Boehme, Hegel, Schelling, and the Hermetic Theology of Evil
Philosophy and Theology 18 (2):257-286 (2006)
| Abstract | Building on recent research exposing Hegel’s debt to esoteric Christianity (both Gnostic and Hermetic traditions), the aim of this paper is to show how Hegel and Schelling resolve an ambiguity in Boehme’s theology of evil in opposing ways. Jacob Boehme’s notion of the individuation of God through the overcoming ofopposition is the central paradigm for both Hegel’s and Schelling’s understanding of the role of evil in the life of God. Boehme remains ambiguous on the question of the modality of evil: Is it necessary to God’s self-unfolding, or is it rather an anarchic act that God permits in the interest of preserving the autonomy of finite freedom? If the former, Boehme becomes much more closely aligned to Gnosticism by identifying finitude with evil. This identification is shown to be exactly Hegel’s solution to the ambiguity, one Hegel opts for in the interest of maintaining the absolute rationality of the system. Hermeticism opposes Gnosticism on this point: for the Hermeticist, finitude / material being / nature is not evil but ‘of God,’ the means of his individuation. This conflict in interpretations of Boehmeilluminates an often overlooked but essential difference between Gnosticism and Hermeticism. Schelling remains faithful to the Hermetic tradition by sacrificing system for the sake of preserving the contingency of evil, and disidentifying finitude and evil | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesAna Carrasco Conde (2008). Las Heridas del Espíritu. Proceedings of the Xxii World Congress of Philosophy 16:293-299.
Mark J. Thomas (2009). In Search of Ground. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 83:99-111.
Daniel J. Peterson (2006). Jacob Boehme and Paul Tillich: A Reassessment of the Mystical Philosopher and Systematic Theologian. Religious Studies 42 (2):225-234.
Brian Davies (2011). Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil. Oxford University Press.
Bernard Freydberg (2008). Schelling's Dialogical Freedom Essay: Provocative Philosophy Then and Now. State University of New York Press.
Rodolphe Gasché (2002). The Theory of Natural Beauty and its Evil Star: Kant, Hegel, Adorno. Research in Phenomenology 32 (1):103-122.
John P. Dourley (1995). Jacob Boehme and Paul Tillich on Trinity and God: Similarities and Differences. Religious Studies 31 (4):429 - 445.
James R. Beebe, Logical Problem of Evil. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Lars Fr H. Svendsen (2010). A Philosophy of Evil. Dalkey Archive Press.
Michael Gelven (1998). This Side of Evil. Marquette University Press.
David Basinger (1987). Evil and a Finite God. Philosophy Research Archives 13:285-287.
Rolf Ahlers (2005). Reinhold and Hegel on the Principle and Systematicity of Philosophy. Idealistic Studies 35 (2-3):215-253.
Richard Swinburne (1978). Natural Evil. American Philosophical Quarterly 15 (4):295 - 301.
Agnes Heller (2011). On Evils, Evil, Radical Evil and the Demonic. Critical Horizons 12 (1):15-27.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-01-09Total downloads18 ( #67,593 of 549,122 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,361 of 549,122 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
