The best of Hegel's early writings, with an introduction on Hegel's philosophical development.

This volume includes Hegel's most important early theological writings, though not all of the materials collected by Herman Nohl in his definitive Hegels theologische Jugendschriften (Tuebingen, 1907). The most significant omissions are a series of fragments to which Nohl give the general title "National Religion and Christianity" and the essay "Life of Jesus."

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The writings in this volume cast a glimmer of light upon the emerging traditions and organization of the infant church, during an otherwise little-known period of its development. A selection of letters and small-scale theological treatises from a group known as the Apostolic Fathers, several of whom were probably disciples of the Apostles, they provide a first-hand account of the early Church and outline a form of early Christianity still drawing on the theology and traditions of its parent religion, Judaism. Included here are the first Epistle of Bishop Clement of Rome, an impassioned plea for harmony; The Epistle of Polycarp; The Epistle of Barnabas; The Didache; and the Seven Epistles written by Ignatius of Antioch - among them his moving appeal to the Romans that they grant him a martyr's death.

“Wake argues, the young Hegel experimented with using tragedy as a diagnostic tool to explain the rise and fall of religions and even history itself.” —Hegel Bulletin Tragedy plays a central role in Hegel’s early writings on theology and politics. Hegel’s overarching aim in these texts is to determine the kind of mythology that would best complement religious and political freedom in modernity. Peter Wake claims that, for Hegel at this early stage, ancient Greek tragedy provided the model for such a mythology and suggested a way to oppose the rigid hierarchies and authoritarianism that characterized Europe of his day. Wake follows Hegel as he develops his idea of the essence of Christianity and its relation to the distinctly tragic expression of beauty found in Greek mythology. “Elegant. Combines the virtues of close reading of extraordinary subtlety with a wide-angle scope not only to Hegel’s work as a whole, but also to the enduring value of the early work.” —Cyril J. O’Regan, University of Notre Dame “Wake’s book is provocative and helpful because it sharpens appreciation of the complexity of the material in the ETW; it brings into focus tensions and contradictions in the texts. It contributes to the recognition of the subtlety and enduring importance of this early work.” —Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

In this new book, Webster continues the work that he initiated in Barth's Moral Theology. He addresses the important topics of biblical exegesis and historical theology in Barth's early writing, and develops his own line of interpretation of Barth's theology in general. Webster suggests that the traditional accounts of Barth's development are inadequate: they tend to emphasize his cultural and philosophical context, to focus on the same limited selection of his writings and to misjudge his theological intentions, regarding him as a purely transcendental thinker or as a postmodernist. In this book Webster provides detailed interpretations of early texts that have received little attention, such as Barth's work on 1 Corinthians, on the Reformed Confessions, and on modern Protestant theology. Webster draws out the significance of Barth's early biblical exegesis and historical theology, and shows how his work in both fields was conceived from the beginning as important preparation for his future dogmatic work.