Hegel, Christianity, and Compass Psychotheology

I first read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit when I was twenty-one, an entree to my lifetime study and enjoyment of the great philosophers who have influenced and shaped Western philosophy and religion. I read him again during my master's degree in philosophy, and again in later years when I was differentiating Compass Psychotheology from other systems of world beliefs.

Hegel

Georg Friederich Hegel (1770-1831) was born in the same year as Beethoven and the poet Wordsworth. At the age of 18 he studied theology at the University of Tubingen. During his mature years, he wrote four books in philosophy and was given the chair of philosophy at the University of Berlin, where he remained until his death from cholera at age 61.  

Hegel was a Christian. And Hegel valued the rational mind. He integrated his perceptions of Christianity and Reason this way: Hegel saw the whole universe as the products of an absolute subject, an Absolute Mind. He wanted to underscore that the real world is more than the subjective conception of people's minds, that reality is rationality, or Thought. "Reason," Hegel said, "dominates the world and ...world history is thus a rational process."

The process of human history evolves from the tensions of polar opposites (thesis and antithesis) that give way to historical developments (synthesis), which in turn create new contexts for thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. For example, there exists an ever-recurring tension in any historical era between the freedom and autonomous will of individuals (thesis), the freedom and autonomy of nation-states (antithesis?), and the collaboration or clashing of nations in terms of peace or war (synthesis?). 

In this way the Absolute Mind, or the divine Spirit, becomes the external manifestation of human Will and its Freedom, and the good is "the realization of freedom, the absolute final purpose of the world." Because for Hegel reality is rationality (Thought, Idea), it seemed only logical that our knowledge of the Absolute is actually the Absolute knowing itself through the finite spirit of human beings.

Compass psychotheology, too, asserts that the personal-transcendent God revealed in Hebrew and Christian Scripture stands behind nature and the cosmos, interacts creatively with the people of every culture and nation, and is moving human history toward a climactic fulfillment of his plan and purposes for humankind.

God's Creation

Compass psychotheology, too, suggests that freedom of the will is a divine endowment in which Homo sapiens are imprinted with the image of God their Creator, and through which individuals live in tension between self will and God's unfolding will.

Compass psychotheology, too, sees creative tensions of polarities built into human nature and personality, and that these mirror to some degree the personality and nature of the divine as revealed in the incarnate Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, who upon his resurrection from the dead, became the Savior of the World, and the eternal destiny toward which human history is moving. 

The apostle Paul says it this way: "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:15-20).

These polarities include the transcendence of God as existing eternally apart from the created cosmos, and the immanence of God as manifested in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, both of whom as divine person intersect human history and influence persons and nations. These polarities are found in human personality, in the tension that exists between the compass points of Love and Assertion, Weakness and Strength, which are nevertheless synthesized into the unifying whole of self-aware identify, with freedom of choice and self-will.

Compass psychotheology diverges with Hegel's philosophy of Mind and Spirit in holding to the biblical narrative, in which humankind is fallen from the Will and Purposes of God, and must be rescued from sin by the atoning sacrifice for sin: Christ on the Cross. Persons can resist this offer of personal salvation, for it is not rational, and to believe in one's heart the scandalous "Good News" that the crucified God provides grace and forgiveness to all who repent and have faith Jesus.  

"The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.  As the Scriptures say,

'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.^'

So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.  It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength" (1 Cor 18-25, NLT).

In the view of compass psychotheology, Hegel is one of the philosophers who, though great in intellectual sweep and motivational ambition, erred when he tried to remake Christianity into a philosophical instrument for his will and purposes. 

In avoiding the confrontation of the Old Testament prophets with the Hebrew culture, and the confrontation of Christ and the apostolic witness with the Gentile world, Hegel too facilely equated the good, the rational, the mind, and the spirit, with the Will and Purpose of the divine.

As a corrective against this kind of philosophical idealism and romantic optimism, compass psychotheology speaks of the categories of evil that characterize all persons via their human natures, personalities, and relationships. However, when persons deals decisively with their sin and self will through confessing and receiving Christ, other parts of Hegelian philosophy do indeed characterize what Christians call sanctification, growth in holiness, discipleship, or, in compass psychotheology terms, "self-actualization in Christ."

Here, then, we do find God and sinner reconciled, and the power of the Holy Spirit (who is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son) at work in those who believe both to know and to do the will of God.

"Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

Personally, I'm thankful for having read Hegel in my formative years, for he prodded me to stretch my mind and seek to see the big picture of the cosmos and the divine, in creative tension with the little picture of human history and individual life. And though I came to see these things through the lens of faith that illuminates reason, I can well understand why it was important for Georg Friedrick Hegel to see the universe through the lens of reason that inspires faith.

God Gave You A Mind, Heart, Body, & Spirit. Why?

God gave you a human nature -- a mind and heart, body and spirit -- to grow closer to him.

The Human Mind

The mind houses cognition, where people think about their life experiences, store past learning, plan for future contingencies, and make choices about whether or not they seek God as an intimate companion. 

For all who seek a living relationship with the Trinity, the mind plays a crucial role, capable not only of conversing with God, but of understanding God’s self-disclosure received through the Bible, God’s living and lively Word, which conveys a historical record regarding God’s attributes and expectations about people’s personalities and patterns of behavior.

For good reason Paul says, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Ro 12:2). 

The pursuit of God requires intellectual commitment, a hunger to know God interpersonally, and a willingness to develop conceptual constructs in accord with the Word of God and in the person of Christ. To think about God is a good thing, to pray to him even better, asking what matters to him, and what his plans are for one’s life. This takes the discipline, mental focus, and thoughtfulness that only the mind can bring. 

The Human Heart

While the mind plays a crucial role in self-understanding and perceiving enough about God to trust in him, it is the heart, one’s emotional attitude, where God encounters the person.

Whether it is God speaking through the prophets to the Israelites or Christ speaking about what really matters in a relationship with the Father, the heart holds high status in the eyes of the Lord.

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jer 24:7).

Parents want their children to love them. Spouses want to give and receive love. Friends share love through their loyalty and enjoyment of each other. The Trinity desires to experience heartfelt human love, and wants persons to know and trust God's love for them.

Carrying on a relationship with God brings inclusion in the active love flowing between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though it has received little emphasis in the history of the Church, God is far more interested in people feeling warmly connected to him than he is in all the rites and rituals and rules combined—and not just connected by way of membership in the church, but interpersonally connected to the Lord by way of attraction, excitement, curiosity, delight, and celebration. 

Jesus experienced John as the beloved disciple precisely because John more than all the rest cared for Jesus, treasuring the time they could spend together, the many talks they shared, the good times and frightening times they walked through together as friends, including the Last Supper, where John, alone among the disciples, rested his head on Christ’s shoulder, and at the cross, where Jesus entrusted his mother Mary to John’s tender, faithful care.

The sharing of one’s emotions with God is not limited to love, but within that love, encompasses occasions of frustration, confusion, depression, irritability, complaint, anguish, insecurity, anxiety, loneliness, and even doubt. God, for his part, never turns a deaf ear or tries to change the subject in order to cut short a person’s cathartic release. The Lord draws especially near when one is processing and ventilating human emotion, knowing that some feelings are crucial to express before gaining a larger perspective. David, the Psalmist, a man after God’s own heart, knew this well.

The Human Body

God views the human body as good. He created it. He wants people to cherish it. “Do you not know,” Paul says, “that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (1 Cor 6:19). The human body—whose tangible bone and tissue, muscle and sinew, brain and spinal cord, central and autonomic nervous systems—is home to that mystery called the human spirit, something that scientists can never explain. Paul declares that the body and spirit are raised together in a personal resurrection that transfigures the corruptible biological body into an incorruptible one like Jesus Christ’s (1 Cor 15:39-44; Ro 8:23).

Yet persons are called by God to live in their bodies in the here and now: touching, tasting, seeing, hearing, moving, dancing, making love, playing sports, walking, running, swimming, exercising, eating, drinking; using one’s hands to express caring, write a poem, create a science experiment, or fold in prayer; lifting one’s arms to embrace another with a hug, carry a load of groceries, shovel snow, or praise the Lord: surely reason to celebrate the body—as does the Son of Man during his time on earth. 

As embodied persons, human beings need techniques for reducing the distraction of body tensions that mount in a stressful day. Teeth grinding, chest tightness, migraines, or lower back pain need attention not only for bodily health, but for finding the source of the underlying psychological stressors; not only for mental health, but for the health of one’s relationship with the Trinity. Relaxing the muscles and deepening the breathing helps the Holy Spirit move through the human body to inspire the human spirit.

The Human Spirit

The spirit rounds out the fullness of human nature, the gift of God to Homo sapiens, a gift that differentiates them from other mammals, bringing a level of awareness, choice, and responsibility unparalleled in the animal or plant kingdoms.

While no field of study can objectively account for the spirit within human existence, we can say that when people are dispirited they are depersonalized, losing the sense of meaning and purpose that would otherwise enliven them. This awareness increases the trend for health professionals, including psychotherapists, to respect and utilize spirituality as a healing force within human nature.

The human spirit is not an ethereal, otherworldly affair, but rather a concrete, embodied dimension of one’s grounding in Christ, the “life-giving spirit” (1 Cor 15:45). While persons can live apart from a relationship with God, they cannot abandon his image within them as the true origin of their existence. They can repress the spirit that comes as part of human nature, or distort it to such an extent that their behavior is far removed from God’s will. But they cannot escape the reality that God loves them and is calling them into his family.

Christ’s entry upon this earth unites the human spirit with God the Holy Spirit, who in turn assists the human spirit to form an intimate, inner connection with God, a connection that generates a conscience, not in the sense of Freud’s rule-shackled superego, but in the sense of a living union with Christ, an inspired yet vulnerable capability to know and do the Father’s will. 

In other words, the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and Son to indwell the person, bearing witness with their spirit that they belong to God. “And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Gal 4:6). Invited to serve God with the same intentionality that Christ did and the Holy Spirit does, individuals can now learn to do so, not by following the letter of the law, but because God is so loveable. 

For more, read:

TRUSTING IN THE TRINITY:

COMPASS PSYCHOTHEOLOGY APPLIED