Hegelian panentheism

Abstract

For Hegel, God does not exist apart from creation, perfect and complete. Instead, Hegel holds that God is actualized through the world — in nature and, especially, in human nature. God ‘in himself’ is the Absolute Idea of the Logic, an idea which is literally idea of itself. Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature uses the categories of the Logic to show that the entire natural world can be understood as a series of abortive attempts to concretize the pure self-related self-sufficiency of Absolute Idea. It is only in human self-consciousness, however, that Hegel finds the true embodiment of Absolute Idea. Hegel thus holds that God requires nature and human beings: nature and Spirit are moments of the being of God (hence, Hegel’s theology can be accurately described aspanentheism). This paper explores Hegel’s theology and its roots in the Aristotelian and mystical traditions.