Hegel's philosophical interpretation of Trinity as a dialectically developing movement of Spirit is one of the most profound readings of Trinity in Western thought. InHegel's Trinitarian Claim, Dale M. Schlitt provides a careful, detailed presentation of this claim in Hegel's major published works and in his lectures on the philosophy of religion, taking a critical look at how Hegel presents his claim that to think of God as subject and person one must think of God as Trinity. Although agreeing with Hegel's conclusion, Schlitt argues on the basis of an immanent critique of Hegel's thought that Hegel is not able to defend that claim in the way in which he proposes to do so. Schlitt argues instead that Hegel's trinitarian claim can be justified when Spirit is no longer seen as a movement of thought but as a movement of enriching experience. This close analysis provides an excellent point of entry into the wider study and critical consideration of Hegel's systematic philosophical project as a whole. Originally published in 1984 and available now in paperback for the first time, this edition features a new preface and postscript.

Preface to the Paperback Edition
Abbreviations of Works by Hegel
Introduction: Hegel’s Trinitarian Claim

Part I: Logic—Hegel’s Reformulation of the True Content of Trinity

1. Logic as Movement of Trinitarian Divine Subjectivity

Logic—the Movement of Pure Thought
The Movement of Self-determining Subjectivity
The Self-determining of the Divine Subject
The Necessarily Triadic Structure of the Self-determining Divine Subject
TheLogic as Elaboration of Hegel’s Trinitarian Claim

2. Hegel’s Logic of Pure Thought

ThroughEtwasi to Being
The Primordial, Elementary Movement of Pure Thought
Summary Remarks on the Structure of Hegel’s Dialectic
Critique of the Primordial, Elementary Movement of Pure Thought
The Determinate Nature of Any Beginning—Implications for Trinity

Part II: Hegel’s Explicit Trinitarian Texts

3. Overview of Hegel’s Trinitarian Thought and a Criterion for thePhenomenology

Transition to Hegel’s Explicit Trinitarian Texts
Hegel’s Syllogistically Structured Explicitly Trinitarian Thought
Guiding Concerns in Approaching thePhenomenology
Toward a Criterion for Critiquing thePhenomenology
A Criterion for Hegel’s Argument in thePhenomenology

4. The Incarnational Immediacy of Trinitarian reconciliation in thePhenomenology

Preliminary, Contextualizing Remarks
Reconciliation in Its Incarnational Immediacy and Trinitarian Explicitation
Critique of Trinitarian Reconciliation in Incarnational Immediacy
Implications for Trinity and for the Self

5. Trinitarian Reconciliation in Hegel’s Philosophy of ReligionLectures

Introduction and Context
Syllogistically Structured Trinitarian Divine Subjectivity in the 1827 Lectures
Critique of Trinitarian Reconciliation as Spiritual Community
The Formal Triadic Structure of Becoming

Part Three: Reconstructing Hegel’s Trinitarian Envisionment

4. From Finite to Infinite

Recapitulative Overview
The Contours of Hegel’s Finite “and” Infinite
From Finitude to Tradically Structured Inclusive Infinite
Toward a Reformulation of Hegel’s Trinitarian Claim

Postscript: From Thought to Experience

Notes
Bibliography
Index