Synopses & Reviews
THE insisting upon knming what there is in it, even in religion, is one of the profoundest. impulses of the human spirit. Hegel tried to satisfy this de mand in his PhiCusophie dcr RE. He endeavored to discover and state the speculative of religion. But with him thc speculative was both vital and practical-the vcry life of the spirit throb bing through ali the tangled mass of variegated religious phenomena in the worlds history. Dr. W. T. Harris, the profoundest student of Hegel in this country, says that no other work more deserves translation into English. But any mere transIation of it wouId need a further trans lation into expository paraphrase. The inadequacy of such a translation may be tested by the reader in the first few pages of Chapter VIII. I therefore offer some STUDIES on parts of this great work, deeming them of value, both in them selves, and in introducing readers to Hegels own volumes. The title STUDIES is a most clastic onc, bearing on its face its own apology for not being finished literary work. It signifies studying done out loud, after considerable silcnt pondering over the what there is in it. It also allows greatest freedom for new inferences and applications suggested by the text. Hence this volume is not a mere expository paraphrase of Hegel. I have adhered to the ex pository form only in Chaptcrs III and VIII. I have also followed HegeIs order of argument in Chaptcr IV, while freely making it the basis of studies in Apologetics. Thc purpose of the volume through out is apologetic. It is written with faith and in the interests of The Faith, though demanding an almost antipodal orientation or point of view to that of both deistic orthodoxy and ccclesiasticisrn.Some may blame the author fox needlessly abandoning some of the current methods of apologetics. But thorough and honost proof of their faultiness and inadequacy has first been made. It is mere time-serving to manufacture evidences where there are none. It is as useIess as it is wrong to attempt the 4d hard-Church method of overriding reason and conscience with tIlc mere might of an uncriticised authority. It is both anti-theistic and anti-Christian to profane the sec ular in the interest of the sacred. It is inf d Z to refuse to welcome the Light lightening every rnan and cvery institution that comes into the rvorId. To posit an abstract Infinite, a mcrely supermundane Preface. vii God, lands us inevitably in agnosticism. To prove the brightness of Christianity by portraying the darkness of heathenism leads to pessimism. On the other hand, to discover the concrete In finite immanent in, vitaIizing and educating man throughout his history to maintain the essentiaI kinship of man with God to insist upon religion being the mutual reconciliation and communion of God and man, makes the whole earth kin, and binds it with chains of gold to the head and heart as well as to the feet of God. This is the key and motive to the vital rationality of reIigion, interpreting and vindicating at their relative worth the many ele ments which, when put forth separately, arc easily overthrown by skepticism. To acknowledge that these elements have only rdative validity is the first step toward integrating them as Iiving members in a historical manifestation of the supreme . Ahoc rcconciling the world unto himself. Gods revela tion to man, and mans discovery of God, are but the t Go sides of thc same divineeducation of the race...
Synopsis
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.