Hegel and the Spirit:
Philosophy as Pneumatology
Alan M. Olson

Paper | 2010 | $29.95 / £20.95
242 pp. | 6 x 9

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Hegel and the Spirit explores the meaning of Hegel's grand philosophical category, the category of Geist, by way of what Alan Olson terms a pneumatological thesis. Hegel's philosophy of spirit, according to Olson, is a speculative pneumatology that completes what Adolf von Harnack once called the "orphan doctrine" in Christian theology--the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Olson argues that Hegel's development of philosophy as pneumatology originates out of a deep appreciation of Luther's dialectical understanding of Spirit and that Hegel's doctrine of Spirit is thus deeply interfused with the values of Wrttemberg Pietism. Olson further maintains that Hegel's Enzyklopdie is the post-Enlightenment philosophical equivalent of a Trinitts-lehre and that his Rechtsphilosophie is an ecclesiology. Thus Hegel and the Spirit demonstrates the truth of Karl Barth's observation that Hegel is the potential Aquinas of Protestantism. Exploring Hegel's philosophy of spirit in historical, cultural, and personal religious context, the book identifies Hegel's relationship with Hlderlin and his response to Hlderlin's madness as key elements in the philosopher's religious and philosophical development, especially with respect to the meaning of transcendence and dialectic.

Review:

"In this well-written and handsomely printed volume the author claims that Hegel's philosophy should be considered a speculative pneumatology. He backs up this claim by arguing both for the religious rootage of Hegel's philosophy of spirit and for a major influence on that philosophy by the German poet Hslderlin."--International Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments
Primary Text
Abbreviations
1. Introduction   3
2. Pneumatology  14
3. Pietism  36
4. Transcendence  53
5. Dialectic  69
6. Madness  84
7. Enlightenment  107
8. Absolute Spirit  129
9. Free Spirit  145
Notes  163
Select Bibliography  205
Index  211

Subject Areas:

• Philosophy
• Religion

Shopping Cart:

For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Paper: $29.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-14669-0

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Paper: £20.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-14669-0

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File created: 1/7/2010

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