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introduCtion Monotheism of Reason and the Heart, Polytheism of the Imagination and Art The following study addresses what i will call g. W. F. Hegel’s early theologicopoliticalwritings . itfocusesprimarilyonaseriesof unpublished,fragmentaryworks that Hegel produced while living in Bern (1793–1796) and Frankfurt (1797–1800). i will, however, make no attempt to engage these early writings as if the later system did not exist. indeed, one of the aims of revisiting them is to read parts of Hegel’s later systematic texts through the earlier ones with the hope of capturing a spirit of engagement and an openness to future events that is too often concealed behind the still-lingering image of Hegel’s work as a triumphalist philosophy of historical progress, a totalitarian theory of the absolute, and the last stand of the onto-theological tradition.1 Hegel’s early thought amounts to a thoroughgoing challenge to religious dogmatism and a rejection more specifically of the “positive ” use of abstract, impersonal, metaphysical categories when conceiving of the divine. The force of Hegel’s challenge ought to give us pause before this persistent image of his work. More narrowly, this study of Hegel’s early writings can be understood as an excavation of two intertwining dialectical movements related to the “Religion” section of the Phenomenology of Spirit. as such, it is, in part, an attempt to read Hegel “backward,” from his future to his past. The first movement concerns the transition from Greek polytheism to Christian monotheism as presented in the “Religion ” section of the Phenomenology. The second movement concerns the transition , found at the culmination of the section on “Spirit,” from the moral view of the world to religious consciousness by way of the dialectic of conscience. That is, it concerns the need to move beyond the limits of Kantian moralism by way of the tragic recognition, born of the withdrawal of “beautiful souls,” that to act is always to act violently.2 The “Religion” section of the Phenomenology recounts the progression of consciousness from “natural religion” through “religion in the form of art” to “revealed religion.” The religion of art describes the development of ancient Greek religious consciousness in three moments—the abstract, living, and spiritual works of art—and, within the spiritual work, Hegel ascertains three specific shapes that correspond to epic, tragic, and comic poetry. i unearth the prehistory of this move- 2 tragedy in Hegel’s early theological writings ment in Hegel’s earlier writings through the moments of religion in the form of art, as they anticipate the revealed religion to come. That is, i investigate the prehistory of the logical priority that Hegel gives to christian monotheism over ancient greek polytheism and its tragic mythology. This, in turn, helps reveal the distinct character of Hegel’s conception of modernity as a synthesis of the greek and christian traditions.3 of particular interest in this regard is the intensity of Hegel’s early condemnation of christianity and its historical unfolding. When he first compares the religion of the ancient greek polis with christianity, the latter is found lacking in its ability to help manifest the idea of autonomy, and, for the young Hegel, this lack gives rise to the perceived need for a new, modern mythology . When, however, we read Hegel “forward,” that is to say, chronologically, from his early writings in Tübingen, Bern, and Frankfurt through to the composition of the Phenomenology in Jena and beyond, we see a shift from a valorization of greek religion and culture to the eventual rehabilitation of christianity. What appears at first glance to be left behind with this shift is the need for a distinctly modern religion informed by ancient greek tragedy. The call for such a new, modern mythology is made decisively in a fragment known as “The Oldest Program toward a System in German Idealism.” The text is thought to have been produced by Hegel in January 1797, after moving from Bern to join his friend Friedrich Hölderlin in Frankfurt.4 although the fragment is clearly written in Hegel’s hand, there has been controversy over whether it represents his own thought or whether he had simply copied a text that was originally produced by Hölderlin or F. W. J. schelling.5 The debate is of such interest because the fragment can be read as a kind of manifesto first proclaiming the project that has come to be known as German Idealism. That is, the author of “The Oldest Program” presents in...

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