From the Criticism of Miracles to Love as a “Miracle”

A Perspective in Hegel’s “Early Writings”

Abstract

Following the interpretation of Edoardo Mirri, the editor of the Italian edition of Hegel’s Early Writings, the present paper proposes a hermeneutic line of Hegel’s approach to religion. Focusing on some theoretical and interpretive issues that emerge from the early Hegelian writings devoted to the account of Jesus’ life and his miracles, it offers a special opportunity to place this critique within the upheaval of Kantianism after Bern. The driving element of the dialectical dynamic will be grasped, precisely, in the religious dimension and in Christian faith. Understanding the “fated” character of love in Christianity will help us to understand the maturation, in Hegel’s Frankfurt period, of the role he proposes for religion in the philosophy of Spirit.