Life in the Spirit

Douglas Finn

Description

Since the nineteenth century, many philosophical and theological commentators have sought to trace lines of continuity between the Trinitarian thought of Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and G. W. F. Hegel (1770–1831). Many contemporary Christian theologians have also criticized Augustine's Trinitarian theology generally and his doctrine of the Holy Spirit more specifically through this historical lens. At the same time, Hegelian Trinitarian conceptual dynamics have come to exert a strong influence over contemporary Trinitarian theology.

In Life in the Spirit, Douglas Finn seeks to redress several imbalances with respect to Augustine, imbalances that have one of their hermeneutic causes in a Hegelian-influenced theological tradition. Finn argues that common readings of Augustine focus too much on his De Trinitate, books 8–15, betraying a modern—and to some extent Hegelian—prejudice against considering sermons and biblical commentaries serious theological work. This broadening of Augustinian texts allows Finn to critique readings of Augustine that, on the one hand, narrow his Trinitarian theology to the so-called psychological analogy and thus chart him on a path to Descartes and Hegel, or, on the other hand, suggest he sacrifices a theology of the Trinitarian persons on the altar of divine substance. Augustine's Trinitarian theology on Finn's reading is one fully engaged with God's work in history.

With this renewed understanding of Augustine's Trinitarianism, Finn allows Augustine to interrogate Hegel with his concerns rather than only the other way around. In this ambitious study, Finn shows that Hegel's rendition of Christianity systematically obviates whole swaths of Christian prayer and practice. He does this nonpolemically, carefully, and with meticulous attention to the texts of both great thinkers.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de la religion
• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Theology
• Religious
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• Trinitarian theology
• Pneumatology
• Augustine of Hippo
• Augustine
• Christian
• Trinity
• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 31 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780268070625
• Langue: English

Extrait

LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
THRESHOLDS IN PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
Jeffrey Bloechl and Kevin Hart, series editors
Philosophy is provoked and enriched by the claims of faith in a revealed God. Theology is stimulated by its contact with the philosophy that proposes to investigate the full range of human experience. At the threshold where they meet, there inevitably arises a discipline of reciprocal interrogation and the promise of mutual enhancement. The works in this series contribute to that discipline and that promise.
LIFE in the SPIRIT

TRINITARIAN GRAMMAR
AND PNEUMATIC COMMUNITY
IN HEGEL AND AUGUSTINE
DOUGLAS FINN
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
Copyright © 2016 by University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Finn, Douglas Edward.
Life in the spirit : Trinitarian grammar and pneumatic community in Hegel and Augustine / Douglas Finn.
pages cm. — (Thresholds in philosophy and theology)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-268-02895-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-268-02895-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-268-07062-5 (ePub)
1. Trinity—History of doctrines. 2. Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. 3. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. 4. Holy Spirit. I. Title.
BT111.3.F535 2015
231'.0440922—dc23
2015031815
∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]
CONTENTS
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I. WORD AND SPIRIT
Chapter 1. The Logic of Christ: Hegel’s Christology
Chapter 2. The Rhetoric of Christ: Augustine’s Christology
PART II. PENTECOST
Chapter 3. Hegel’s Language of Spirit and Its Social Realization
Chapter 4. Augustine: The Holy Spirit and the Transformation of Language
PART III. CHURCH
Chapter 5. Hegel’s Spiritual Community
Chapter 6. Augustine and a Catholic Church with Soul?
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ABBREVIATIONS
Because of the comparative nature and broad intended audience of this work, I have as a rule cited only English translations of Hegel’s and Augustine’s texts. Where the German or Latin made a difference to my exposition, I have included a reference to the original­­language edition used.
In the text and notes I have abbreviated the titles of Augustine’s works according to the standards set forth in Allan Fitzgerald, ed., Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclope-dia (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), xxxv–xlii. Abbre-viations of the series’ titles from which I draw Augustine’s works in either the original language or English translation are as fol-lows:
BA Bibliothèque augustinienne. Oeuvres de Saint Augustin. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1949–.
CCL Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina. Turnhout: Brepols, 1953–.
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna: Tempsky, 1865–.
FC The Fathers of the Church. Edited by R. J. Deferrari. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 1947–.
PL Patrologia Cursus Completus. Series Latina. Ed-ited by J.-P. Migne. Paris: 1844–64.
WSA The Works of St. Augustine: A Transla-tion for the 21st Century. Edited by J. E. Rotelle. New York: New City Press, 1990–.

Abbreviations of Hegel’s works and the English transla-tions used are as follows:
Aes. Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art . Translated by T. M. Knox. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
Enc. Logic (Part I of the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences ).Translated by William Wal-lace. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975. = Logic
The Philosophy of Nature (Part II of the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences ). Translated by A. V. Miller. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. = Nature
Philosophy of Mind (Part III of the Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences ). Translated by William Wallace. Zusätze from Boumann’s 1845 edition translated by A. V. Miller. Oxford: Clarendon, 1971. = Mind
ETW Early Theological Writings . Translated by T. M. Knox. With an Introduction and Fragments translated by Richard Kroner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948. Includes The Spirit of Chris-tianity and Its Fate , 182–301.
LHP Lectures on the History of Philosophy: The Lec-tures of 1825–26 . Edited by Robert F. Brown. Translated by R. F. Brown and J. M. Stewart. Berke-ley: University of California Press, 1990.
LPH The Philosophy of History . Translated by J. Sibree. New York: Dover Publications, 1956.
LPR Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion . Ed-ited by Peter C. Hodgson. Translated by R. F. Brown, P. C. Hodgson, and J. M. Stewart. 3 vols. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984–87.
PR Elements of the Philosophy of Right . Edited by Allen W. Wood. Translated by H. B. Nisbet. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
PS Phenomenology of Spirit . Translated by A. V. Miller. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977.

Reason Lectures on the Philosophy of World History: Introduction . Translated by H. B. Nisbet. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975.
Science Hegel’s Science of Logic . Translated by A. V. Miller.
of Logic London: Allen & Unwin, 1969.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My family tells me that this project has taken much too long. It certainly would have taken much longer without the help of many people along the way. I owe immense gratitude to my teachers at Notre Dame: Cyril O’Regan, who first suggested the topic and offered invaluable critique and encouragement throughout the work’s composition; John Cavadini, whose influence upon my reading of Augustine should be unmistakable; and Lawrence Cunningham, who always asked helpful questions and reminded those of us who spoke perhaps too boldly that Augustine himself died praying the psalms of lament.
The Kaneb Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Notre Dame provided funding and institutional support for my stay at Brown University during the 2010–11 academic year. I am grateful to the Religious Studies Department at Brown and the students in the Religion and Critical Thought area for graciously welcoming me. Special thanks are due my host and mentor at Brown, Thomas Lewis, for all he taught me about Hegel and about teaching.
My friend Andrew Hofer, O.P., has been amazingly helpful with his suggestions for improvement. More significantly, my life would have been greatly impoverished were it not for his friendship. Niki Clements, Jon Sozek, Fannie Bialek, David Lê, and Jessica Wrobleski read early drafts of several chapters, and I am grateful for their feedback. The two anonymous readers at the University of Notre Dame Press offered great encouragement and very useful suggestions for improvement. Finally, Stephen Little and Jeff Bloechl were instrumental in ushering the manuscript through the publishing process. I offer many thanks to all the above. Any flaws that remain in this work are my own.

A few personal notes are also in order. I am glad that my silly dog Clement insisted, quite tenaciously at times, on breaking up the writing with walks and games of fetch. My other dear friend, Augustine Marie Reisenauer, O.P., has offered constant counsel and a listening ear over the years, and I am thankful for his presence in my life. Last and most importantly, I want to express in some meager way my virtually inexpressible feelings of gratitude to my parents, Gary and Joan Finn, for all their love, wisdom, and support. My father is the most generous and loving person I know, and I am ever thankful for the wise lessons he has imparted to me. My mother is loving, patient, sensitive, and wise. Her talents as a mother and grandmother are awe-­inspiring. It is to my parents that I dedicate this work.
INTRODUCTION
Stories told about the Holy Spirit are not always happy ones. For some it is a story of loss. They lament the vanishing of a prelap­sarian pneumatological tradition, of the richness of spiritual experience that the early Christians had and that found expression in the biblical texts of Luke, Paul, and John. But precisely because the teaching on the Holy Spirit, unlike that of the Father or Son, proved so exclusively reliant upon biblical language and hence resistant to philosophical translation, it was, contends the influential church historian Adolf von Harnack, an “embarrassing” doctrine for an early church bent on making its theology comprehensible to the Greek mind. 1 Consequently, in von Harnack’s view, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit never really found a home, variously subsumed as it was into Christology, ecclesiology, and sacramental theology. 2
A common villain in such accounts of pneumatic decline is Saint Augustine. Of all the church fathers, he is viewed as having most effectively integrated the Holy Spirit into a philosophical doctrine of the Trinity to calamitous effect. His claim that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son ( filioque ) and his search for insight into God’s triune nature through an inward investigation into the human mind—an investigation in which Augustine describes the Holy Spirit as the bond of love between the Father and the Son—have led interpreters to pin blame upon him for an overly intellectualizing, quasi-­modalistic tendency in subsequent Western Trinitarian theology. This tendency, it is claimed, subordinates the Holy Spirit to Christ, resulting in pneumatic depersonalization and functionalization. Doctrinal domestication then enabled the church to increasingly usurp control of the Spirit by confining the Spirit’s operation to the sacraments and a narrowly construed understanding of tradition. Neglect of the Holy Spirit in theology thus meant a real loss to Christian life. T