Absolute knowledge and the experience of faith
the relevance of the religious dimension in Hegel's thought
pp. 151-168
in: John Walker (ed), Thought and faith in the philosophy of Hegel, Berlin, Springer, 1991Abstract
I want in this paper to show that Hegel's claims that philosophy is Gottesdienst — worship or the service of God1 — and that the object of philosophy is the explication of God2, are ones which we can and should take seriously. Hegel's concept of philosophical knowledge can be neither understood nor defended except in the light of his view of philosophy as a religious activity. Only if we understand the logic of Hegel's claim that philosophy itself can be religious can we understand the coherence of Hegel's thought as a whole.
