Religion, Modernity, and Politics in Hegel. By THOMAS A. LEWIS.

Abstract

It is always natural to compare a scholar’s sophomore work to his first. In the case of Thomas A. Lewis’s Religion, Modernity and Politics in Hegel, this is even more true since the work is a progression from Freedom and Tradition in Hegel: Reconsidering Anthropology, Ethics, and Religion (2005). In the earlier work Lewis dedicated the last chapter to Hegel’s philosophy of religion. By focusing on the juxtaposition of anthropology and religion, Lewis developed the themes of tradition and self-consciousness in Hegel’s philosophy of religion. He concludes that within the philosopher’s system is a construct of harmony between tradition and reason. Lewis’s current work provides a rich study of Hegel’s philosophy of religion, which not only stands apart from significantly less comprehensive studies, but also argues that religion is central to Hegel’s philosophical system. Where other studies have neglected Hegel’s philosophy of religion, either due to the complexity of his system or a portrayal of the philosopher according to the writer’s desire of what one hopes it to be, Lewis takes a direct approach to Hegel’s theory of religion. The two driving factors in his study are, first, situating Hegel’s religion in its ‘intellectual and historical context’ (p. 3), and, second, utilizing a non-metaphysical reading of Hegel’s philosophy that shows more dependence on than departure from Kant’s critique of metaphysics. Contra the traditional position of Frederick Beiser, William Desmond, and Stephan Houlgate, which interprets Hegel’s system in a metaphysical context, Lewis advances the work of Robert Pippin and Terry Pinkard by arguing for a philosophy of religion which finds its foundation in post-Kantian theology and not in traditional metaphysics.