etations of the teachings of Jesus. In effect, he is attempting to be a mediator between his own deep conviction of the truth of those teachings and his own recognition of the validity of the Kantian method of inquiry. Hegel in this first essay tries to review the history of Christianity and to make distinct the elements which truly belong to Jesus's teaching and those elements which were added at a later date. He makes clear at the outset that his intention is not to produce an article of personal faith but is rather to probe the universal concern of each and every "true" religion, the issue of human morality:
I remark here. . . that the aim and essence of all true religion. . . is human morality, and that all the more detailed doctrines of Christianity, all mans of propagating them (meaning his own essays and investigations into Christianity). . . have their worth and their sanctity appraised according to their close or distant connection with that aim (human morality).
Hegel uses the term "the positive element in Christianity," raising the question of what he means by this, the element which he is attempting to dismiss as an obstacle to the true religion of the teachings of Jesus, leading to what he calls "a positive religion. . . i.e., a religion which is grounded in authority and [which] puts man's worth not at all, or at last not wholly, in morals. . ." Jesus, Hegel maintained, "urged not a virtue grounded on authority (which is either meaningless or a direct contradiction in terms), but free virtues springing from man's own being." Hegel thus saw "true" Christianity as man's natural goodness, not as a set of commands to obey, to do this or not do that.
For Hegel, then, a "positive" religion is one based on authority, attested to by the performance of bewildering miracles, and adhered to by faith. A religion which turns its back on the truths of nature and reason in philosophy is not a true religion but a positive r...