Explores the metaphysical, epistemological, and hermeneutical theories of Schelling's final system concerning the nature and meaning of religious mythology. This book explores the metaphysical, epistemological, and hermeneutical theories of Schelling's final system concerning the nature and meaning of religious mythology. This perspective is not surprising since Schelling regarded religion (not science or philosophy) as embodying the most complete manifestation of truth. Beach examines Schelling's novel attempt to account for the changing historical forms of religion in terms of a complex theory of dynamic spiritual powers, or "potencies." He shows that these are not mere representations, ideas, or projected feelings created by ancient myth-makers for the benefit of a credulous populace. Instead, Beach demonstrates that these potencies should be seen as animate powers inhabiting the unconscious strata of a people's collective mind.

Table of Contents:
Preface Introduction: Schelling's Religious Problematic A Fresh Search for Hermeneutical Principles Establishing the Integrity of Religious Phenomena Searching for an Adequate Definition of Myth Part I. Historical Background, Issues And Contexts 1. The Origins of Pagan Religions 2. Allegory, Symbol, or Reality? Naturalistic and Euhemeristic Theories of Religious Allegory Schelling's Earlier Treatments of Mythology A Final Assault on Allegorical Interpretations 3. The Unconscious and the Irrational Early Speculations about the Unconscious From the Unconscious to the Irrational 4. Toward a New Ontology of Eternity, Temporality, and Freedom Dialectic: A Stable Law of Change A "Groundless Activity" in Eternity Some Preliminary Questions and Criticisms 5. Three Formative Influences on Schelling: Böhme, Baader, and Hegel Böme: The Influx of Mysticism Baader: Through Dialectic and Mysticism Back to Christian Orthodoxy Hegel: A Conceptual Mediation of Time and Eternity Part II. The Theory Of Potencies 6. Schelling's New Philosophical Point of Departure A Philosophical Dilemma The Search for a Nonrationalistic Alternative to Relativism The Search for a Nonrationalist Alternative to Fideism Initial Moves toward Resolving the Dilemma The Distinction between the Was and the Daß 7. The Ontology The Pure Potencies Prior to their Actualization The Inverted Potencies in their State of Tension The Relation of the Potencies to the Functions of the Daß Some Comments and Criticisms concerning the Potenzenlehre 8. Positive Philosophy and the Experiential Proof of God Empirical Confirmation versus Exemplification A Logical Fallacy? The Significance of Existential Instantiation 9. Representative Issues and Controversies in Current Schelling Scholarship: Habermas and Schulz Habermas: A Historicist Interpretation Schulz: A Quasi-Rationalistic Interpretation Concluding Comments Part III. Exemplification, Primarily In Terms Of Greek Mythology 10. From Uranus to Cronus Preliminary Considerations Regarding Language, Mythological Consciousness, and the Names of Ancient Deities The Religion of "Relative Monotheism" Zabism: The Worship of "Uranus" The Rise of Cronus 11. From Dionysus to Iakchos The Significance of Goddesses in Mythology The Coming of Dionysus Divine Madness and the Strange Paradox of the "Dionysian" Motif Iakchos: The Archetype of Spiritual Balance Some Empirical Evidence, Ancient and Modern Secrets of the "Uncanny" Lurking beneath the Surfaces of Mythology 12. The Self-Overcoming of Mythology The Origins of Ontological Ambivalence in a Displacement of the Potencies The Progressive Discharging of Religious Projections The Eleusinian Mysteries Toward a "Sublimated Projection Theory" of Religions Notes Bibliography Index