:
the state should even require all its citizens to belong to a Church--a Church is all that can be said, because since the content of a man's faith depends on his private ideas, the state cannot interfere with it.
the state should even require all its citizens to belong to a Church--a Church is all that can be said, because since the content of a man's faith depends on his private ideas, the state cannot interfere with it.
Hegels Philosophy of the Historical Religions
552 a.
[Henceforth: Hegel, Enzyklopa?
die3] [g.
W.
F.
Hegel, Philosophy of mind: being part three of the Encyclopaedia of the philosophical sciences (1830).
Translated by W.
Wallace; with foreword by J.
N.
Findlay, oxford: Clarendon 1971, pp.
284-5].
44 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 454 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 378]; Hegel, Vorlesungen 9, p. 28 [Hegel, The History of Philosophy, pp. 47-8] See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 500 [Hegel, Philosophy of History, p. 378], and Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 16, p. 316.
45 Hegel, Theorie Werkausgabe 12, p. 455 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 378], and Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 16, p. 316.
46 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 456 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 379].
? hegel on catholic religion 195
another factor in the multiplication of sensuous, mediating elements between god and the world concerns the veneration of the relics of saints. Because the faithful have an endless need for sensuously feeling the pres- ence of the sacred, the number of holy persons, holy images and statues, holy places and times, holy occurrences (miracles) etc. multiplies and individualises itself infinitely. this is the most pregnant illustration of the incapacity of Catholic religion to truly supersede the sensuous: all sensu- ous things are capable of manifesting the presence of the divine. Hegel criticises the veneration of sensuous images as being clearly inferior to the spirit and thinking, but above all he warns that "together with the [veneration of the] image the worship of god in Spirit was lost, and even Christ himself was set aside. "47 in sum, because of the external, sensu- ous character of its 'means of grace', its stress on the 'opera operata' to the detriment of the internal disposition of the faithful, its veneration of saints etc. Catholicism jeopardises the essence of Christianity: Christ is the only true mediator, so that there is no need at all for another media- tor between the Mediator and humankind. 48 the paradoxical conclusion is that the infinite multiplication of external, sensuous mediators between god and the world in the Catholic Church, originally meant to ensure the faithful of their reconciliation with god, of being worthy to receive god's grace, actually hinders a true reconciliation, which presupposes the sub- ject's free assenting to the offer of god's grace.
the ultimate consequence of Catholicism's incapacity to supersede the sensuous world is that it has to regain possession of the most sacred place of the world, the Holy Sepulchre. Hegel discusses the issue of the crusades and its dramatic consequences at length in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Besides the political significance of the clash between the orient and the occident, the experience of the crusades is especially of momentous religious importance. By conquering the Holy land, Christianity had gained possession of the holiest of all relics, the soil on which the lord had printed his footsteps, the veronica, the Holy Cross, and last but not least the Holy Sepulchre. the possession of these things was meant to be the fulfilment of Catholicism's sensuous character. However, it also turns out to be the dialectical turning point in the history of Christianity: "in the grave is found the real point of retroversion [of the
47 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 455 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 378]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, pp. 482 f.
48 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 469 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 390].
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sensuous character of Christian religion, P. J. ]; it is in the grave all vanity of the sensuous perishes. "49 the experience of the empty grave made Chris- tianity aware that its principle is not to be found in the sensuous world, in the grave, among the dead, but in the living spirit of the faithful. Prot- estantism has fully accepted the significance of this dramatic, disappoint- ing experience and has consequently desecrated the world completely. Phrased positively, it
attains the conviction that man must look within himself for the this, which is of a divine nature; subjectivity thereby receives absolute authorisation, and claims to determine for itself the relation [of all that exists] to the divine. this then was the absolute result of the crusades, and from them we may date the commencement of self-reliance and spontaneous activity. 50
Catholicism has been unable to reach this consciousness of the spiritual nature of god, and has kept on holding to the presence of god in all kinds of external, sensuous things.
Hegel's rendering of this crucial moment in the history of Christian- ity is very significant for several reasons. First, it elaborates his idea, only hinted at above, that Catholicism, after having proven its incapacity of really desecrating the world, has given rise to a renewed cycle of sepa- ration, infinite grief and reconciliation: the distressing experience of the vanity of all sensuousness, culminating in the experience of the empty grave, and its consequence, the Reformation, bringing about the turn to a purely spiritual reconciliation with god, are its pivotal moments. While Catholicism has proven to be unable to fulfil this cycle, Protestantism has assumed this task and therefore is the true continuation of the history of Christianity. Hegel's philosophical interpretation of the history of Christi- anity explains, secondly, why he considers Catholicism as a bygone shape of the world spirit.
Henceforth it [the Catholic Church, P. J. ] occupies a position of inferiority to the World-Spirit; the latter has already transcended it, for it has become capable of recognising the sensuous as sensuous, the external as external; it has learned to occupy itself with the finite in a finite way, and in this very activity to maintain an independent and confident position as a valid and rightful subjectivity. 51
49 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 471 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 392]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, pp. 484 ff.
50 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 472 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 393]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 486.
51 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 492 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 413]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 497.
? hegel on catholic religion 197
in this passage, Hegel refers to the Catholic 'Church', thereby stressing the most external, sensuous and hierarchical aspects of this religion. in this respect, Protestantism cannot be called a 'Church' in the Catholic sense of the word; it has 'reformed' the Church to a community of faith, based upon the universal principles of freedom and reasonableness, which char- acterise Protestant religion as well as modern society. in this way, it has liberated Christian religion from the 'ecclesiastical particularity', charac- teristic for Catholicism, however odd this may sound for Catholic (which literally means 'universal') ears. 52
c. Catholicism's 'Slavish Deference to Authority'
Finally, Hegel's critique of Catholic religion concerns its lack of freedom, both on an individual and a political level. this is the paradoxical result of the Catholic shape of Christianity, which is essentially a religion of free- dom. in particular, it is again a consequence of Catholicism's hallowing of the world and the latter's incapacity to realise a true, spiritual reconcilia- tion of the world with god. Precisely this sensuous character makes peo- ple dependent on something external, un-spiritual, such as the power of the clergy in the distribution of the means of grace, and the multiple pres- ence of the sacred in the world. Whereas Catholic religion has introduced these mediations in order to facilitate man's free reconciliation with god, their external character actually obstructs any reconciliation: the Catholic Church, pretending to possess all these means of grace, acts as if it also were the owner of the conscience of the individuals,53 thus making them un-free. it causes among the faithful a "slavish deference to authority. "54 a true reconciliation does not need all these external means, imposed upon the people by a Church that claims to be the necessary mediator between the world and the sole real mediator, Christ, but can be reached much more appropriately by the faithful themselves as free spiritual beings. Moreover, the external character of the demands of the Catholic Church causes people to comply with them externally as well, thereby still fur- ther jeopardising true, i. e. spiritual reconciliation: "thus, the relationship of absolute un-freedom has been introduced [by the Catholic Church,
52 J. Dierken, Hegels ? protestantisches Prinzip', pp. 139 f.
53 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 19, p. 539; see also Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 456 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 379], Hegel, Enzyklopa? die2 ? 563 a, and Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 285].
54 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 493 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 413].
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P. J. ] into the principle of freedom itself [being the essence of Christianity as such, P. J. ]. "55
in this context, Hegel's critique of the three (monastic) vows of pov- erty, obedience and chastity has to be mentioned. they are an example of the imposition of positive ecclesiastical commandments, thus show- ing Catholicism's incapacity to recognise the faithful as free, spiritual human beings. Because of its hallowing of the sensuous world, Catholic religion considers the world as something ethically holy, a content that is immediately given by god, not as the result of man's free, self-conscious, spiritual activity. Because Catholic religion ignores that god's presence in the world is not natural, but spiritual, it is also unable to appreciate that the world's ethical content is spiritual, i. e. immanently unified with self-consciousness. the results of this incapacity are the commandments of holiness, exemplified by the three monastic vows. they illustrate the un-spiritual, un-free character of Catholicism, its dependence on the world as something immediately given by god. in Hegel's view, it is not so much because these commandments are unnatural, but because they undermine the obligations and virtues of ethical life, that the former have to be replaced by the latter. the achievement of Protestantism is to have reversed the 'natural' character of the Catholic idea of the world as holi- ness, replacing it by conscious, ethical acts, which are an actualisation of the world's spiritual character:
instead of the vow of chastity, marriage now ranks as the ethical relation [. . . ] instead of the vow of poverty [. . . ] is the precept of action to acquire goods through one's own intelligence and industry [. . . ]. and instead of the vow of obedience, true religion sanctions obedience to the law and the legal arrangements of the state. 56
on a political level, the un-free character of Catholic religion comes to the fore still more clearly. as shown above Hegel has, from his Early Writ- ings on, always been very critical with regard to the interference of all Christian confessions into the civil state, specifically their violation of the basic principle of religious freedom. However, for Catholicism (and this in contrast to Protestantism) this interference belongs to its very essence, since it is still another consequence of its basic character of the hallowing
55 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 457 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 379]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 497.
56 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 286]. See also Hegel, Gesa- mmelte Werke 16, pp. 319f.
? hegel on catholic religion 199
of the world, including its ethical content. Because of this, it is unable to recognise the very principle of the modern state, viz. the independence of the civil state from the spiritual state. in sum, "with Catholic religion no reasonable constitution is possible. "57
Hegel's growing awareness of the complexities regarding the relation between the main Christian confessions and the state, not only on a theo- logical level, but also in political practice, in addition to a personal experi- ence, to which i referred in the second section of this paper, are probably the cause of a remarkable change in his view on this issue at the end of his life. in his last Berlin years he attaches more importance to the dif- ferences between Catholicism and Protestantism than before, specifically with regard to their respective stance towards the state. apparently, the political neutralisation of the Churches and their loss of political power had progressed far less than he at first had expected, especially as far as the Catholic Church was concerned. 58 Hegel had always, i. e. as soon as in Bern (1796), considered religious freedom as a human right and as a consequence of the independence of the state from the Church, being the principle of the modern state: "[i]t is properly a civil obligation to respect another's right to freedom in his faith. a man cannot bind himself, still less his posterity, to will to believe anything. "59 in the Philosophy of Right he repeats this basic idea by saying that "a man counts as a man in virtue of his manhood alone, not because he is a Jew, Catholic, Protestant, german, italian etc. "60 also in ? 270 a, in which he explicitly deals with the relation between the state and religion, Hegel warns against the tendency to found the state on a specific religious confession, as this would leave the door wide open to all kinds of religious fanaticism. as he had already noticed in The German Constitution, ever since
religion has torn up the state completely, it has at the same time in a won- derful way given rise to the suspicion of some principles, on which a state can be founded; since its separation has torn apart humans in their most inner essence, and nevertheless a relationship should be maintained, the people should unite themselves on the basis of external things, such as making war etc. ; this unification is the principle of the modern state. 61
57 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 531 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 449].
58 For an extensive analysis of this problem: W. Jaeschke, "es ist ein Begriff der Freiheit in Religion und Staat", in Staat und Religion in Hegels Rechtsphilosophie. hg. v. a. arndt, Chr. iber und g. Kruck, Berlin. akademie Verlag, 2009, p. 9ff.
59 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 332.
60 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 14, ? 209 a. [Henceforth: Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts] [t. M. Knox, Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Clarendon, oxford, 1967, p. 134].
61 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 5, p. 99.
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this means that the modern state, i. e. the state after the confessional split- up, is torn apart as long as it remains founded on a specific confession as its unifying middle. in order to solve this, it has to find another, non- confessional common ground, such as the idea of a free society which deserves to be defended against enemies.
However, although Hegel rejects the idea that the state can be founded upon a specific confession, he explicitly recognises that "insofar religion [. . . ] does not run counter to the state in a negative or polemical way, but rather recognises the state and upholds it," it nevertheless has an enor- mous integrative and obliging potential, which can serve as an absolute justification to the ultimate moral principle of the state. 62 this leads him to the quite liberal conclusion, as he calls it himself, regarding the rela- tion between the state and various specific religious communities, be they Catholic, Protestant, Quakers, anabaptist etc.
:
the state should even require all its citizens to belong to a Church--a Church is all that can be said, because since the content of a man's faith depends on his private ideas, the state cannot interfere with it. a state which is strong because its organisation is mature may be all the more liberal in this matter; it [. . . ] may even tolerate a sect (though, of course, all depends on its numbers) which on religious grounds declines to recognise its direct duties to the state. 63
Hegel is quite confident that the state is strong enough to tolerate these people (under the condition that there are not too many of them), because it can primarily rely on the strength and the internal reasonableness of its institutions.
But especially after 1827 Hegel becomes more and more impressed by the negative consequences of the politics of restoration in Prussia, such as the conflict about mixed marriages, and the regained self-esteem of Catholics, expressing itself in the accusation that Hegel had publicly slandered Catholic religion (see above), as well as by the July-Revolution (1830) in France. 64 in this context, his assessment of the role of the Catholic Church in pre-revolutionary France is worthwhile mentioning: the gov- ernment was unable to undertake the only too necessary reforms of the state because of various reasons, one of them being the fact that "it was a Catholic government, implying that the concept of freedom--reason
62 Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts ? 270 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Right, 168]. See also Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History from 1822/23 in Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, pp. 87 f.
63 Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts ? 270 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Right, p. 168]. 64 Weisser-lohmann, "Reformation" und "Friedrich II", pp. 119 f.
? hegel on catholic religion 201
embodied in laws--did not pass for the final absolute obligation, since the Holy and the religious conscience are separated from it [i. e. from the concept of freedom, P. J. ]. "65 in his view, Catholics have proven to be never fully loyal to the modern state, as they always have their reserves about it, because they do not accept the world of politics to be governed on the basis of freedom and secular reason, but consider it in its immediate unity with the holiness of the world as such, which has to be judged not by the standard of reason, but by religious conscience. therefore, they get up to a temporary form of religious tolerance at the most, but never are able to accept religious freedom as a basic human right. "in the Catholic Church [. . . ] it is nothing singular for the conscience to be found in opposition to the laws of the state. assassinations of sovereigns, conspiracies against the state, and the like, have often been supported and carried into execution by priests. "66 this is not because the clergy were immoral, but because it obeys to a higher, sacred morality, which is at odds with the reasonable- ness of ethical life of the state.
the above-mentioned personal and political experiences brought Hegel in the second and third edition of the Encyclopaedia (1827 and 1830), and in his last publication, the Speech for the Celebration of the Jubilee of the Confessio Augustana (1830), as well as in his last lectures on the Philosophy of History (1830/31) and on the Philosophy of Religion (1831) to considerably revise his liberal ideas of the Philosophy of Right, as to whether the state should tolerate confessions that do not fully recognise its authority. it is clear that Hegel considered the Catholic Church as evidently belonging to this category. in the second edition of the Encyclopaedia he first repeats his basic idea that, since religion contains the highest truth, "for self- consciousness religion is the basis of moral life and the state. "67 However, in comparison to the Philosophy of Right, he adds an important distinc- tion, especially regarding the various Christian confessions: "the general distinction [that matters here] is whether the un-freedom or the freedom of the spirit makes up the determination [of religion and the state]. More- over, it can occur that a religion is un-free as to its form, although its con- tent in itself is the absolute spirit," thereby explicitly referring to Catholic
65 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 529 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 447]. 66 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 504 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, pp. 423 f. ]. 67 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die2 ? 563 a. , and Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [g. W. F. Hegel, Philosophy
of mind, p. 284].
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religion as an example of un-freedom. 68 in the 1830 edition of this book, he even writes that "it has been the monstrous blunder of our times [to think . . . ] that religion would be without effect on the moral life of the state, i. e. its reasonable law and constitution, which would be based on a ground of their own. "69 and some pages further: "it is no use to organ- ise political laws and arrangements on principles of reason and equity, so long as in religion the principle of un-freedom is not abandoned. "70 While in the Philosophy of Right his position was that, in case of a con- flict between the spirit of a religion, which for the individuals counts as their most intimate conscience and their highest obligation, and the state, the latter can always rely on the strength and the internal reasonableness of its institutions, he now considers this as an abstract and empty idea: "opposed to what religion pronounces holy, the laws appear something made by human hands: even though backed by penalties and externally introduced, they could offer no lasting resistance to the contradictions and attacks of the religious spirit. "71
apparently, by this time Hegel had come to the conclusion that the state should not accept no matter which confession as its ideological jus- tification, but only a confession which, just like the modern state itself, has the freedom of the spirit as its basic principle. if a confession does not accept this very idea of ethical life, but tries to subordinate the state to its sacred order, this means a threat to the state and therefore should not be tolerated. in Hegel's view, this is clearly the case with the Catholic Church. as he writes in the manuscript of his Lectures of the Philosophy of History of 1831, again criticising his earlier position of the Philosophy of Right: "it is an insanity of our times if one wants to invent and imple- ment constitutions independently from religion; although Catholic reli- gion shares with Protestant religion the same common ground, it does not allow the internal justice and ethical life of the state, which lies in the intimateness of the Protestant principle. "72 this does not mean that Hegel wants to give a Protestant-confessional foundation to the state, let alone that he would want to establish Protestantism as a state religion,73
68 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die2 ? 563 a. , see also Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 284].
69 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 284]. 70 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 287]. 71 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 287]. 72 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 18, p. 173.
73 See Weisser-lohmann, ? Reformation und Friedrich ii? , pp. 120 f, and Dierken, "Hegels ? protestantisches Prinzip' '? , p. 142.
? hegel on catholic religion 203
but only stresses his central point that there is always a correspondence between the principle of a confession and the principle of the state, which it allows of. in the case of Catholic religion this principle is un-freedom, as Hegel shows by referring to its external, un-spiritual character, and the power of the clergy over the laity. "along with this [Catholic] principle of spiritual bondage [. . . ] there can only go in the legislative and constitu- tional system a legal and moral bondage, and a state of lawlessness and immorality in political life. "74 in sum, it is impossible to have a political revolution, establishing the foundations of the modern state, without a religious reformation, putting an end to the sanctities of the old religion, in particular Catholicism.
4. Conclusion
it is not easy to give a philosophical assessment of Hegel's critique of Catholic religion, since some of its elements are clearly the result of other than philosophical factors. one only has to refer to his unfortunate per- sonal experiences with Catholicism, particularly with the clergy in Berlin. they play an important role in his depreciative attitude against Catholi- cism. However, no matter how much they have upset Hegel, these experi- ences belong to the vicissitudes of the lives of people, and do not concern Catholic religion as such.
on a philosophical level, Hegel's critical remarks about Catholic religion result from what he considers to be its most problematic aspect, Catholi- cism's remaining stuck in the sensuous world. the clearest manifestation of this is the Catholic doctrine of the eucharist. as said above, Hegel con- siders it as the place par excellence, where the ways of both major Chris- tian confessions part. in the eucharist, Christ is believed to be present in the host, once it is consecrated by the priest, in a bodily, un-spiritual and external fashion. He situates the truth of Christian religion in its spiritual and inward nature, which implies letting the sensuous element to pass away. it cannot be held on to as some sort of relic or holy image, but must be allowed to pass into new forms, whereby it is remembered and re- enacted,75 as happens in the lutheran celebration of the lord's Supper.
74 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 285]. it is important to notice that both the tone and the content of this passage is much sharper in the 1830 edi- tion of the Encyclopaedia than in its edition of 1827.
75 Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology, p. 178.
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But Hegel's by far most stinging critique concerns the political aspect of Catholic religion. He suspects the Catholic Church of being incapable to really accept the neutral character of the modern state with regard to specific religious confessions. His suspicion was considerably enhanced by the general fear that the forces of restoration and what he considered to be their natural alley, Catholicism, would put an end to the achieve- ments of the French revolution, especially to the principle of religious freedom; the evolution of Hegel's ideas about the relation between reli- gion and politics in the second half of the 1820s illustrates this. it is clear that Hegel's critique of the un-free character of Catholic religion goes well beyond some specific elements of its anti-modern political attitudes; espe- cially at the end of his life he is convinced that Catholicism is fundamen- tally unwilling to accept the idea of freedom as the ultimate principle of the modern state.
although Hegel's attitude with regard to Catholicism is by and large a depreciative one, it has to be noted that he appreciates various spe- cific aspects of Catholic religion, especially the way in which medieval theology has emphasized the unity of faith and reason. in his lectures on Philosophy of Religion Hegel states that theology essentially concerns "the understanding of the religious content,"76 and explicitly values 'older Catholic theologians', such as eckhart, for their speculative approach of god. in this respect Catholic theology compares favourably by Prot- estantism's tendency of keeping philosophy and theology strictly apart from each other. But Hegel's his positive evaluation of Catholicism in this respect takes only a marginal place in his works (he mentions it only in his lectures on philosophy of religion and the history of philosophy), and does not seem to have any implications for his general idea about Catho- lic religion, just like his critique of the separation of faith and reason in the Protestant Church does not affect his appreciation of the 'Protestant principle'. that is why i did not include this aspect of Hegel's thought in my analysis of his view on Catholic religion.
However, Hegel's stress on the necessity for Christian religion to radi- cally annihilate all sensuousness, and his critique of Catholicism for being unable to fulfil this requirement illustrates a bias in his interpretation of Catholic doctrine. the most explicit and well-known phrasing of this annihilation of all sensuousness is the passage of the death of god, but the historical experience of the empty grave as the result of the crusades is
76 Hegel, Vorlesungen 3, p. 247; see also Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 20, pp. 54 f.
? hegel on catholic religion 205
another example of it. in Hegel's view, these moments of absolute negativ- ity have to be experienced in their utmost harshness in order to be able to serve as a turning-point in the manifestation of the true, spiritual nature of Christianity. to quote again a famous passage from Faith and Knowl- edge: "the highest totality can and must achieve its resurrection solely from this harsh consciousness of loss, encompassing everything. "77 in fact, Hegel's phrase of the death of god stems from a famous lutheran choral from 1641 by Johann Rist, O Darkest Woe. the beginning of the second strophe runs as follows: "o sorrow dread! god himself is dead, on the cross He has died. "78 although Hegel interprets this phrase philosophically, his use of it implies that he takes a typical lutheran view of reconciliation as his point of departure, and clearly interprets Catholic religion from this perspective, thereby showing that he is unable to interpret Catholic reli- gion in its own right.
? 77 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 4, pp. 413 f. [Hegel, Faith and Knowledge, pp. 190-1]. 78 J. Rist, O Traurigkeit: ? o grosse not! gott selbst ist tot, am Kreuz ist er gestorben? .
A religion After ChristiAnity? hegel's interpretAtion of islAm between JudAism And ChristiAnity
gerrit steunebrink
1. introduction
the interpretation of islam in hegel's philosophy of religion poses us for a problem. for there is no chapter about islam is his Lectures on the Phi- losophy of Religion. islam is mentioned there with a few words in the mar- gin of Judaism and Christianity. how can you dedicate a chapter in this book to hegel's philosophical interpretation of the religion of islam? At the other hand: islam is very present in special chapters in hegel's lec- tures on the philosophy of history, on the history of philosophy and on the philosophy of Art. moreover, he quotes very enthusiastically islamic mysticism in the last chapter of the encyclopaedia!
however, why is it then so absent in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion? the main reason is that islam does not fit into the evolutionary scheme that hegel applies on the history of religions. for in this scheme Christianity is the absolute and therefore final religion that completes and ends the history of religions. After the final absolute religion, a new religion cannot again come into being. islam came into existence after Christianity and therefore contradicts the system. muslims themselves usually do not forget to add that after islam a new world religion did not make its entrance anymore. so now, islam can claim to be the final and absolute religion!
so hegel has the same problem with islam that all Christians have with islam: what is the sense of a new religion after Christianity? fortunately, hegel does not give the traditional answer that islam is just a bad copy of Judaism and Christianity and that the prophet mohammed is an imposter. however, why did hegel dedicate ample chapters to islam in his other works, and only there?
hegel presents islam in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion not as a new, specific religion, but, just like Judaism, as a 'religion of the sub- lime', that means a religion of the overwhelming existence of the infinite god that threatens the (semi)autonomy and freedom of the finite world. therefore, hegel thinks that islam is not a new religion, but just a kind of
208 gerrit steunebrink
Judaism and specifically 'denationalized' Judaism. And that is why he did not dedicate a specific chapter in the lectures on philosophy of religion to islam. but as a universal, 'denationalized' type of Judaism, islam came into existence after Christianity and therefore it is, according to hegel, a part of the history of the Christian world. therefore, it should be described and interpreted in the context of the history of the Christian world. in fact, hegel turns the effects islam historically had on western culture into the reason of its existence, into the goal of history. that is the reason why hegel speaks about islam in function of the history of europe, of euro- pean philosophy and of european literature. therefore, islam is exten- sively present in the lectures on the philosophy of history, on the history of philosophy and on the philosophy of fine Art (Aesthetics). it functions there as a rival for Christianity. for by its universality islam is at the same level of Christianity. moreover, on that level it is a challenge for Christi- anity to realize its true spirit. 1 thus, it plays a role in the formation of the modern european states at the end of the middle Ages. it mediated the greek philosophical text to the west in that time and the discovery of its poetry inspired modern literature in the eighteenth century. so hegel has not just a shared long-standing european antipathy to islam, as sometimes is said. 2 the attitude towards islam is a mix of criticism and admiration. one feels in his admiration, especially in his lectures on the philosophy of history and in his Aesthetics, the influence of the enthusiastic discovery of the oriental world by the romantics.
in his Aesthetics hegel's admiration for islam by far excels his criticism. An important shift in his approach to islam newly manifests itself there too. for hegel now separates islam from Judaism and unites islamic mys- tical poetry with its indian and Christian counterparts. here and in the encyclopaedia hegel quotes those mystical texts in the context of a critical elaboration on the concept of pantheism. he uses them positively in order to establish a kind of universal consensus that the (differential) identity relation between god and the world is what all religions and philosophy together want to express. in this sense, mysticism is the international essence or the internationale of the world religions. this idea softens to
1 see peter C. hodgson, Hegel & Christian Theology.
44 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 454 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 378]; Hegel, Vorlesungen 9, p. 28 [Hegel, The History of Philosophy, pp. 47-8] See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 500 [Hegel, Philosophy of History, p. 378], and Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 16, p. 316.
45 Hegel, Theorie Werkausgabe 12, p. 455 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 378], and Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 16, p. 316.
46 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 456 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 379].
? hegel on catholic religion 195
another factor in the multiplication of sensuous, mediating elements between god and the world concerns the veneration of the relics of saints. Because the faithful have an endless need for sensuously feeling the pres- ence of the sacred, the number of holy persons, holy images and statues, holy places and times, holy occurrences (miracles) etc. multiplies and individualises itself infinitely. this is the most pregnant illustration of the incapacity of Catholic religion to truly supersede the sensuous: all sensu- ous things are capable of manifesting the presence of the divine. Hegel criticises the veneration of sensuous images as being clearly inferior to the spirit and thinking, but above all he warns that "together with the [veneration of the] image the worship of god in Spirit was lost, and even Christ himself was set aside. "47 in sum, because of the external, sensu- ous character of its 'means of grace', its stress on the 'opera operata' to the detriment of the internal disposition of the faithful, its veneration of saints etc. Catholicism jeopardises the essence of Christianity: Christ is the only true mediator, so that there is no need at all for another media- tor between the Mediator and humankind. 48 the paradoxical conclusion is that the infinite multiplication of external, sensuous mediators between god and the world in the Catholic Church, originally meant to ensure the faithful of their reconciliation with god, of being worthy to receive god's grace, actually hinders a true reconciliation, which presupposes the sub- ject's free assenting to the offer of god's grace.
the ultimate consequence of Catholicism's incapacity to supersede the sensuous world is that it has to regain possession of the most sacred place of the world, the Holy Sepulchre. Hegel discusses the issue of the crusades and its dramatic consequences at length in his Lectures on the Philosophy of History. Besides the political significance of the clash between the orient and the occident, the experience of the crusades is especially of momentous religious importance. By conquering the Holy land, Christianity had gained possession of the holiest of all relics, the soil on which the lord had printed his footsteps, the veronica, the Holy Cross, and last but not least the Holy Sepulchre. the possession of these things was meant to be the fulfilment of Catholicism's sensuous character. However, it also turns out to be the dialectical turning point in the history of Christianity: "in the grave is found the real point of retroversion [of the
47 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 455 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 378]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, pp. 482 f.
48 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 469 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 390].
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sensuous character of Christian religion, P. J. ]; it is in the grave all vanity of the sensuous perishes. "49 the experience of the empty grave made Chris- tianity aware that its principle is not to be found in the sensuous world, in the grave, among the dead, but in the living spirit of the faithful. Prot- estantism has fully accepted the significance of this dramatic, disappoint- ing experience and has consequently desecrated the world completely. Phrased positively, it
attains the conviction that man must look within himself for the this, which is of a divine nature; subjectivity thereby receives absolute authorisation, and claims to determine for itself the relation [of all that exists] to the divine. this then was the absolute result of the crusades, and from them we may date the commencement of self-reliance and spontaneous activity. 50
Catholicism has been unable to reach this consciousness of the spiritual nature of god, and has kept on holding to the presence of god in all kinds of external, sensuous things.
Hegel's rendering of this crucial moment in the history of Christian- ity is very significant for several reasons. First, it elaborates his idea, only hinted at above, that Catholicism, after having proven its incapacity of really desecrating the world, has given rise to a renewed cycle of sepa- ration, infinite grief and reconciliation: the distressing experience of the vanity of all sensuousness, culminating in the experience of the empty grave, and its consequence, the Reformation, bringing about the turn to a purely spiritual reconciliation with god, are its pivotal moments. While Catholicism has proven to be unable to fulfil this cycle, Protestantism has assumed this task and therefore is the true continuation of the history of Christianity. Hegel's philosophical interpretation of the history of Christi- anity explains, secondly, why he considers Catholicism as a bygone shape of the world spirit.
Henceforth it [the Catholic Church, P. J. ] occupies a position of inferiority to the World-Spirit; the latter has already transcended it, for it has become capable of recognising the sensuous as sensuous, the external as external; it has learned to occupy itself with the finite in a finite way, and in this very activity to maintain an independent and confident position as a valid and rightful subjectivity. 51
49 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 471 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 392]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, pp. 484 ff.
50 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 472 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 393]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 486.
51 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 492 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, 413]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 497.
? hegel on catholic religion 197
in this passage, Hegel refers to the Catholic 'Church', thereby stressing the most external, sensuous and hierarchical aspects of this religion. in this respect, Protestantism cannot be called a 'Church' in the Catholic sense of the word; it has 'reformed' the Church to a community of faith, based upon the universal principles of freedom and reasonableness, which char- acterise Protestant religion as well as modern society. in this way, it has liberated Christian religion from the 'ecclesiastical particularity', charac- teristic for Catholicism, however odd this may sound for Catholic (which literally means 'universal') ears. 52
c. Catholicism's 'Slavish Deference to Authority'
Finally, Hegel's critique of Catholic religion concerns its lack of freedom, both on an individual and a political level. this is the paradoxical result of the Catholic shape of Christianity, which is essentially a religion of free- dom. in particular, it is again a consequence of Catholicism's hallowing of the world and the latter's incapacity to realise a true, spiritual reconcilia- tion of the world with god. Precisely this sensuous character makes peo- ple dependent on something external, un-spiritual, such as the power of the clergy in the distribution of the means of grace, and the multiple pres- ence of the sacred in the world. Whereas Catholic religion has introduced these mediations in order to facilitate man's free reconciliation with god, their external character actually obstructs any reconciliation: the Catholic Church, pretending to possess all these means of grace, acts as if it also were the owner of the conscience of the individuals,53 thus making them un-free. it causes among the faithful a "slavish deference to authority. "54 a true reconciliation does not need all these external means, imposed upon the people by a Church that claims to be the necessary mediator between the world and the sole real mediator, Christ, but can be reached much more appropriately by the faithful themselves as free spiritual beings. Moreover, the external character of the demands of the Catholic Church causes people to comply with them externally as well, thereby still fur- ther jeopardising true, i. e. spiritual reconciliation: "thus, the relationship of absolute un-freedom has been introduced [by the Catholic Church,
52 J. Dierken, Hegels ? protestantisches Prinzip', pp. 139 f.
53 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 19, p. 539; see also Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 456 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 379], Hegel, Enzyklopa? die2 ? 563 a, and Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 285].
54 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 493 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 413].
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P. J. ] into the principle of freedom itself [being the essence of Christianity as such, P. J. ]. "55
in this context, Hegel's critique of the three (monastic) vows of pov- erty, obedience and chastity has to be mentioned. they are an example of the imposition of positive ecclesiastical commandments, thus show- ing Catholicism's incapacity to recognise the faithful as free, spiritual human beings. Because of its hallowing of the sensuous world, Catholic religion considers the world as something ethically holy, a content that is immediately given by god, not as the result of man's free, self-conscious, spiritual activity. Because Catholic religion ignores that god's presence in the world is not natural, but spiritual, it is also unable to appreciate that the world's ethical content is spiritual, i. e. immanently unified with self-consciousness. the results of this incapacity are the commandments of holiness, exemplified by the three monastic vows. they illustrate the un-spiritual, un-free character of Catholicism, its dependence on the world as something immediately given by god. in Hegel's view, it is not so much because these commandments are unnatural, but because they undermine the obligations and virtues of ethical life, that the former have to be replaced by the latter. the achievement of Protestantism is to have reversed the 'natural' character of the Catholic idea of the world as holi- ness, replacing it by conscious, ethical acts, which are an actualisation of the world's spiritual character:
instead of the vow of chastity, marriage now ranks as the ethical relation [. . . ] instead of the vow of poverty [. . . ] is the precept of action to acquire goods through one's own intelligence and industry [. . . ]. and instead of the vow of obedience, true religion sanctions obedience to the law and the legal arrangements of the state. 56
on a political level, the un-free character of Catholic religion comes to the fore still more clearly. as shown above Hegel has, from his Early Writ- ings on, always been very critical with regard to the interference of all Christian confessions into the civil state, specifically their violation of the basic principle of religious freedom. However, for Catholicism (and this in contrast to Protestantism) this interference belongs to its very essence, since it is still another consequence of its basic character of the hallowing
55 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 457 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 379]. See also Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, p. 497.
56 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 286]. See also Hegel, Gesa- mmelte Werke 16, pp. 319f.
? hegel on catholic religion 199
of the world, including its ethical content. Because of this, it is unable to recognise the very principle of the modern state, viz. the independence of the civil state from the spiritual state. in sum, "with Catholic religion no reasonable constitution is possible. "57
Hegel's growing awareness of the complexities regarding the relation between the main Christian confessions and the state, not only on a theo- logical level, but also in political practice, in addition to a personal experi- ence, to which i referred in the second section of this paper, are probably the cause of a remarkable change in his view on this issue at the end of his life. in his last Berlin years he attaches more importance to the dif- ferences between Catholicism and Protestantism than before, specifically with regard to their respective stance towards the state. apparently, the political neutralisation of the Churches and their loss of political power had progressed far less than he at first had expected, especially as far as the Catholic Church was concerned. 58 Hegel had always, i. e. as soon as in Bern (1796), considered religious freedom as a human right and as a consequence of the independence of the state from the Church, being the principle of the modern state: "[i]t is properly a civil obligation to respect another's right to freedom in his faith. a man cannot bind himself, still less his posterity, to will to believe anything. "59 in the Philosophy of Right he repeats this basic idea by saying that "a man counts as a man in virtue of his manhood alone, not because he is a Jew, Catholic, Protestant, german, italian etc. "60 also in ? 270 a, in which he explicitly deals with the relation between the state and religion, Hegel warns against the tendency to found the state on a specific religious confession, as this would leave the door wide open to all kinds of religious fanaticism. as he had already noticed in The German Constitution, ever since
religion has torn up the state completely, it has at the same time in a won- derful way given rise to the suspicion of some principles, on which a state can be founded; since its separation has torn apart humans in their most inner essence, and nevertheless a relationship should be maintained, the people should unite themselves on the basis of external things, such as making war etc. ; this unification is the principle of the modern state. 61
57 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 531 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 449].
58 For an extensive analysis of this problem: W. Jaeschke, "es ist ein Begriff der Freiheit in Religion und Staat", in Staat und Religion in Hegels Rechtsphilosophie. hg. v. a. arndt, Chr. iber und g. Kruck, Berlin. akademie Verlag, 2009, p. 9ff.
59 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 1, p. 332.
60 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 14, ? 209 a. [Henceforth: Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts] [t. M. Knox, Hegel's Philosophy of Right. Clarendon, oxford, 1967, p. 134].
61 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 5, p. 99.
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this means that the modern state, i. e. the state after the confessional split- up, is torn apart as long as it remains founded on a specific confession as its unifying middle. in order to solve this, it has to find another, non- confessional common ground, such as the idea of a free society which deserves to be defended against enemies.
However, although Hegel rejects the idea that the state can be founded upon a specific confession, he explicitly recognises that "insofar religion [. . . ] does not run counter to the state in a negative or polemical way, but rather recognises the state and upholds it," it nevertheless has an enor- mous integrative and obliging potential, which can serve as an absolute justification to the ultimate moral principle of the state. 62 this leads him to the quite liberal conclusion, as he calls it himself, regarding the rela- tion between the state and various specific religious communities, be they Catholic, Protestant, Quakers, anabaptist etc.
:
the state should even require all its citizens to belong to a Church--a Church is all that can be said, because since the content of a man's faith depends on his private ideas, the state cannot interfere with it. a state which is strong because its organisation is mature may be all the more liberal in this matter; it [. . . ] may even tolerate a sect (though, of course, all depends on its numbers) which on religious grounds declines to recognise its direct duties to the state. 63
Hegel is quite confident that the state is strong enough to tolerate these people (under the condition that there are not too many of them), because it can primarily rely on the strength and the internal reasonableness of its institutions.
But especially after 1827 Hegel becomes more and more impressed by the negative consequences of the politics of restoration in Prussia, such as the conflict about mixed marriages, and the regained self-esteem of Catholics, expressing itself in the accusation that Hegel had publicly slandered Catholic religion (see above), as well as by the July-Revolution (1830) in France. 64 in this context, his assessment of the role of the Catholic Church in pre-revolutionary France is worthwhile mentioning: the gov- ernment was unable to undertake the only too necessary reforms of the state because of various reasons, one of them being the fact that "it was a Catholic government, implying that the concept of freedom--reason
62 Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts ? 270 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Right, 168]. See also Hegel's Lectures on the Philosophy of History from 1822/23 in Hegel, Vorlesungen 12, pp. 87 f.
63 Hegel, Philosophie des Rechts ? 270 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Right, p. 168]. 64 Weisser-lohmann, "Reformation" und "Friedrich II", pp. 119 f.
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embodied in laws--did not pass for the final absolute obligation, since the Holy and the religious conscience are separated from it [i. e. from the concept of freedom, P. J. ]. "65 in his view, Catholics have proven to be never fully loyal to the modern state, as they always have their reserves about it, because they do not accept the world of politics to be governed on the basis of freedom and secular reason, but consider it in its immediate unity with the holiness of the world as such, which has to be judged not by the standard of reason, but by religious conscience. therefore, they get up to a temporary form of religious tolerance at the most, but never are able to accept religious freedom as a basic human right. "in the Catholic Church [. . . ] it is nothing singular for the conscience to be found in opposition to the laws of the state. assassinations of sovereigns, conspiracies against the state, and the like, have often been supported and carried into execution by priests. "66 this is not because the clergy were immoral, but because it obeys to a higher, sacred morality, which is at odds with the reasonable- ness of ethical life of the state.
the above-mentioned personal and political experiences brought Hegel in the second and third edition of the Encyclopaedia (1827 and 1830), and in his last publication, the Speech for the Celebration of the Jubilee of the Confessio Augustana (1830), as well as in his last lectures on the Philosophy of History (1830/31) and on the Philosophy of Religion (1831) to considerably revise his liberal ideas of the Philosophy of Right, as to whether the state should tolerate confessions that do not fully recognise its authority. it is clear that Hegel considered the Catholic Church as evidently belonging to this category. in the second edition of the Encyclopaedia he first repeats his basic idea that, since religion contains the highest truth, "for self- consciousness religion is the basis of moral life and the state. "67 However, in comparison to the Philosophy of Right, he adds an important distinc- tion, especially regarding the various Christian confessions: "the general distinction [that matters here] is whether the un-freedom or the freedom of the spirit makes up the determination [of religion and the state]. More- over, it can occur that a religion is un-free as to its form, although its con- tent in itself is the absolute spirit," thereby explicitly referring to Catholic
65 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 529 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, p. 447]. 66 Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 12, p. 504 [Hegel, The Philosophy of History, pp. 423 f. ]. 67 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die2 ? 563 a. , and Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [g. W. F. Hegel, Philosophy
of mind, p. 284].
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religion as an example of un-freedom. 68 in the 1830 edition of this book, he even writes that "it has been the monstrous blunder of our times [to think . . . ] that religion would be without effect on the moral life of the state, i. e. its reasonable law and constitution, which would be based on a ground of their own. "69 and some pages further: "it is no use to organ- ise political laws and arrangements on principles of reason and equity, so long as in religion the principle of un-freedom is not abandoned. "70 While in the Philosophy of Right his position was that, in case of a con- flict between the spirit of a religion, which for the individuals counts as their most intimate conscience and their highest obligation, and the state, the latter can always rely on the strength and the internal reasonableness of its institutions, he now considers this as an abstract and empty idea: "opposed to what religion pronounces holy, the laws appear something made by human hands: even though backed by penalties and externally introduced, they could offer no lasting resistance to the contradictions and attacks of the religious spirit. "71
apparently, by this time Hegel had come to the conclusion that the state should not accept no matter which confession as its ideological jus- tification, but only a confession which, just like the modern state itself, has the freedom of the spirit as its basic principle. if a confession does not accept this very idea of ethical life, but tries to subordinate the state to its sacred order, this means a threat to the state and therefore should not be tolerated. in Hegel's view, this is clearly the case with the Catholic Church. as he writes in the manuscript of his Lectures of the Philosophy of History of 1831, again criticising his earlier position of the Philosophy of Right: "it is an insanity of our times if one wants to invent and imple- ment constitutions independently from religion; although Catholic reli- gion shares with Protestant religion the same common ground, it does not allow the internal justice and ethical life of the state, which lies in the intimateness of the Protestant principle. "72 this does not mean that Hegel wants to give a Protestant-confessional foundation to the state, let alone that he would want to establish Protestantism as a state religion,73
68 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die2 ? 563 a. , see also Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 284].
69 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 284]. 70 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 287]. 71 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 287]. 72 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 18, p. 173.
73 See Weisser-lohmann, ? Reformation und Friedrich ii? , pp. 120 f, and Dierken, "Hegels ? protestantisches Prinzip' '? , p. 142.
? hegel on catholic religion 203
but only stresses his central point that there is always a correspondence between the principle of a confession and the principle of the state, which it allows of. in the case of Catholic religion this principle is un-freedom, as Hegel shows by referring to its external, un-spiritual character, and the power of the clergy over the laity. "along with this [Catholic] principle of spiritual bondage [. . . ] there can only go in the legislative and constitu- tional system a legal and moral bondage, and a state of lawlessness and immorality in political life. "74 in sum, it is impossible to have a political revolution, establishing the foundations of the modern state, without a religious reformation, putting an end to the sanctities of the old religion, in particular Catholicism.
4. Conclusion
it is not easy to give a philosophical assessment of Hegel's critique of Catholic religion, since some of its elements are clearly the result of other than philosophical factors. one only has to refer to his unfortunate per- sonal experiences with Catholicism, particularly with the clergy in Berlin. they play an important role in his depreciative attitude against Catholi- cism. However, no matter how much they have upset Hegel, these experi- ences belong to the vicissitudes of the lives of people, and do not concern Catholic religion as such.
on a philosophical level, Hegel's critical remarks about Catholic religion result from what he considers to be its most problematic aspect, Catholi- cism's remaining stuck in the sensuous world. the clearest manifestation of this is the Catholic doctrine of the eucharist. as said above, Hegel con- siders it as the place par excellence, where the ways of both major Chris- tian confessions part. in the eucharist, Christ is believed to be present in the host, once it is consecrated by the priest, in a bodily, un-spiritual and external fashion. He situates the truth of Christian religion in its spiritual and inward nature, which implies letting the sensuous element to pass away. it cannot be held on to as some sort of relic or holy image, but must be allowed to pass into new forms, whereby it is remembered and re- enacted,75 as happens in the lutheran celebration of the lord's Supper.
74 Hegel, Enzyklopa? die3 ? 552 a. [Hegel, Philosophy of Mind, p. 285]. it is important to notice that both the tone and the content of this passage is much sharper in the 1830 edi- tion of the Encyclopaedia than in its edition of 1827.
75 Hodgson, Hegel and Christian Theology, p. 178.
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But Hegel's by far most stinging critique concerns the political aspect of Catholic religion. He suspects the Catholic Church of being incapable to really accept the neutral character of the modern state with regard to specific religious confessions. His suspicion was considerably enhanced by the general fear that the forces of restoration and what he considered to be their natural alley, Catholicism, would put an end to the achieve- ments of the French revolution, especially to the principle of religious freedom; the evolution of Hegel's ideas about the relation between reli- gion and politics in the second half of the 1820s illustrates this. it is clear that Hegel's critique of the un-free character of Catholic religion goes well beyond some specific elements of its anti-modern political attitudes; espe- cially at the end of his life he is convinced that Catholicism is fundamen- tally unwilling to accept the idea of freedom as the ultimate principle of the modern state.
although Hegel's attitude with regard to Catholicism is by and large a depreciative one, it has to be noted that he appreciates various spe- cific aspects of Catholic religion, especially the way in which medieval theology has emphasized the unity of faith and reason. in his lectures on Philosophy of Religion Hegel states that theology essentially concerns "the understanding of the religious content,"76 and explicitly values 'older Catholic theologians', such as eckhart, for their speculative approach of god. in this respect Catholic theology compares favourably by Prot- estantism's tendency of keeping philosophy and theology strictly apart from each other. But Hegel's his positive evaluation of Catholicism in this respect takes only a marginal place in his works (he mentions it only in his lectures on philosophy of religion and the history of philosophy), and does not seem to have any implications for his general idea about Catho- lic religion, just like his critique of the separation of faith and reason in the Protestant Church does not affect his appreciation of the 'Protestant principle'. that is why i did not include this aspect of Hegel's thought in my analysis of his view on Catholic religion.
However, Hegel's stress on the necessity for Christian religion to radi- cally annihilate all sensuousness, and his critique of Catholicism for being unable to fulfil this requirement illustrates a bias in his interpretation of Catholic doctrine. the most explicit and well-known phrasing of this annihilation of all sensuousness is the passage of the death of god, but the historical experience of the empty grave as the result of the crusades is
76 Hegel, Vorlesungen 3, p. 247; see also Hegel, Theorie-Werkausgabe 20, pp. 54 f.
? hegel on catholic religion 205
another example of it. in Hegel's view, these moments of absolute negativ- ity have to be experienced in their utmost harshness in order to be able to serve as a turning-point in the manifestation of the true, spiritual nature of Christianity. to quote again a famous passage from Faith and Knowl- edge: "the highest totality can and must achieve its resurrection solely from this harsh consciousness of loss, encompassing everything. "77 in fact, Hegel's phrase of the death of god stems from a famous lutheran choral from 1641 by Johann Rist, O Darkest Woe. the beginning of the second strophe runs as follows: "o sorrow dread! god himself is dead, on the cross He has died. "78 although Hegel interprets this phrase philosophically, his use of it implies that he takes a typical lutheran view of reconciliation as his point of departure, and clearly interprets Catholic religion from this perspective, thereby showing that he is unable to interpret Catholic reli- gion in its own right.
? 77 Hegel, Gesammelte Werke 4, pp. 413 f. [Hegel, Faith and Knowledge, pp. 190-1]. 78 J. Rist, O Traurigkeit: ? o grosse not! gott selbst ist tot, am Kreuz ist er gestorben? .
A religion After ChristiAnity? hegel's interpretAtion of islAm between JudAism And ChristiAnity
gerrit steunebrink
1. introduction
the interpretation of islam in hegel's philosophy of religion poses us for a problem. for there is no chapter about islam is his Lectures on the Phi- losophy of Religion. islam is mentioned there with a few words in the mar- gin of Judaism and Christianity. how can you dedicate a chapter in this book to hegel's philosophical interpretation of the religion of islam? At the other hand: islam is very present in special chapters in hegel's lec- tures on the philosophy of history, on the history of philosophy and on the philosophy of Art. moreover, he quotes very enthusiastically islamic mysticism in the last chapter of the encyclopaedia!
however, why is it then so absent in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion? the main reason is that islam does not fit into the evolutionary scheme that hegel applies on the history of religions. for in this scheme Christianity is the absolute and therefore final religion that completes and ends the history of religions. After the final absolute religion, a new religion cannot again come into being. islam came into existence after Christianity and therefore contradicts the system. muslims themselves usually do not forget to add that after islam a new world religion did not make its entrance anymore. so now, islam can claim to be the final and absolute religion!
so hegel has the same problem with islam that all Christians have with islam: what is the sense of a new religion after Christianity? fortunately, hegel does not give the traditional answer that islam is just a bad copy of Judaism and Christianity and that the prophet mohammed is an imposter. however, why did hegel dedicate ample chapters to islam in his other works, and only there?
hegel presents islam in his Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion not as a new, specific religion, but, just like Judaism, as a 'religion of the sub- lime', that means a religion of the overwhelming existence of the infinite god that threatens the (semi)autonomy and freedom of the finite world. therefore, hegel thinks that islam is not a new religion, but just a kind of
208 gerrit steunebrink
Judaism and specifically 'denationalized' Judaism. And that is why he did not dedicate a specific chapter in the lectures on philosophy of religion to islam. but as a universal, 'denationalized' type of Judaism, islam came into existence after Christianity and therefore it is, according to hegel, a part of the history of the Christian world. therefore, it should be described and interpreted in the context of the history of the Christian world. in fact, hegel turns the effects islam historically had on western culture into the reason of its existence, into the goal of history. that is the reason why hegel speaks about islam in function of the history of europe, of euro- pean philosophy and of european literature. therefore, islam is exten- sively present in the lectures on the philosophy of history, on the history of philosophy and on the philosophy of fine Art (Aesthetics). it functions there as a rival for Christianity. for by its universality islam is at the same level of Christianity. moreover, on that level it is a challenge for Christi- anity to realize its true spirit. 1 thus, it plays a role in the formation of the modern european states at the end of the middle Ages. it mediated the greek philosophical text to the west in that time and the discovery of its poetry inspired modern literature in the eighteenth century. so hegel has not just a shared long-standing european antipathy to islam, as sometimes is said. 2 the attitude towards islam is a mix of criticism and admiration. one feels in his admiration, especially in his lectures on the philosophy of history and in his Aesthetics, the influence of the enthusiastic discovery of the oriental world by the romantics.
in his Aesthetics hegel's admiration for islam by far excels his criticism. An important shift in his approach to islam newly manifests itself there too. for hegel now separates islam from Judaism and unites islamic mys- tical poetry with its indian and Christian counterparts. here and in the encyclopaedia hegel quotes those mystical texts in the context of a critical elaboration on the concept of pantheism. he uses them positively in order to establish a kind of universal consensus that the (differential) identity relation between god and the world is what all religions and philosophy together want to express. in this sense, mysticism is the international essence or the internationale of the world religions. this idea softens to
1 see peter C. hodgson, Hegel & Christian Theology.
