‘ ’ HEGEL VERSUS INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE The term ‘inter-faith’ is a recent innovation in English that has gained significant traction in the discussion of religious diversity. This volume argues that the concept of faiths in the plural is deeply problematic forChristian theology and proposes a Hegelian alterna- tive to the conventional bureaucratic notion of inter-faith dialogue. Hegelpioneeredthesystematicstudyofcomparativereligion.Inline withHegelianprinciple,AndrewShanksidentifiesfaithasaninflec- tionofthewilltowardsperfecttruth-as-openness.Inrelationtoother religious traditions, this must involve the practice of a maximum xenophilia,orlovefortheunfamiliar,understoodasacoreChristian virtue. Shanks’s neo-Hegelian theory recognises the potential for God’sworkinallreligioustraditions,seeingthemassomanydivine experiments, or gambles, with human nature. This timely book discusses a wide range of inter-religious encounters and will be an essentialresourceforstudiesincomparativetheologyandphilosophy ofreligion. Andrew Shanks is an honorary canon of Manchester Cathedral. He has written ten books on philosophical theology, most recently Hegel and Religious Faith: Divided Brain, Atoning Spirit (2011) and ANeo-Hegelian Theology: The Godof Greatest Hospitality (2014). ‘ HEGEL VERSUS INTER-FAITH ’ DIALOGUE A General Theory of True Xenophilia ANDREW SHANKS 32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,ny10013-2473,usa CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107097360 ©AndrewShanks2015 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2015 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Shanks,Andrew,1954– Hegelversus‘inter-faithdialogue’:ageneraltheoryoftruexenophilia/AndrewShanks. pagescm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-09736-0(Hardback) 1. Hegel,GeorgWilhelmFriedrich,1770–1831. 2. Christianity–Philosophy–History–19thcentury. 3. Religion–Philosophy–History–19thcentury. 4. Christianityandotherreligions. I. Title. b2949.r3s492015 261.2–dc23 2014042922 isbn978-1-107-09736-0Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. Dedicated, with gratitude, to the good people of Manchester Cathedral So many seas soaked into sand, so much sand prayed hard into stone, ’ so many hours wept away in the sea shells melody, so much of being abandoned to death fi in the pearly eyes of the sh, so many morning trumpets in coral, so many star-patterns in crystal, ’ so much burgeoning glee in the gulls throat, so many threads of homesick desire criss-crossing the night-net of the stars, so much fertile soil all for the root of the word: – You behind all the tumbling screens of the mysteries: – You ‘ ’ Nelly Sachs, Wieviele Meere im Sande verlaufen, 1957 from Und Niemand Weiss Weiter ( ) Contents Introduction: The Basic Opposition between Faith and ‘Faiths’ page 1 part i the criterion of atonement 13 1 Faith: The Primordial Ambiguity of the New Testament Notion 15 Paul 15 John 26 2 What Hegel Brings 37 HegelandLessing:SystematicXenophilia 37 TheThreeCanonsofTrue‘Folk-Religion’ 46 Hegel’sStudyofComparativeReligion 62 part ii god’s experiments 67 3 ‘Religion’: Outlines of a Typology 69 The‘AxialPeriod’ 69 AGeneralTheory 79 4 Intra-Political Religion 83 5 Pre-Political Religion 91 Yajñavalkya 91 TheBuddha 96 Sāmkhya-YogaandEpicureanism 102 6 Anti-Political Religion 106 ‘Abrahamic’Monotheism 106 TheOriginalEarthquake:Amos 108 Hosea’sResponse 112 AfterHosea:‘TheHistoryofIsrael’andDeutero-Isaiah 114 FromAmostoJesus 126 vii viii Contents part iii abrahamic variations 129 7 The Hazard of Faith 131 GodGambles 131 AndThenFaithEntersintoThatGamble 135 Pascal’sArgument 136 James’sArgument 142 ImprovinguponJames’sVersion 145 8 ‘Holy Anarchy’ 150 DissidentCourage:RisksandRemedies 150 ‘WatchOut,BeGlad,GetReadytoBeChanged...’ 151 TheReversalof‘First’and‘Last’ 154 ChurchasTransmissionStrategy 156 HolyAnarchy/SacredLicence 162 Obsession,Infestation,Riot,Feast 164 9 Jesus and Hallaj 167 ‘First-PersonTheology’/‘Second-PersonTheology’ 167 TheMartyrdomofal-Hallaj 169 Hallaj’sWriting 176 TheTestimonyofLouisMassignon 180 OtherVerdictsonHallaj 186 ProvidentialTriangulation 191 10 Holy Spirit/Shekhinah 193 ‘Third-PersonTheology’ 193 Tikkun:TheRepairingof‘God’ 196 God-in-Exile 200 BeyondConsolation 204 ThePoeticVisionofIsaacLuria 209 GnosticRadicalismwithoutGnosticExclusivism 214 11 After Hegel: The Evolution of Christendom 220 TheXenophileCreed 220 Stress-testsofFaith 222 TheSecondReformation 230 AParadoxicalHope 237 Notes 242 Index 261