Hegel’s critique of reified divine presence paradoxically enables a more intimate possession of God

Evidence

Because it is based on the reduction of the divine presence to a present entity, a ‘thing’ (res), the Hegelian critique of a reified divine presence runs into an unavoidable paradox. For as ‘thing’, accessible in the here and now (hic et nunc), this presence would be more immediately assimilable than the Eucharistic host, understood as a symbol and promise of the body of Christ. In essence, the dialectical notion of God permits the very thing which Hegel in other respects shows to be impossible: a presentation of the divine presence as sense certainty. — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 729

Categorization

• XREF: This paradox of the critique making the object ‘more’ assimilable echoes the reader’s interest in Hegel’s dialectic as aplastic/transformative rather than a simple negation. — connects to: Hegel’s God of absolute presence requires an original passivity foreshadowed by Origen — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 645; God’s self-emptying is a founding and not merely a diminishment for Hegel — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel: Plasticity,…, 1258; Hegel inscribes time, not lack, within God by identifying God with transcendental imagination (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• God’s self-emptying is a founding and not merely a diminishment for Hegel #expands (0.85) — Catherine Malabou, The Future of Hegel, 1258
• Hegel inscribes time, not lack, within God by identifying God with transcendental imagination #expands (0.80)
• Hegel uniquely read the Death of God as divine self-negation #expands (0.75)
• Hegel’s totalizing system itself relapsed into mythology #complicates (0.75)