''Life of Jesus'' (german: Das Leben Jesu) is one of the earliest works by

G. W. F. Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends a ...

. It remained an unpublished fragment, found amongst his posthumous papers. In this essay on morality he presents a version of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

very similar to

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

categorical imperative The categorical imperative (german: kategorischer Imperativ) is the central philosophical concept in the deontological moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Introduced in Kant's 1785 ''Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals'', it is a way of evalu ...

; it also stays close to Kant's ''

Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone ''Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason'' (german: Die Religion innerhalb der Grenzen der bloßen Vernunft) is a 1793 book by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Although its purpose and original intent has become a matter of some dispute, ...

''. For Hegel the moment Jesus cried out "why hast thou forsaken me", was the moment he knew

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

and evil, for evil is the separation of the individual from the universal. Jesus is presented as a rationalistic philosopher, opposed to the superstition and "positive religion" of the

Pharisee The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...

s. Positive religion is a religion that has a definite historic founder, and is characterised rather sociologically: at this stage religion becomes an objective system of laws and rules. Hegel presented biblical miracles as metaphors for Jesus' philosophical doctrines. Whether related with the tenor of Hegel's philosophy of

immanence The doctrine or theory of immanence holds that the divine encompasses or is manifested in the material world. It is held by some philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence. Immanence is usually applied in monotheistic, pantheis ...

, or just because it remained fragment, the history stops with the crucifixion. The

resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus ( grc-x-biblical, ἀνάστασις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ) is the Christian belief that God raised Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion, starting – or restoring – his exalted life as Christ and Lo ...

is absent, along with the other paschal events.

References

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''G. W. F. Hegel and the Life of Jesus: (Das Leben Jesu)'' Translated with Introduction by Michael George
1981 Works by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel German essays 19th-century essays Ethical principles Ethics essays Books about Jesus Books published posthumously {{ethics-essay-stub