (religiously knowable) spirit. 41
the second moment is the creation of the son as an earthly person,42 through whom the oppositions between Heaven and earth, god and man, good and bad, are instantiated. really appearing and developing, god reveals himself in the suffering and death of the temporalised, eternal son, through which this son becomes spirit. to grasp this sensuous actuality as spiritual and religious actuality, finite spirit must intuit and remem- ber the birth and death of the reconciler, so that finite spirit can iden- tify itself with this reconciliation and the community may constitute the actual presence of spirit (for itself ). in the death of the reconciler, which is, at the same time, the death of god as merely abstract or immanent (in itself ) it is shown that man takes up the true religion, so that, through the reconciler, the eternal history of god has arisen into consciousness. in this way, god is the process of giving up his immanence to deliver himself to
40 in itself or immanent (trinity/Father) is only the opposite phenomenon (the 'eco- nomic' trinity/son), but neither are explicated as concrete (Parousia/spirit); that, at least, is Hegel's critical version of the Kantian argument. only metaphysical (and not so much theological) statements stress the so-called transcendence of god. However, such a god is not a trinitarian god!
41 With this thesis, a Christian theologian could see a difficulty or danger; god 'should' be free not to manifest himself, but for Hegel such a freedom is empty, and is demonstrated to be empty, in as far as god has created, and has manifested himself. even though the trinity seems to indicate some conceptual moments, Hegel's logic is not god, (as seems to be desmond's point, W. desmond, Hegel's God, aldershot: ashgate 2003, p. 130), but rather all definitions of the (metaphysical) absolute are contained in the logic (H. F. Fulda, 'spekulative logik als die eigentliche metaphysik', in: d. Pa? tzold & a. Vanderjagt, Hrsg. ), Hegels Transformation der Metaphysik, Ko? ln: dinter 1991, pp. 9-27). Without their (own) speculative methodical generation, however, which is the very contribution of the theory or doctrine of rationality, Hegel's logic has also taken up (and replaced) the philosophical importance of what was the religious (and mistakenly metaphysical) concept of god. this is really the core of every (logical) concept, which is insofar as it is an objective concept; and god is--therefore--a concept, even the main example of the logical concept, that the idea is such a truth, is therefore also a logical exposition (Darstellung).
42 Within a mythological representation, this is the first adam.
? 260 lu de vos
the resurrection in spirit. on this point, there are no differences between Christian denominations, in as far as the title of 'son of god' is not inter- preted in borrowed, metaphysical terms. every Christian church accepts the basic form of Jesus as (the) Christ.
the third element of Hegel's concept of religion is the community, inspired by the Holy spirit. it is the Kingdom of god, where god is spirit. this community includes all the people who have faith in the spiritual history of god, as well as those who elaborate the spiritual development of the kingdom of god, of which they are members. the community is existing spirit and is believed in by spirit in its concreteness and reality. the religious moments present just this transformation of every spirit that manifests itself in the trinitarian way, the passing away from the senses of the singular subject, and the resurrection as universal spirit, by giving its testimony of truth. in the existent community, the doctrine of faith is grasped as valid truth. this truth of spirit is, in Christian religion, true for all people. individual members are born into it through Baptism and are educated to its truth; the church teaches freedom and educates non- spiritual people to freedom. they receive absolution within the commu- nity of reconciliation and they enjoy the presence of god in the eucharist. the process of the community is, furthermore, the whole divine process, in and through which the subject is spiritualised.
Hegel's Protestantism is apparent in his discussion of the sacraments. in both the courses of 1827 and 1831, he restricts the sacraments to just two, Baptism and the eucharist. on forgiveness or absolution, the remark about the Catholic sacrament of Confession (1821, V5, 89) is left out; it may be open to discussion, which person can, as spirit, 'undo the past' ('das Geschehene ungeschehen machen'). 43 such an action is included within the church in the form of education (1821, V5, 260). in fact, such an act is vis- ible as the real and legal power of the king.
more important, however, is Baptism, where the child learns that it will be educated toward the freedom of its own good actions, and in which it is confirmed that evil is subdued so that the subject can do good in such a reconciled world. the subsistence of the community is fully realised through participation in the eucharist. specifically for the philosophy of religion, the differences on the eucharist are presented. 44 the eucharist
43 see my 'das geschehene ungeschehen machen', in: Jahrbuch fu? r Hegel-Forschung 4/5, 2000, pp. 221-230.
44 For m. Westphal (Hegel and Protestantism, in: r. Perkins (ed. ), History and System, albany, 1985, p. 82 as well for Jonkers (in this volume) the basic difference between Cathol-
? hegel and protestantism 261
(or lord's supper) is the participation in the resurrection of Christ by the religious subject. Here, Hegel stresses how lutheranism accepts the spiri- tual transubstantiation in spirit and faith: god as Christ is present in acts of the eating and drinking themselves, not independently in the bread and wine (Catholicism) or only in memory (Calvinism). in this Communion, the individual, Christian subject enjoys ('geniesst') the presence of god.
However, in as far as it is only the Christian individual or the particular community who enjoys the reconciliation, this reconciliation is not yet actual. such a community has a further task: it is insufficient to produce only an abstract reconciliation in opposition to the actuality proper. With the subject's purification to spirit, the grace of reconciliation for all men is discovered and may be realised in a free world. such a grace is not in opposition to freedom, as was discussed in traditional Protestantism (1821, V5, 302), but it is the grace of freedom itself (V5: 262; 288). so it becomes clear: it is not the cult that is the realisation of community, but rather a universal ethicity in a free world that is the realisation of the spiritual- ity of the community, and thus, of a spirituality available to everyone. 45 ethical life, which is the form of universal law justifiable for everybody, is in fact the divestment by the Christian community of its particular form in view of the full realisation of spirit. it is a giving up, by the Christian community, of its own particularity, for the sake of the redemption of the world (i. e. of everyone). as such, this realisation is not the promotion of a particularly Protestant way of life or of a 'Protestant' state, but rather of a really free community, which is aware that the form of the community itself is itself rationally good.
in this case, it is not holiness or (Catholic) sanctity, which is abstract and retired from the word, which is important, but rather the justification and sanctification of the rational ethical world. For Hegel, it is not celibacy, poverty, or the servitude to others (priests) that is holy, but rather marriage, work, and political freedom under the self-given law that are sanctified (e3 ? 552 a). 46 in this way, true religiosity can appear
icism and Protestantism is their respective understandings of eucharist. this, however, is only an inner theological discussion. the point Hegel emphasises is not as such a theologi- cal one, but a basic concept, fully linked with Christianity, of the constitutive concept of freedom, where only the Protestants are not restoring spiritual servitude and make no fatal contradiction. this point is completely missed by m. lilla, Hegel and the Political Theology of reconciliation, in: The Review of Metaphysics 54, 2001, pp. 859-900; esp. 885 ff.
45 see the review of the end of the four courses, st. rocker, Hegel's Rational Religion, madison & london, 1995, pp. 166-176.
46 in german, Hegel can play with the words 'geistlich' and 'geistig', both rooted in spirit (Geist), (Vie, 191); the perversion in the roman-Catholic church consists for Hegel in the
? 262 lu de vos
as true ethicity, in which the structures of an objective (and not subjective) world, that is reconciled as such or (minimally) in itself, are justified. 47 the modern secular world, based on Protestantism, substitutes ('ersetzt') the church as the spiritual realm in which reconciled spirit actualises itself.
in other words: in Hegel's view on Protestantism, there are two cleri- cal or confessional sacraments and there is the actual (sacrament of the) salvation of the world, in which grace is visible and acts as freedom, which is the task of all spirits, recognised as spirit, and not only of a particular confessional church.
the contribution of 'religion' to man is first and foremost that he be conscious of this gracious freedom of the world itself and to justify it (in Protestant religion or in philosophy). With this actualized reconciliation, to which consciousness has no opposition--as would be the case if there were another, separate holiness through which the actual justified world itself--the religious consciousness proposes itself in an ideal way as the consciousness of truth. this religious knowing that the subject is recon- ciled with god, has different forms; it may be 'naive', (and, for such critics, the church remains subsistent), but this knowing has become for itself also thinking (enlightenment rationalism); in reaction against enlighten- ment, religious knowing appears as immediate feeling (pietism V: 266) or even it remains in an unfree way within the claimed and confessed recon- ciliation (Catholicism V5: 267). none of these forms of knowing is aware in itself of what is actual. that is the task of philosophy. Philosophy as such (within the Protestant world) therefore replaces the form of cult. e3 restates this: philosophy is the definite form of religious content; it is the religious content developed in the free manner of spirit as such (e3 ? 552 a, and ? 573). there, philosophy posits this reconciliation as the peace of god which is not higher than all reason, but which is known by reason as the truth (V5, p. 269).
3. Protestantism is lutheranism
is the lutheran or Protestant version of Christianity indeed important for Hegel's philosophy, and if so, why? it is neither the eucharist as
replacement of 'geistig' with 'geistlich', in as far as all spiritual people (geistig) become servants of the clergy (geistlich).
47 it is a sin against the Holy spirit to deny the possibility of salvation or reconciliation (or the possibility of overcoming evil (besiegten Bo? sen (V5: 288). this is entailed in the assertion that there is evil as (radical) evil, as an entity or as an event, like auschwitz.
? hegel and protestantism 263
participation or as prolepsis of the eschaton, where there is only a theo- logical difference (which is the basic form of lutheranism), nor the reduc- tion of the content of Christianity to the Bible alone (sola scriptura) that is interesting to Hegel. rather, what is important for Hegel is the purifi- cation of the singular heart (through education and action) in the ethi- cal, free life of a spiritual community. only this community may be seen as actual: just such an active spirit for the salvation of all is, for Hegel, the philosophically significant discovery of Protestantism. spirit is active in constituting what it is in itself (i. e. real love or real freedom), a spirit which lives through the community.
a. Why Protestantism?
Protestantism is characterised by a community of equally spiritual, free members, which is realised in and for salvation. this community is reli- gious, consists of a church that teaches and has a cult. this church has no priests, no members of another status, but rather fully equal mem- bers. thus, it demonstrates a real freedom, in which conscience is not bound again (and therefore in servitude) to any 'superiors' (e3 ? 503a or Grundlinien ? 66a). While Hegel's Protestantism seems to be an anti- Catholic mentality, in taking up not-insightful, unequal exteriority as the distinguishing feature of Catholicism (in the Catholic eucharist, in the dif- ference between the holy priests and worldly layman, and in the prayers only performed by the priests, in the name of the other people, e3 ? 552a), it is in fact a very reflective position, as we will see.
Hegel's philosophical view is not a cultivated Protestantism or a cul- tural Protestantism, but seems more inspired in its Protestantism by his anti-Catholic education (out of historical and familial motives),48 and his personal aversion to the Catholic faith. on the other hand, his philosophy is not interested in a (particular) church, but in a non-confessional, non- denominational presentation of Christian religion. in this philosophical position, it is not the independence of a church in view of the Kingdom of god (nor of the priests, nor of the cultic practices done in a particular church) that is important, but rather the view that the salvation given in that Kingdom itself is stressed as actual. in as far as the form of a church is exclusively particular, the living spirit (and with spirit, it is also my spirit who is at the foreground) discovers and actualises the salvation of the
48 see the contribution on Hegel's opposition to Catholicism by Peter Jonkers (in this volume).
? 264 lu de vos
world, which is reconciled in itself (i. e. the world has to bring about itself this form of reconciliation). spirit is thus the spirit of the people itself; its substance and authority do not lie in some particular, external entity, but rather in the testimony that spirit is itself the autonomy of all people.
For Hegel, the point here is that, to an unfree particularisation of reli- gion, there can only correspond a particularised (and exclusive, only external) freedom, in which the true universality of freedom (as children of god) is excluded. insofar as it is learned and proclaimed by an hierar- chy of specific (also particular) people, the priests, and is not spiritually performed by the people as a whole, and there is no universality. 49 only if there is no particular class, one above another, can there be an emphasis on the sanctification of all in freedom. this Protestantism is Protestantism in the sense of spirit as living in a community, but not that of a singular spirit. 50 From this point, it follows that for the individual, only a Protestant conscience has no problem of a double consciousness, insofar as it can adopt communal laws as laws given by the authority of god, in as far as there is no other object or subject for these laws (e3 ? 552 a). it is just this sort of merely atomistic individualism that will be promoted by Protestant liberalism of the United states. However, it remains for Hegel a real prob- lem, how this liberal individualism can be linked with a rational state. 51
What is not brought to the foreground, but must be added, is the self- destruction of Christian churches antagonistic to one another: if there are two churches, who each claim the same freedom and love, but who each deny of the freedom the other (see V3: 357-8, on the wars of religion), then the message itself has a fundamental problem. as far as the war of religions was devastating to persons and communities, it put an end to
49 this may be observed in, for example, church history after Vatican ii. Where Vatican ii defined the church as 'people of children of god' and 'service of the world', the hierarchy has (from John-Paul ii on) since returned to the speaking about the church as the totality of specific clergymen.
50 insofar as Hegel stressing this kind of Protestantism, he is neither subjectivist, nor interpreting that as (moral or political) autonomy, nor conflating the two, as Westphal suggests, m. Westphal, art. cit. , p. 77. Cf. also a. shanks, Hegel's Political Theology, Cam- bridge: Cambridge UP 1991, pp. 116-122. Hegel, on the contrary, has problems with the inte- gration of american Protestantism and their liberal opinions (Vie, 59 ff. ) For an account of Protestantism around 1800, see Fr. schlegel, Vom Charakter der Protestanten (1804), in: Fr. schlegel, Schriften zur Kritischen Philosophie, Hamburg: meiner Verlag 2007, p. 181, where he stresses the audacity to have faith by autonomous thinking alone.
51 With this thesis, the principle of subjectivism is not accepted, for, the subject must give up its particular aspects (its heart) in view of his universal, rule-governed custom. autonomy, on the contrary, is accepted, insofar as the freedom of the spirit in all its forms has the structure of autonomy or has integrated it.
? hegel and protestantism 265
any absolute claims for the Christian message in relation to the commu- nity. Following these events, the freedom and reconciliation of all appear practicable (and sanctified) with thinking, where a rational ethicity is (more) recognised, neither by luther nor by the Catholic Church (which returns to absolute and universal claims in respect to the concrete world), but in the evolution of some forms of 19th century Protestantism.
b. How Protestant?
Hegel is lutheran insofar as he is a child of his time. 52 therefore, he offers a very reflected Protestantism, that has learned to avoid the nonsensical (metaphysical) versions of (pre-enlightened) Christianity. if we now look at lutheran Protestantism in relation to three common topics, the three 'sola-principles' of luther, we can try to discern how and in what way Hegel is reacting on them.
does Hegel's philosophy accept 'sola fide'? For Hegel, faith is necessary in relation to Christ's death and resurrection, (V5: 284) to begin a reli- gious Christian community. But faith is only one of the religious expres- sions and is one-sided, although Hegel also accepts devotion as a kind of practical faith. Hegel presents specific theological topics from Christian faith, such as the trinity, the son of man, and spirit. spirit is considered the basic notion of religion, as well as of the philosophical doctrine of religion. For, in the pietist Protestantism of his day, there is the minimal form of immediate knowledge, where god is given in consciousness as spirit. it is just this form that is interesting to Hegel, so that he can link that consciousness with philosophy, which justifies it.
is there a philosophical understanding of 'sola scriptura'? Hegel accepts the Bible as the basis of Christian faith and as a book of the people (in their own language). However, such a Biblical basis is not sufficient. Hegel is aware of the problems of reading the Bible and of translation, and exegetical, (rationalistic) ways of reading the text,53 and that, in modern times, a lot of problems have arisen for which 'the letter' alone has no solution. thus, only 'the spirit' could provide a solution, but it must be inspired spirit, and that inspiration is only certain by the witness of that spirit; and the highest witness is for him: philosophical thinking.
52 insofar as he is not taking into account the eastern churches (deliberately, in his manuscript V5: 89).
53 Hegel is here alluding to the discussion between lessing and goeze, as well as to schleiermacher.
? 266 lu de vos
is there a philosophical justification of 'sola gratia'? Hegel remarks in his courses54 that there seems to be a theological opposition between grace and freedom. He himself, however, interprets the enjoyment ('Genuss'), that i am in the grace of god, or that his spirit is living in me, as the conscious union of reconciliation. it is just this reconciliation for all (not just for individuals or particular communities) that provides a conceptual solution to the problem. if everyone can use his own freedom (or spirit) to realise spirit, then grace is present for everybody. Perhaps here, this strange sort of philosophical interpretation is not bound to a particular church but is really aware of the Christian sense of salvation. it is in fact not the church that is the aim of the Christian message, but the salvation of the world (by Christ himself and not some church or another), sublated in spirit as such. For the sake of participation in this reconciliation, Hegel is interested in the sacrifice of the heart, not through a symbolic cultic act, but in reality, so that the subject attains an "absolute conviction" ('Gesin- nung') (V5, p. 284), which is at the same time the Christian (Protestant) inspiration for (and the guarantee of ) worldly institutions! such a convic- tion instantiates the morally active subjectivity (of everybody), the result of the freedom of history, within ethical institutions, insofar as these are absolutely guaranteed by god. such a conviction is not the same as Prot- estant-theological moralism, or the (felt) claim of absolute moral 'ought's' about families or states. Hegel's critique of such forms is the critique of a (in Hegel's view) sectarian (or traditionally understood) Protestantism (as the case of de Wette has shown). the same philosophical argument is valid against Catholicism: neither a church, nor theologians (as semi- priests) has the authority to render binding decisions (or to criticise in a sermon legally discussed decisions), for, in that case, they repeat the servitude of the laymen by prescribing what is valid for, and also the valid insight of, everybody!
Hegel's philosophical view of the Protestant position is thus not a tra- ditional, 'nai? ve' (or felt) lutheran view. Very specifically, and against com- mon Protestant inspiration, it consists only of three main views. these topics are indeed taken from the Christian tradition, but are worked out in such a way that they are rationally understood (but not of course in the sense of simply being de-mythologized and reduced to preconceived
54 in both courses, there are no further remarks about the teleologically difficult prob- lem that the activity of grace could present difficulties in relation to freedom (V3: 249, 1824).
? hegel and protestantism 267
scientific results) and elevated to a rational core available to everybody, which is the task of philosophy itself.
First of all, God as spirit is a philosophical interpretation, although spirit is a topic common to both the theology of spirit and the philosophy of spirit. spirit is not a simple topic, nor only one of faith (fide), but is instead linked with reason and knowledge in such a way that the empty, rationalistic (i. e. enlightenment) result is avoided. 55 the move from 'god' to 'spirit' can be explained by Hegel's aversion to theology, in as far as it has borrowed determinations from metaphysical ontology without inquir- ing into their validity. if, on the contrary, spirit is really the topic of the Christian or Christian-inspired community, then--according to Hegel's argument--everybody can accept that content containing (absolute) spirit. such a spirit is never a being that is fully independent of subjective and objective spirit, for, only in developing its notion, does spirit show how far it can take up the concept and thus being, in consciousness, also the full singularisation of its concept.
secondly, although Hegel accepts the doctrine of immortality as a specifically Christian one, he gives a philosophical interpretation of it; immortality must be interpreted as (its) own knowledge and thus as eter- nal (V5, 227 or also 140). this knowledge accepts the right of the subject to perform its action with insight. that is, morality does not imply strange or universalistic (or even Christian) commands, but the subjective version of a freedom (of infinite value) in conformity with a common freedom. in this way, it would be possible (in principle) for everybody to accept this philosophical reconstruction. However, such an account or interpretation seems not to be in conformity with scripture, according to a fundamental- ist reading of the Bible.
thirdly, Hegel offers a very specific interpretation of 'grace': it is not specifically only grace for some (as in the doctrine of predestination), but rather a task (in or of freedom) for everybody, insofar as grace is the recon- ciliation performed in and through spirit. according to this doctrine, evil is (after Christ) reconciled (not only for particular religious people, but also for everybody). evil is (according to Christianity) not an ontological
55 on this point, t. guz makes a difficult statement; his overall thesis is that Hegel's logic and philosophy is only a development of lutheran theology; but at least on one point he himself gives the counterexample: faith for luther is not ex ratione, whereas Hegel accepts the rationality of every religion and of faith. see t. guz, Zum Gottesbegriff G. W. F. Hegels im Ru? ckblick auf das Gottesversta? ndnis Martin Luthers: eine metaphysische Untersu- chung, Frankfurt am main: P. lang 1998, p. 230, note 193!
? 268 lu de vos
category (that would be a return to manichaeism or to the religion of the Pharisees)56 (V5, 226-7), but a thought (linked with consciousness) and a moral one (with implications for ethicity--in the relation of the subjec- tive part in ethical relations, or insofar as it may not concretise its duty in the right way). evil is just a moral category, and indicates in its communal form a 'bad existence', that may happen to exist ('Daseyn'), as there are bad states (e. g. tyranny), bad religions (for Hegel, this includes the roman Catholic version of Christianity), bad sciences (e. g. phrenology), (16: 261), but it does not have actuality ('Wirklichkeit') in a philosophical sense, insofar as a merely bad existence is an existence that will end at a certain moment without achieving its own purpose and without concep- tual result. 57 the claim valid for everybody, however, is to realise the rec- onciliation, in as far as everybody presents him- or herself as spirit. 58 even if this is contrary to specific (Protestant) doctrines of particular grace, it makes sense in terms of the Christian doctrine of reconciliation of, and salvation for all people of 'good willing', i. e. for all those who are acting in a really free way. in this interpretation, it is only the Protestant thematic principle of grace that enables, in its radical (philosophical) account, for everybody, the independence of the law of the community from specific Christian doctrine, so that there historically arises inner justice and ethic- ity of the state (see 18: 173).
c. Protestantism is Not Only a Religious, but also an Historical Principle59 Protestantism is not only a distinct theology, not only a doctrine of sal-
vation in the development of cult, but it also has, as such a doctrine, an
56 accordingly, no historical event is such a bad 'in itself '. the only event of such impor- tance could be the crucifixion of Jesus out of which (o felix culpa) he has appeared for the community as Christ.
57 even the genocides of the 20th century (of Hitler, stalin, Pol Pot, etc. ) have had--too late--an end: the result is, at least in one case, a resurrection of common freedom.
58 even in history, there is no theodicy-problem of evil. Bad and evil events are not pro- duced by a world spirit, but are produced by spirits, the sense of which is to be reconciled by considering, that--even with such elements--there may be a progression of freedom and of consciousness thereof. For a discussion of history as theodicy of freedom and not of god, see W. Hu? ffer, Theodizee der Freiheit. (Hegel-studien. Beiheft 46), Hamburg: Bouvier Verlag 2002. that there is no notion of god who could be the object of protest for what humans themselves do in history, see W. Jaeschke, Hegel-Handbuch, stuttgart & Weimar: J. B. metzler 2003, pp. 412-414.
59 see J. dierken, Hegels 'protestantisches Prinzip', in: Hegels Vorlesungen u? ber die Philoso- phie der Weltgeschichte (Hegel-studien. Beiheft 38), Bonn: Bouvier Verlag 1998, pp. 123-146. For a composite view, see r. gascoigne, Religion, Rationality and Community, dordrecht: martinus nijhoff Publishers 1985, pp. 266-7.
? hegel and protestantism 269
historical principle out of cult (see specifically V3, 340 as well as V5, 269). With this specific insight into the structure of history in Christian times, we come to Hegel's most specific (later) insight, that the Protestant world is that world in which Christian freedom appears in actuality ('Wirklich- keit') for everybody, insofar as only therein is rational ethicity (which is attainable in principle for everyone) the realised, free goal of the devel- opment of Protestant Christianity, in opposition to the 'Catholic' non- realisation.
this claim in principle, on the political and historical differences between the Christian churches, is given by Hegel on the occasion of a festival in the Oratio in Sacris Saecularibus tertiis Traditae Confessio- nis Augustanae (Speech for the Celebration of the Jubilee of the Confessio Augustana, 1830). 60 this Oratio (speech) has a negative thesis: against Catholicism, Hegel posits that faith and doctrine are no longer the pur- view of a commission of scholars nor of a spiritual-clerical ('geistliche') authority. Furthermore, there is no need for a separate holiness, because it is just such a view on holiness that makes impossible any real reconcili- ation among Catholic states, either as ethicity or in their constitution. .
the positive doctrine of the Oratio amounts to one main point. reli- gion is not merely a private affair, but rather, the (Christian) religion is the womb of real freedom. 61 Because Christian religion teaches freedom, there can be no possible separation of religion and state.
