Who were the main influences on Hegels theology?
Hegel comes from the school of theological rationalism. Rousseau, Lessing, Kant, Hermann Reimarus, Johann Herder and Heinrich Paulus had already constructed a literature that attempted to explain all the miracles of the Bible in rational terms. Hegel begins his theology with their literature. He also is influenced, however, by the older work of Luther, Boehme and Eckhardt. The work of the early church fathers and the medieval sholastic seems to have been much lesser in his focus.(see: Walter Jäschke: “Die Vernunft in der Religion”, Fromann-Holzboog, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt 1986, ISBN 3-7728-1188-4 and Hans Küng: “Menschwerdung Gottes”, Karl Barth: “Die protestantische Theologie des 19.Jahrhunderts”, Albert Schweitzer: “Geschichte der Leben Jesu Forschung”) Hegel was one of the first to also include the non Christian religions in his theological reasoning, and out of his contempories, he excels as the one with the widest and deepest interests and knowledge of these other religions. For
