Dialectic and Gospel in the Development of Hegel's Thinking [Hardcover]

Stephen Crites (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1998

Hegel came to maturity as a philosopher during the first years of the nineteenth century, developing through prodigious intellectual struggles a highly original conception of dialectic as a method for rationally comprehending traumatic historical change. At the same time, he continued a process begun earlier, of critical engagement with the Christian gospel and its historical ethos. Hegel spent much of his youth reacting against this drama and its cultural expression. By the time he published his early masterpiece, the Phenomenology of Spirit (1807), he had found an ingenious way of reconstructing it in counterpoint with his new dialectical understanding of historical experience.Dialectic and Gospel in the Development of Hegel's Thinking tells the story of this interplay as it develops in Hegel's thinking. It culminates in a fresh interpretation of the Phenomenology of Spirit and a detailed commentary on larger portions of the text relevant to that story. Its reading of the masterpiece is contextualized by three substantial chapters detailing the course of Hegel's reflections on Christian themes through the first thirty-five years of his life. These chapters are both biographical and textual, treating not only the philosopher s personal and intellectual development but also the major cultural influences that informed it. Hegel is seen to have begun as a child of the Enlightenment powerfully affected by the Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment who finds his way to his own position as a founding genius of German Idealism and its historical dialectic. His development is thus interpreted as an epitome of a major transformation in European intellectual history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a masterly study of Hegel s early thought. Not only is it an impressive work of scholarship, but it is also written in an accessible and highly readable style. Seldom will the reader come across a book that is able to penetrate with such skill the opaqueness and complexity of Hegel s turgid prose and to bring Hegel s thought alive for the modern reader. In the preface Crites comments on his ability as a boy to untangle fishing line. With this book Crites has provided a major contribution to untangling the knot of Hegel s highly complex philosophical system. We owe Crites a debt of gratitude for the penetrating insight of his exposition of the thought of this difficult thinker. This book is destined to become essential reading for Hegel scholars and students of nineteenth century theology. --David R. Law, Journal of Theology Studies

About the Author

Stephen Crites is Hedding Professor of Moral Science and Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University. He is translator of Crisis in the Life of an Actress and Other Essays on Drama (Collin and Harper Torchbooks, 1967) and author of In the Twilight of Christendom: Hegel vs. Kierkegaard on Faith and History (AAR Studies in Religion, 1972).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 572 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Txt) (August 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271017597
• ISBN-13: 978-0271017594
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars a VERY good book, December 17, 2011

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John G. Bardis (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dialectic and Gospel in the Development of Hegel's Thinking (Paperback)

This is a very good book.

He begins by looking at the religious writings of the young Hegel, basically the same material as covered by Harris in his _Toward the Sunlight_, but much more briefly and to the point. In the Berne writings, Hegel shows absolutely no understanding or interest in Chrisitianity. There is also no dialectic in these writings. According to Harris the situation is more of the same in the Frankfort writings, with Hegel's great break-through to the dialectic and to an understanding of and appreciation of Christianity not taking place til Jena. Crites argues that the break-through took place in Frankfort. At any rate in Jena Chrisitianity and the dialectic take center-stage in Hegel's thought.

Unfortunately, Crites doesn't argue that Hegel learned the dialectic at the exact same time as he came to understand Chrisitianity, as one would suppose. Crites just seems to present the matter as something of a coincidence.

So, then, Crites concludes by presenting a study of the Phenomenology. He is interested only in the religious dimension of the book, but, as he well shows, almost the entire book from beginning to end, with the notable exception of the Reason chapter, has its well-defined religious dimension.

I believe this is the best work that is available on the Phenomenology for those who already know the book by detailed complete commentaries by, for instance, Harris, or Stewart, or Hyppolite, etc. Given a general knowledge of what the book is about and how it works, Crites explains it as a whole.

It should also be mentioned that Crites expresses himself always in a very clear and readable way. Even for people who have no knowledge of the Phenomenology, perhaps, this would still be a very interesting and very readable book.