Transcending Subjects: Augustine, Hegel, and Theology

Transcending Subjects: Augustine, Hegel and Theology connects the seminal figures of Hegel and Augustine around the theme of subjectivity, with consideration toward the theology and politics of freedom.

After the demise of Kantian liberalism and secularism, scholars are returning to Hegel as the first great post–secular critic of Enlightenment liberalism. As a result of this return, and Hegel s influence in philosophy and theology, those who seek to understand and engage modern theology and politics must be familiar with Hegel. However, Holsclaw argues that such a return to Hegel should only come after a deeper return to Augustine s theological and philosophical perspective. 

Without polemicizing the difference between transcendence and immanence, Holsclaw takes the often daunting figures of Hegel and Augustine and clearly shows how they articulate two fundamental options from which theology and politics develop: the former oriented toward immanence and the latter toward transcendence.  In addition to providing a new interpretation of major works of Hegel and Augustine, Holsclaw engages recent interpretations of Hegel, by scholars such as Pippin and i ek, and Augustine, by scholars such as Milbank and Gregory, with the goal of reorienting theology and the politics of freedom around a subjectivity that is transcended.

Geoffrey Holsclaw is an Affiliate Professor of Theology and Director of Master of Arts in Theology and Mission at Northern Seminary. He is the co–author of Prodigal Christianity (2013), as well as the author of articles in theology and political philosophy, examining major figures such as Hobbes, Badiou and i ek, and integrating Eucharistic and Trinitarian themes to political practice.