The relationship between mythology and revelation in Schelling's last philosophy

The essay contends that Schelling's life-long pursuit of the absolute ends with the concept of the Trinitarian God, who is most decisively revealed in the Christian religion. The presence of Christ throughout the history of religion enables Christianity (revelation) to embrace paganism (mythology), and thus unite the entire history of religion into one. Schelling's last philosophy is an explanation of this history, focusing on the underlying unity of mythology and revelation. Schelling also tries to show how the concept of this God meets the demand of philosophy to be absolute, that is, to leave nothing out. As a philosophical study on religion(s), Schelling's last system aims at the ultimate unity of philosophy and religion as well.;The metaphysical framework Schelling adopts to show the unity of mythology and revelation, and of philosophy and religion, is the doctrine of potencies, which explains all things in terms of the dynamic relationship among three basic potencies. This doctrine explains how two opposing potencies work together to achieve a comprehensive synthesis at each and every moment of the history of religion and especially in the relationship between mythology and revelation. The essay articulates this doctrine applied to the crucial moments of that history as the key to a proper understanding of Schelling's last system.;The present essay also argues that Schelling's last system is not, as has been widely held, an incoherent deviation from his earlier systems, but rather their completion, in which the results of his earlier reflections on the main issues of philosophy are summoned to help reveal the unity of all under the God of true monotheism. With so many issues to cover, Schelling's last philosophy might look unorganized or even incomplete. However, looking beneath its disorderly appearance reveals an elaborate inner structure, which contains the philosophical import of his last system. One may not agree with Schelling on the truth of monotheism or the efficacy of his potency doctrine, but one can hardly disregard the most refined version of his pursuit of the absolute, once he/she discovers the hidden system of his last philosophy as well as of the world it tries to describe as the creation of that absolute.