How did David Friedrich Strauss distinguish right centre and left Hegelians?

In his 1837 Streitschriften ("Controversial Writings"), David Friedrich Strauss categorized the Hegelian school into three factions—Right, Centre, and Left—based on their differing interpretations of the relationship between reason and religious faith.12

Strauss distinguished the groups as follows:

• Right Hegelians: This group viewed Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel’s philosophy as an affirmation of Christianity and denied that any unorthodox conclusions could be derived from his system.1
• Left Hegelians: Represented by Strauss himself, this faction challenged or reformulated Christian doctrines, initiating religious criticism by rethinking the relationship between the human and the divine.12
• Centre Hegelians: This group was characterized by an indecisive stance, attempting to straddle the positions of both the Right and the Left.12

While these labels became useful guidelines for understanding the political and religious divisions of the era, the individual positions within the school were often more complex and variable than this initial sketch suggested.1