This course examines and evaluates Hegel’s thought and its influence in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. In the first third of the course, we read from some of Hegel’s most important works: Introduction to the Philosophy of History, The Phenomenology of Spirit, and the 1827 Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion. We then examine the reception and development of Hegel’s ideas, with particular attention to writings by Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx, George Lukács, Walter Benjamin, and others. In the final third of the course we consider some recent engagements with Hegel, his legacy, and the broad topic of materialism from theological, philosophical, and critical perspectives.
Primarily intended for graduate students, this course will be of value to those with interests in western philosophy of religion, Christian theology, religious ethics, political theory, and critical theory.