Hegel is widely regarded as one of the major thinkers of the modern era, if not the entire tradition of philosophy. Hegel, like many philosophers, took seriously traditional philosophical perplexities about God, but unlike many modern philosophers he claimed to take the specific characteristic of Christianity into account in his philosophizing. This book presents a new examination, interpretation and critical engagement with Hegel's philosophy of religion, and with his concept of God in particular. William Desmond explores the distinctive stresses of Hegel's approach to God, the influence it has exerted, and the fundamental problems that his approach exhibits.

William Desmond is former President of the Hegel Society of America (also former President of the Metaphysical Society of America); also General Editor of the SUNY Series in Hegelian Studies. His book Being and the Between (SUNY 1995) won the Priz Cardinal Mercier, as well as the John N. Findlay Award for the Best Book in Metaphysics (1995-1997), given by the Metaphysical Society of America.

Contents: By way of introduction: Hegel's God, transcendence and the counterfeit double; Finding a way to holistic immanence: Hegel between enlightenment, Greece and Christianity; Philosophy redoubling religion: intimacy, Agon and counterfeit reconciliations; Beyond double thinking: Hegel's speculative God; Hegel's trinity and the erotic self-doubling God; Creation and the self-doubling of Hegel's Trinity; Evil and the counterfeits of God in history; God, Spirit, and the counterfeits of religious community; On the reserves of God; Bibliography; Index.