Hegel and the End of Religion

In this book, I set out and assess Hegel’s attempt to reconcile religion with modernity. Drawing on his early and mature philosophy, I examine how Hegel celebrates modernity as the social and political groundwork for true human flourishing but rejects the Enlightenment narrative that religion is a mere crutch to be outgrown on humanity’s path from superstition to reason. I demonstrate how, for Hegel, while modernity may herald the end of classical religious belief and worship, this does not entail religion itself must fade away. Instead, it allows religion to take on new forms and life in modernity as a communal practice that is no longer tied to institutionalized creeds, transcendent God or gods, or prophets.