On Christianity Early Theological Writings

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Although this volume does not comprise all the material collected and published by Nohl, it includes all Hegel's most important early theological writings.

“Wake argues, the young Hegel experimented with using tragedy as a diagnostic tool to explain the rise and fall of religions and even history itself.” —Hegel Bulletin Tragedy plays a central role in Hegel’s early writings on theology and politics. Hegel’s overarching aim in these texts is to determine the kind of mythology that would best complement religious and political freedom in modernity. Peter Wake claims that, for Hegel at this early stage, ancient Greek tragedy provided the model for such a mythology and suggested a way to oppose the rigid hierarchies and authoritarianism that characterized Europe of his day. Wake follows Hegel as he develops his idea of the essence of Christianity and its relation to the distinctly tragic expression of beauty found in Greek mythology. “Elegant. Combines the virtues of close reading of extraordinary subtlety with a wide-angle scope not only to Hegel’s work as a whole, but also to the enduring value of the early work.” —Cyril J. O’Regan, University of Notre Dame “Wake’s book is provocative and helpful because it sharpens appreciation of the complexity of the material in the ETW; it brings into focus tensions and contradictions in the texts. It contributes to the recognition of the subtlety and enduring importance of this early work.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.

This work concerns the early Christians' self-definitions and self-representations in the context of pagan-Christian conflict, reflected in the literatures from the mid-second to the early third centuries (ca. 150 - 225 CE).

Offering the only anthology of Hegel's religious thought, Vanderbilt University's Professor Peter C. Hodgson provides sympathetic and clear entree to the German philosopher's religious achievement through his major relevant texts starting with early theological writings and culminating with Hegel's1824 lectures on the philosophy of religion.

An international roster of scholars highlights the place of Stoic teaching in early Christian thought.