The Many Faces of God: Monotheism, Religious Symbols and Theogony in Schelling's Berlin Lectures

Often forgotten by the secondary literature, Schelling’s Berlin lectures represent the last stage of the German philosopher’s work, as well as an immense source of intuitions and hints. In this paper I shall discuss a few connections regarding some crucial concepts developed by Schelling in this series of lectures. In particular, I shall show how the analysis of the concept of monotheism is the ground upon which Schelling build his interpretation of Theogony, namely the development of religious consciousness, from its beginning to when it reaches its peak in Christianity. Furthermore, I will discuss how in relation to this same concept Schelling reads our religious representations as symbols of the divine, the results and marks of the participation of human beings of the divine.