Neo-Hegelian Theology

Andrew Shanks's career has alternated between the academic and the ecclesiastical world. He has published nine previous works of philosophical theology, most recently including Hegel and Religious Faith: Divided Brain, Atoning Spirit (2011). He is currently Canon Emeritus at Manchester Cathedral having retired.

’In his new book, Andrew Shanks offers a fresh perspective for his interpretation of "truth-as-openness" and its application to current controversies in the Church of England. This perspective is based on Hegel's distinction between two modes of divine revelation, that of "violence", in which the divine will imposes itself directly and forcefully on human activity, and that of "the cunning of reason", whereby God's will is mediated through the historical process as a whole, which is in itself ambiguous and requires constant discernment on the part of the interpreter. Shanks makes fruitful and creative use of this distinction in a book that deserves a wide readership in the Anglican community and beyond.’ Peter C. Hodgson, Vanderbilt University, USA ’This bravura performance confirms Shanks’s status as one of the most adventurous and challenging theologians at work today.’ Church Times

• Introduction; Chapter 1 ‘Heresy’; Chapter 2 Renewed Apologetics; Chapter 3 Anti-propaganda; Chapter 4 Hegel on History-as-Revelation; Chapter 5 ‘Where Did It All Go Wrong?’;