In the Berlin-doesn’t-get-Hamann department, there’s also Berlin’s claim that for Hamann “existence logically precedes reason” and “there exists a pre-rational reality.”
Not exactly. The world is there before we start reflecting on it; it’s got to be there for us to reflect on it. But for Hamann the real is supremely rational, for it is the expression of the eternal Logos and it itself logoi .
Berlin made the fateful mistake from the outset, telling us in the introduction that “Hamann’s [religious] vision is not the subject of this essay: Hamann’s theology and his religious metaphysics I find I am neither drawn to nor competent to discuss.” If you leave out the central theme of a “God-intoxicated” writer, it’s not surprising if things don’t quite seem to hang together.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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