In a Post-Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent

640 Pages·2020·5.968 MB·English

by  Gary Dorrien

In a Post-H egelian Spirit
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In a Post-H egelian Spirit
Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent
Gary Dorrien
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS
© 2020 by Baylor University Press
Waco, Texas 76798
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Books by Gary Dorrien
Logic and Consciousness
The Democratic Socialist Vision
Reconstructing the Common Good
The Neoconservative Mind: Politics, Culture, and the War of Ideology
Soul in Society: The Making and Renewal of Social Christianity
The Word as True Myth: Interpreting Modern Theology
The Remaking of Evangelical Theology
The Barthian Revolt in Modern Theology
The Making of American Liberal Theology: Imagining Progressive Religion
The Making of American Liberal Theology:
Idealism, Realism, and Modernity
Imperial Designs: Neoconservatism and the New Pax Americana
The Making of American Liberal Theology: Crisis, Irony, and Postmodernity
Social Ethics in the Making: Interpreting an American Tradition
Economy, Difference, Empire: Social Ethics for Social Justice
The Obama Question: A Progressive Perspective
Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The
Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology
The New Abolition: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel
Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther
King Jr. and the Black Social Gospel
Social Democracy in the Making: Political and
Religious Roots of European Socialism
In a Post- Hegelian Spirit: Philosophical Theology as Idealistic Discontent
For Catherine,
Cherished friend and eminent theologian
Contents
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
Modern Theology as Religious Philosophy
2 Kantian Foundations 29
Creative Reason and Moral Freedom
3 Post- Kantian Feeling 73
Romantic Idealism as Theology
4 Hegelian Intersubjectivity 113
Dialectics of Spirit
5 Against Hegelian Spirit 165
Marxism, Existentialism, and Wholly Otherness
6 Personal Idealism 205
Why Subjectivity Matters
vii
viii ContentS
7 Whiteheadian Ordering 267
God and Creativity
8 Neo- Hegelian Theonomy 309
Religious Socialism as Theology
9 Struggling for Liberation 339
Breaking White Supremacy and Sexism
10 Rethinking Relationality 387
Theologies of Becoming
11 In a Post- Hegelian Spirit 443
Divine Becoming and Discontent
Notes 505
Index 597
Preface
This book builds a post- Hegelian religious philosophy out of my inter-
pretation of modern philosophical theology. It has an origin story dating
to 2013 and 2014, when I lectured for a week to large ecumenical gath-
erings in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. In 2013 I lectured on social ethics
and politics alongside biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann, who regaled
the crowd in customary Brueggemann fashion with torrents of exegesis
sprinkled with uproarious humor. The following year I lectured on the-
ology and religious philosophy alongside the late biblical scholar Marcus
Borg, in his last venue of this kind. Marcus was as sharp and engaging as
ever, to the end. Every day, it seemed, there was a book signing before we
commenced lecturing; perhaps the trauma magnified my sense of the fre-
quency. The line on the left, for Walter and Marcus, was always very long.
My line on the right was nearly always a modest affair, and some of my
folks lined up just to talk. The second year one skittish soul, having heard
me speak at least ten times, wanly observed that my books were awfully
large and numerous. Did I have one that conveyed the gist of the others?
I began to say that Economy, Difference, Empire1 distills much of
my work in social ethics, but he cut me off: “I mean your other books,
in theology and philosophy.” One side of my work is theological and
philosophical, and the other side explores the intersections of politics,
economics, social theory, and social ethics. To my mind, these sides com-
plement each other, but I recognize there is a difference in how I come
ix