Metaphors of Light

This book offers a novel reading of the Old Hegelian Philipp K. Marheineke, challenging the established idea that a radical rupture happened between the two editions of his dogmatics (1819 viz. 1827). It construes Marheineke's work as a specific, non-Schleiermacherian expression of Vermittlungstheologie. It argues that the «complication» caused by Marheineke's encounter with the early Schelling was pivotal for his life-long thought. In this vein, metaphysical theology is not meant to provide a rational justification and grounding of religion, as many interpretations of Marheineke and Hegel would claim. Rather, Marheineke's use of Hegelian jargon takes place without the erasure of the creative ambiguities which marked, from beginning to end, his text. The «concept» (Begriff), for example, remains as much a limit-concept as «intellectual intuition» had been in Marheineke's «Schellingian» period. Thus, Marheineke's is seen as a subversive writing that interrupts Hegelian discourse as much as it endorses it. In this way, his project can be made relevant to contemporary discussions on theology and the deconstruction of metaphysics.