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Hegel's God: A Counterfeit Double? (Ashgate Studies in the History of Philosophical Theology)

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This text is not intended as an introduction to Hegel, and as such the author assumes the reader has a certain familiarity with Hegel and Hegelian themes. For any reader who has made either a personal or academic study of Hegel's texts, however, this is a thouroughly insightful book. Without many lengthy quotations or detailed analyses of particular Hegelian texts, Desmond argues the importance of the question of God within Hegel's thought and then explores whether the philosophical tools offered by Hegel provide a sufficient answer.

Once Desmond turns to specific themes in Hegelian and Christian thought, discussing one theme per chapter, the text does become slightly redundant. However, the purpose is to show that in many places Hegelian thought simply cannot do justice to religious conceptions of God. As such, redundancy becomes a part of the argument: Desmond does not find a technicality on which to fault Hegel, he finds the entire edifice to be lacking.

The reader would be well advized to read volume one of Hegel's lectures on the Philosophy of Religion before picking up this text.