Hegel on the Bible and theology

“[A]s soon as religion is no longer simply the reading and repetition of passages, as soon as what is called explanation or interpretation begins, as soon as the attempt is made by inference and exegesis to find out the meaning of the words in the Bible, then we embark upon the process of reasoning, reflection, thinking.... As soon as these thoughts are no longer simply the words of the Bible, their content is given a form, more specifically, a logical form.”

—G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), p. 399.