The Christian religion in Young Hegel's thought (1793-1800)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show that the most significant feature of the young Hegel's thought consists in the analysis of the primitive foundations of the Christian religion and in the critique of its ecclesiastical and doctrinal development. This is expressed both in the various interpretations that in his youthful period Hegel elaborates on the teachings of Jesus, through which he attempts to reform the spirit of Christianity, and in the meaning and function that he attributes to the Christian religion in the configuration of the ethical, political and social reality of the modern Western world. In order to accomplish this task, some of Hegel's most important writings from his period in Tübingen, Bern and Frankfurt are analyzed.