Coleridge, Philosophy and Religion
Aids to Reflection and the Mirror of the Spirit

The book re-establishes Coleridge as a philosopher of religion and as a vital source for contemporary theological reflection.

Douglas Hedley (Author)

9780521770354, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 June 2000

346 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm, 0.68 kg

"This work is a significant contribution to Coleridge studies, particularly in light of Hedley's ability to relate both British and German philosophical traditions to Coleridge's mature theology...Hedley has written an intelligent and farreaching work." The Journal of Religion

Coleridge's relation to his German contemporaries constitutes the toughest problem in assessing his standing as a thinker. For the last half-century this relationship has been described, ultimately, as parasitic. As a result, Coleridge's contribution to religious thought has been seen primarily in terms of his poetic genius. This book revives and deepens the evaluation of Coleridge as a philosophical theologian in his own right. Coleridge had a critical and creative relation to, and kinship with, German Idealism. Moreover, the principal impulse behind his engagement with that philosophy is traced to the more immediate context of English Unitarian-Trinitarian controversy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The book re-establishes Coleridge as a philosopher of religion and as a vital source for contemporary theological reflection.

Prologue: explaining Coleridge's explanation
1. The true philosopher is the lover of God
2. Inner word: reflection as meditation
3. The image of God: reflection as imitating the divine spirit Prudence
4. God is truth: the faculty of reflection or human understanding in relation to the divine Reason
5. The great instauration: reflection as the renewal of the soul
6. The vision of God: reflection culture, and the seed of a deiform nature
Epilogue: the candle of the Lord and Coleridge's legacy
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of religion [HRAB]