This was a long read that took me quite a while to get into. In essence, Hegel argues that the entirety of man's existence - social and religious - has been a struggle to realize his own freedom, and he substantiates this with his analysis of various cultures throughout history - Greek, Roman, Etc and finally ending with Christianity.
His learning and erudition are formidable, and this made for a welcome relief to IK Marvel's saccharine "Reveries of a Bachelor". Which - as I felt obliged to finish I'll let you know that he finishes his daydreaming no longer a bachelor, happily married - and - a curious note - he laments the loss of his 2 year old, "Paul", drowned in a creek outside his house - and you think what a different era that you'd allow a 2 year old to play alongside a creek unsupervised all day and then wonder where he is come dinner...
Perhaps a little less time daydreaming and a little more parenting would have spared him this tragedy, but you can't judge a different era by current standards, that said...