Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Transcending Subjects: Hegel After Augustine, an Essay on Political Theology Geoffrey J.D. Holsclaw Marquette University Recommended Citation Holsclaw, Geoffrey J.D., "Transcending Subjects: Hegel After Augustine, an Essay on Political Theology" (2013). Dissertations (2009 -). Paper 303. http://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/303 TRANSCENDING SUBJECTS: HEGEL AFTER AUGUSTINE, AN ESSAY ON POLITICAL THEOLOGY by Geoffrey J. D. Holsclaw, B.A., M.Div. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Milwaukee, Wisconsin December 2013 ABSTRACT TRANSCENDING SUBJECTS: HEGEL AFTER AUGUSTINE, AN ESSAY ON POLITICAL THEOLOGY Geoffrey J. D. Holsclaw, B.A., M.Div. Marquette University, 2013 From where do political reformers and radicals come who are willing and prepared to challenge the status quo? Where are people formed who are capable of initiating change within a political system? Some worry belief in transcendence closes off authentic political engagement and processes of transformation. Others think that a transcendent orientation is the only means to protect and promote a more free and just society. Some see a positive commitment to transcendence as inimical to democratic practices, while others see such a commitment as indispensible for such a project. These general issues concern transcendence, immanence, and subjectivity as they bear on the question of political transformation. Explaining the differences between these fundamental orientations prompts an investigation of the philosophical and theological systems of Hegel and Augustine. Examining Hegel and Augustine around the issues of transcendence and freedom offers a way to understand these more localized disagreements between political philosophers and theologians, and even between theologians. This dissertation examines Hegel, because after the recent demise of Kantian liberalism in the forms of Rawls and Habermas, many are returning to Hegel as the original critic of Kantian philosophy specifically, and of Enlightenment secularism generally. This return to Hegel has produced a larger amount of research that dislodges the easily caricaturized Hegel of dialectical monism and political conservativism, creating the possibility of a more positive deployment of Hegel within philosophy and politics. Concerning Augustine, in one sense his theology is perennial for theology, whether accepted or rejected. But in addition to this, just as with Hegel many are beginning to question the received Augustine, mining his texts within his own cultural and theological milieu rather than merely as the beginning of supposedly unfavorable theological developments. The time is ripe for an engagement between these two stalwarts of theology and philosophy in order to illuminate the similarities and differences and make clear their contemporary relevancy. This dissertations will argue that Hegel best represents a philosophy of ‘self- transcending immanence’ that promotes freedom by standing in opposition to transcendence, and that Augustine best respresents a theology of ‘self-immanenting transcendence’ as the only possible hope for the true freedom. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Geoffrey J. D. Holsclaw, B.A., M.Div. An undertaking such as this owes a great debt to those who have made it possible. I would like to thank all my theology professors at Marquette for creating such a positive environment for theological investigation. Likewise, I benefitted greatly from the philosophy professors through whom I explored contemporary political philosophy, especially Dr. James South. I especially thank my dissertation broad who graciously oversaw the completion of this work: Dr. D. Stephen Long, Dr. James South, Dr. Michel Barnes, and Dr. Danielle Nussberger. A special thanks goes to Dr. D. Stephen Long who has guided my research even before my studies at Marquette, and has been a true theological mentor. I would like to thank all my fellow students from whom I have learned greatly in sharing classes. I would especially like to thank David Horstkoetter, Thomas Bridges, Nathan Willowby, and Ben Suriano. The Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation generously offered me a dissertation fellowship greatly aiding my research for the academics year of 2011-12. I would also like to thank my church, Life on the Vine, which has supported me all throughout this long process, especially by supplying me with a summer sabbatical to work on this dissertation. And lastly I would like to thank my family, my two sons, Soren and Tennyson, and especially my wife, Cynthia Joy, who have journeyed with me all throughout my program here at Marquette, supporting and encouraging me along the way. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………..i CITATIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS………………………………………....……..viii INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………..…………………….1 Transcendence, Immanence, Subjectivity, Freedom………………………….......1 A Radical Political Subjectivity?.............................................................................5 Romand Cole: Radical Democracy as Receptive Generosity……………..6 Stanley Hauerwas: Radical Ecclesiology as Repentant Orthodoxy……….8 Why Hegel and Augustine? An Apologetic Purpose…………………………….11 Objections………………………………………………………………………..13 Outline……………………………………………………………………………15 Subjectivity, Matter, and Time…………………………………………………..17 PART ONE: HEGEL – SELF-TRANSCENDING IMMANENCE…………………….19 CHAPTER 1: HEGEL IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY…………………………………………………………...19 Introduction………………………………………………………………19 1. Evolutionary Social Practices: Autonomy through sociality………….22 Kantian Self-Legislation…………………………………………26 Spirit as Socio-Historical Achievement………………………….28 Mutual Recognition as Condition for Freedom………………….31 Evaluation………………………………………………………..34 2. Revolutionary Radical Act: Autonomy Against Sociality…………….36 Kantian Completion……………………………………………...36 Self-Divided Substance, and Subject………………………….…42 iii Subjective Destitution and Sociality……………………………..44 Evaluation………………………………………………………..51 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….52 CHAPTER 2: CONSCIOUSNESS AND FREEDOM: LOGIC and PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT..............................................................54 Introduction……………………………………………………………....54 1. Nothing Is Infinite: Science of Logic.....................................................57 The Thought of the Logic………………………………………..57 The Presupposition of the Logic…………………………………59 Being-Nothing and Becoming…………………………………...60 The Failure of Being: From Verstand to Vernunft……………….65 Finite-Infinite and the True Infinite……………………………...69 Why Nothing Is Infinite………………………………………….75 Self-Transcending Immanence…………………………………..79 2. Infinite Self-Consciousness: Phenomenology of Spirit…………..……81 Consciousness and the Infinite: First Sounding………………….85 Force and Understand……………………………………85 Understanding and the Beyond…………………………..88 Understanding and Infinity…………………………….…91 Self-Consciousness and the Infinite: Second Sounding………….93 The Self-Conscious Life as Desire………………………95 The Unhappy Consciousness…………………………….98 Forgiving the Unhappy Consciousness…………………103 Religion and the Infinite, and Beyond: Third Sounding………107 iv Incarnation…………………………………………...…108 Crucifixion…………………………………………...…111 Absolute Knowing……………………………………...116 Beyond Others: Summary……………………………………....119 3. Beyond Nothing and the Unfathomable……………………………..122 Nothing Other Than Thought…………………………………...122 Nothing Other Than Consciousness…………………………….124 Other Than ‘Nothing’…………………………………………..126 Conclusion…………………………………………………………...…127 CHAPTER 3: SOCIETY AND FREEDOM: PHILSOPHY OF RIGHT………130 Introduction……………………………………………………………..130 1.The Subject and Substance of Politics………………………………..132 Form and Content of the Will…………………………………..134 The Substance and Subject of Ethical Life……………………..138 Objections……………………………………………………....145 2. The Institutions of Ethical Life: Family, Civil Society, and State…...148 3. The Limits of Self-Transcending Immanence……………………….151 The Breakdown of Substance and Subject……………………...155 The Limits of Self-Transcending Immanence………………….157 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...161 PART TWO: AUGUSTINE – SELF-IMMANENTING TRANSCENENCE ………...163 CHAPTER 4: AUGUSTINE IN CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL THEOLOGY……………………………………………………………163 Introduction……………………………………………………………..163 v 1. Ontological Peace: Transcendence against Liberalism……………....164 The Postmodern Problematic…………………………………...165 Historicism as Genealogy………………………………167 The Critique of Metaphysics……………………………168 The Critique of Ethics……………………………….…170 Augustine and the Two Cities…………………………………..171 Counter-History………………………………………...172 Counter-Ethics………………………………………….174 Counter-Ontology………………………………………176 Evaluation………………………………………………………177 2. Ordered Love: Transcendence for Liberalism…………………….…179 Augustine’s Political Vice: Against Love………………………181 Augustine’s Political Virtue: Ordered Love……………………183 Love for Others…………………………………………184 Love for God……………………………………………186 Evaluation……………………………………………………....188 Conclusion……………………………………………………………...190 CHAPTER 5: CONVERSION AND FREEDOM: CONFESSIONS…………..193 Introduction……………………………………………………………..193 Augustine and the Subject……………………………………...195 The Inward Turn………………………………………..196 The Inward Enigma……………………………………..198 1. Conversion of the Will: Conflict and Intervention…………………..200 vi The Two Wills………………………………………………….204 The Old