Rethinking Religious Truth

One of Hegel’s rarely considered texts sheds light on the epistemological values that shape hermeneutics of knowledge, particularly in religious and theological contexts. In The Lectures on the Proofs of the Existence of God—the final text we have from Hegel before his death—he applied his logic to the perennial problems of truth, knowledge, and power within religious frameworks. It draws especially on Hegel’s response to Kantian philosophy and to the Jacobian epistemology of “immediate knowing” to engage with truth in more authentic and integral ways. In a comprehensive analysis of this text, Sarah Bacaller explores the epistemic insights and values of Hegel’s approach to knowledge, particularly in relation to religion and the role of mediation in thought. Both philosophical and practical, this book applies Hegel’s insights in a critique and examination of contemporary religious and theological discourse, with a focus on how epistemic values affect the lived experience of people within religious contexts, and for society more broadly.