| The global rise of fundamentalism and the vital importance of the relationship between religion and politics and the role of the state in this process have given a new relevance to Hegel's thought on these issues. To investigate Hegel's thought concerning this matter, the dissertation has extensively explored Hegel's writings and the evolutionary course of this thought, during his lifetime, as well as the scholarly literature on his philosophy. Hegel attempted to find a remedy for the alienation of the socio-political fragmentation that dominated the Germany of his time. To do so, he initially studied Classical Greek society. Upon determining that Greek Society was not a sufficient paradigm for his purposes, he turned to the study of Christianity as a solution. He found this approach to be insufficient as well and turned to a philosophical solution. Through his philosophical study he made several important discoveries and conclusions. The first and most significant, for the purposes of this dissertation, is the Hegelian definition of State which is two-fold: it is subject to the rule of the spirit revealed in human reason and it rules religious institutions that, according to Hegel, has the pedagogical role of instructing the population in terms of good citizenry. Thus, religion as a philosophical category stands above the state, but as a Church, it is beneath the State and is at its service. Hegel determined that because religion is infinite truth, in it its philosophical form, it transcends the finite truth of the human cultural and political existence. Therefore, religion in its symbolic figurative form should be viewed as an instrument of spiritual development and an institution of social control. Moreover, he determined that religion and politics are united. Consequently, the members of a religious community and the citizens of the State become one in the same. Ultimately, his eventual conclusion was that the only solution to the individual and socio-political problems of Germany was to establish a State that was neither secular, nor religious, as defined by the typical understanding of those terms. In due course, the evolution of the Hegel philosophy came to conclude elements of Christianity, but was not, however, contained by them.;Hence, the title of this dissertation. |
