The Reception of Palamite Theology in the Sophiology of Sergii Bulgakov (original) (raw)
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Sergius Bulgakov and Modern Theology
“Sergius Bulgakov and Modern Theology,” in Building the House of Wisdom: Sergii Bulgakov and Contemporary Theology: New Approaches and Interpretations, eds. Barbara Hallensleben, Regula M. Zwahlen, Aristotle Papanicolaou and Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Münster: Aschendorff Verlag, 2024), 501-520.
Building the House of Wisdom. Sergii Bulgakov and Contemporary Theology: New Approaches and Interpretations, 2024
Sergii Bulgakov (1871-1944) is one of the preeminent theologians of the 20th century whose work is still being discovered and explored in and for the 21st century. e famous rival of Lenin in the eld of economics, was, according to Wassily Kandinsky, "one of the deepest experts on religious life" in early twentieth-century Russian art and culture. As economist, publicist, politician, and later Orthodox theologian and priest, he became a signi cant "global player" in both the Orthodox diaspora and the Ecumenical movement in the interwar period.
SOPHIOLOGY OF SERGIUS BULGAKOV
This paper begins with the biography and the genesis of the theological thought of Sergius Bulgakov. Boris Jakim who translated Bulgakov’s Agnets Bozhii into English language mentions that “Father Sergius Bulgakov (1871-1944) was the twentieth century’s most profound Orthodox systematic theologian”. His method of treating theological themes is sophiological and this paper explains the important contours of his sophiology. A good understanding of Bulgakov’s sophiology (divine Sophia and creaturely Sophia) is necessary in understanding his theology of the incarnation. In the whole of Christian life throughout history, “two forces struggle in the world in the guise of two basic tendencies, that of cosmism and anti-cosmism, two disintegrated aspects of the one divine-human theocosmism”. This situation is not an exception in the sacramental life of the Church. This cosmism and the anti-cosmism could be seen in the shape of spiritual grace and material forms involved in the sacraments. To settle this situation, “we need a true Christian ascesis in relation to the world which consists in a struggle with the world out of love for the world”. To conquer this situation positively, it is inevitable that there is a change of perspective and approach. That change of perspective lies in the sophianic conception of the world in Sophia or the Wisdom of God in her both divine and creaturely forms. As Bulgakov rightly says, “sophiology is theology of crisis, not of disintegration, but of salvation”.
Building the House of Wisdom: Sergii Bulgakov – 150 Years After His Birth
University of Fribourg – September 2–4, 2021 Sergii Bulgakov is one of the preeminent theologians of the 20th century. The international conference on the occasion of his 150th birthday (16th/28th July 1871 – 13th July 1944) aims to promote the reception of his work in Eastern and Western academic life. The conference wants to explore Bulgakov’s contribution to meeting the challenges of the modern world and to build bridges between East and West. Tthe speakers are asked to correlate Bulgakov’s thought with current theological and philosophical, political, social and economical issues. The conference is organised by the Sergii Bulgakov Research Centre at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) in cooperation with the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University (New York, USA), and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies (Greece). Under the patronage of Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge (2013–2020), Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012)
The Experiential Grounding of Bulgakov's Sophiological Theology
Methexis: Journal of Research in Values and Spirituality, 2022
Sergius Bulgakov, Orthodox priest and philosophical theologian, made it a point of including, in several of his writings, accounts of epiphanic moments that constitute experiential groundings for the strenuous thinking produced in his sophiological theology. They are instructive both in regard to his personal life and as pathways into some of the most central themes of his work, namely, consubstantiality, interconnectedness, death/ dying, Divine-humanity, and catholicity.
Fr Sergi Bulgakov on Christianity and Judaism
Religion, State and Society, 1992
As has been the case for decades now, YMCA Press continues to make available works by Russian thinkers whose contribution can be judged only when the full range of their writings is properly accessible. In the relatively near future, and if the economic situation allows, we may see Russian publishing houses in Moscow, St Petersburg and elsewhere assuming this crucially important task, especially if they manage to publish materials that have been locked away in the archival holdings of Soviet research libraries. In any case, even if scholars and editors on Russian soil do succeed in restoring their heritage, we should still recognise the enormously valuable role played by YMCA Press from its base in Paris. This article has been prompted by the recent publication by YMCA Press of a collection of writings on Jewish nationhood and the situation of the Jewish people by Fr Sergi Bulgakov, the prominent Orthodox theologian and philosopher (1871-1944).1 The articles in the collection span the years 1915 to 1942, the most substantial of these belonging to 1941 and 1942, the very height of the Second World War. Particular features of Bulgakov's reflections upon Jewish identity and the Christian world will be treated here. However, first it is necessary to consider the way in which Russian thought has tended to focus upon cultural comparisons, surveying European, Asian and other societies and setting features of those societies in contrast to 'Russian' structures and values. This endeavour has taken Russian philosophers into the realms of social history, anthropology and theology, excursions that have impressed non-Russian readers by their very ambitiousness, but also caused doubts as to the objectivity of the project and of the eventual findings put forward. If it is indeed the case that the writings of one or another Russian philosopher in the field of historical-cultural comparisons are flawed, the fundamental reasons for this need to be studied, and these writings then set properly in the context of the more wellfounded and positive in sights of the philosopher in question. Over the years many scholars and other commentators have expressed a profoundly negative view of Russian philosophy, dismissing it as largely derivative and lacking in fully developed theories of knowledge. It has even been common practice to deny the Russian tradition the name of 'philosophy' altogether, on the grounds that it appears to lack the rigour and critical discipline that feature so prominently in Western European philosophy. In important respects Russian philosophy is indeed different in kind from Western European types of philosophy. It has tended to place less emphasis upon theories of knowledge than do other traditions, and has been shaped by different preoccupations.
Bulgakov’s psychological and spiritual evolution can be reckoned as representative for his entire generation. Moving from Marxism to Idealism and finally conceiving his best known theory, namely Sophiology, he was considered by many one of the most influential and sometimes controversial Orthodox thinkers of the 20th century. The theory of Sophiology, his most disputed premise which lies at the center of his theological vision, is considered “a systematic attempt to work out the basis on which political action and policy could be seen as philosophically – and, eventual, theologically - legitimate” . If we reflect on our present cultural and political context we will find a renewed relevance in studying the evolution of Bulgakov’s theological and politic thought, due to the similarities of both periods. Just like in the last turn of the century, we also face issues of legitimacy of the political action, a new cultural paradigm and an economical crisis.
By analogy to Kant’s question ‘how is knowledge possible?’, Sergei Bulgakov was driven by the following questions: how are history, economy, art, and religion possible? Bulgakov explored the ‘truths’ of modern thought—human dignity (humanism), human dependence on the material world (materialism), social equality (socialism), and striving for a better future (idealism)—that became the cornerstones of his religious worldview. In Vladimir Soloviev’s footsteps, Bulgakov developed a ‘synthetic philosophy’ that would reconcile faith and reason, metaphysics and science, and motivate Christians to engage in politics in order to build just societies. With a focus on the interplay of social and economic teachings with religious movements, his early works contribute to ‘post-secular’ reflections on the crucial role of religion in societies. The paradigm of the ‘return of the prodigal son’ motivated both Bulgakov’s personal and intellectual development: in his view, the radical departure from God in the age of modernity is an important, if not necessary step on humanity’s way back to its Father’s house, and faith is a double-sided God–human act of human religious thirst and God’s response. Thus, Bulgakov’s early works dwell on culture and history as God–human synergy within the framework of the concept of Sophia. The latter is Bulgakov’s answer to the question as to how God’s revelation, divine-human cre ativity, and the world’s salvation are possible.