Hegel’s Political Theology

This study begins with an examination of Milan Kundera’s concept of kitsch, which is defined and investigated in his novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The author here describes this concept as \'the cliche which bonds the crowd together - the means by which the thought control of the hierarchy or peer group is dressed up, internalised, and rendered seductive\'. Dr Shanks relates kitsch and its dangers to the thought of Hegel, whom he regards as a religious reformer wrestling with the issue at the deepest level. What, he asks, is required to rescue the Christian gospel from its pervasive corruption, which takes the form either of ecclesiastical authoritarianism, or else a privatised, \'atomistic\' spirituality? The author shows Hegel\'s answer to be two-fold. It involves, on the one hand, a decisive theological re-evaluation of the secular political realm; and on the other, a philosophical clarification of the inner truth of the Incarnation - a strictly \'inclusive\' christology. This book sets out to show the centrality of such a practical concern to Hegel\'s systematic theoretical enterprise as a whole.

• Takes as its starting-point the notion of \'kitsch\' developed by internationally-acclaimed Czech novelist Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Immortality. • Situates Hegel in the centre of current theological and political debate, using Hegel\'s thought to examine the moral problems of kitsch. • One of the first books to take Hegel seriously as a philosophical theologian: few scholars have done the same. Written by a promising young philosopher of religion, with a growing reputation.

Introduction 1. Hegel\'s christology: \'The Spectulative Mid-Point of Philosophy\' 2. Philosophy and dogmatics 3. Christology and history 4. Hegel\'s political theology 5. Conclusion Bibliography Index