Russian Spirituality and the Theology of Negation (original) (raw)
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Beyond Modernity. Russian Religious Philosophy and Post-Secularism
Post-secularism is the fundamental evidence of the end of modernity. Modernity, as sleeping reason in Francisco Goya's painting, realizes that, although it thought that it was awake, it was producing monsters. We try to analyze post-secular philosophy from the point of view of Russian religious thought. We believe that such philosophers as Vladimir Soloviev, Pavel Florensky, Sergey Bulgakov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Georges Florovsky, and Semen Frank may be helpful for understanding and overcoming post-secular order. eir unique views on the relations between religion and philosophy, science, and social life are apparently missing in the current Western debates. It seems to us that Russian religious philosophy becomes surprisingly up-to-date and attractive in the contemporary world. We hope that the present volume will be a signiicant step forward in the inclusion of the heritage of Russian religious philosophy in contemporary debates. " Presentlyythe phenomenon of post-secularismmis at the center of the intellectual debate. e authors of the papers included innthis volume reeect on this phenomenon in the context of Russian religious thought, which is still not generally known in the West. However, already more than century ago Russiannthinkers could foreseeemanyyof the mostt painful issues challenginggcontemporary society. I believe that this book will be interesting not only for the academic milieu but also for all searching for answers to the crucial questions of our day. " IRINA YAZYKOVA, art historian; vice-rector, St. Andrew's Biblical-eological Institute " is is a highly valuable and most impressive contribution to current discussions on Russian religious philosophy, its substance, method, and relevance. e authors oer several constructive approaches to the heritage of Russian Christian philosophy by means of comparison with the discourse on post-secularism. It is clearly demonstrated how Russian philosophers such as Vladimir Soloviev, Sergey Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky, and others enrich and challenge our philosophical and theological understanding of secularism and secularization. " ELENA NAMLI, professor of theological ethics, Uppsala University " Maybe Russia is not the home of elephants, contrary to the Soviet joke, but at least this volume proves convincingly that she is the cradle of post-secularism. e book shows that ages before the term post-secularism was coined, Russian thinkers developed a vast array of original models deconstructing the binary opposition of religious vs. secular and established creative dialogue between these two worlds. ey were post-secular long before the birth of post-secularism, and this surprising Wahlverwandscha in the history of ideas is displayed here for the rst time. I assume it is a good start for a new reception of modern Russian thought. "
Post-secularism is the fundamental evidence of the end of modernity. Modernity, as sleeping reason in Francisco Goya's painting, realizes that, although it thought that it was awake, it was producing monsters. We try to analyze post-secular philosophy from the point of view of Russian religious thought. We believe that such philosophers as Vladimir Soloviev, Pavel Florensky, Sergey Bulgakov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Georges Florovsky, and Semen Frank may be helpful for understanding and overcoming post-secular order. eir unique views on the relations between religion and philosophy, science, and social life are apparently missing in the current Western debates. It seems to us that Russian religious philosophy becomes surprisingly up-to-date and attractive in the contemporary world. We hope that the present volume will be a signiicant step forward in the inclusion of the heritage of Russian religious philosophy in contemporary debates. " Presentlyythe phenomenon of post-secularismmis at the center of the intellectual debate. e authors of the papers included innthis volume reeect on this phenomenon in the context of Russian religious thought, which is still not generally known in the West. However, already more than century ago Russiannthinkers could foreseeemanyyof the mostt painful issues challenginggcontemporary society. I believe that this book will be interesting not only for the academic milieu but also for all searching for answers to the crucial questions of our day. " IRINA YAZYKOVA, art historian; vice-rector, St. Andrew's Biblical-eological Institute " is is a highly valuable and most impressive contribution to current discussions on Russian religious philosophy, its substance, method, and relevance. e authors oer several constructive approaches to the heritage of Russian Christian philosophy by means of comparison with the discourse on post-secularism. It is clearly demonstrated how Russian philosophers such as Vladimir Soloviev, Sergey Bulgakov, Pavel Florensky, and others enrich and challenge our philosophical and theological understanding of secularism and secularization. " ELENA NAMLI, professor of theological ethics, Uppsala University " Maybe Russia is not the home of elephants, contrary to the Soviet joke, but at least this volume proves convincingly that she is the cradle of post-secularism. e book shows that ages before the term post-secularism was coined, Russian thinkers developed a vast array of original models deconstructing the binary opposition of religious vs. secular and established creative dialogue between these two worlds. ey were post-secular long before the birth of post-secularism, and this surprising Wahlverwandscha in the history of ideas is displayed here for the rst time. I assume it is a good start for a new reception of modern Russian thought. "
Russian Spirituality and the Theology of Negation1
2012
Toward the end of the twentieth century Russian culture found itself at a crossroads which cannot be ascribed to any political election but which rather presupposed a radical change in its religious and social orientation. Two somewhat opposing theses will be developed in this article. First I will discuss the processes of secularization in Russian culture and the necessity of a third, neutral zone between the "sacred " and the "profane." Next, the dangers of social neutralization in culture and the necessity of retaining elements of the dual model along with the introduction of intermediate elements will be presented. We will hope that these theses are but partly contradictory; that is, when combined they will not cancel each other out, but will rather produce a "ternary " model of a cultural symbiosis between the extreme and the median, despite their apparent incongruity. The Failure of the First Secularization. The Church of Gogol and the Church of B...
Post-Secularism: A Preliminary Outline of the Issue with a Certain Ancient Russian Context
in: "Beyond Modernity: Russian Religious Philosophy and Post-Secularism", ed. by A. Mrówczyński-Van Allen, T. Obolevitch, P. Rojek, Eugene, Oregon, Pickwick Publications, 2016
Probably each reflection in the area of religious studies or philosophy of religion should quite distinctly, but not necessarily persistently, express a conviction about the possibility of some autonomy and separateness between religiousness and confessionalism, between religion and the church, between a certain type of internal experience and sensitivity (also intellectuality) and an external institution. The conviction that religion takes an adequate shape only together with the aspect of cult, social cult and institutional cult should be treated very seriously, but also attention should be paid to the risk of trivialisation, flat instrumentalization and to the philosophical right to certain free thinking on these issues.
“Secularization” and “Post-Secular” in Russian Religious Thought: Main Features
Beyond Modernity: Russian Religious Philosophy and Post-Secularism. Wipf and Stock Publishers. NY. 2016. P. 25-38, 2016
T he term "secularization" in its philosophical meaning appeared relatively late in Russian thought. In the entry "Secularization" from the Russian Brockhaus Encyclopedia, Nikolai Kareev described "the liberation of thinking and social activity from church patrimony" as an additional, recently appeared meaning of that historical term. 1 The notion of secularization was used sporadically in religious philosophy at the beginning of the twentieth century as a synonym for the growth of culture worldliness, its separation from religion. 2 Nevertheless, the philosophical conceptions which may be called theories of secularization (in the sense of their attempt to explain that very process), are found in Russia at an early stage of the development of religious thought. Their appearance may be considered to be the result of the reception of conservative romantic thought and the German classics, mostly Hegel and the late Shelling.
"Slavophile Religious Thought and the Dilemma of Russian Modernity" (2010)
Modern Intellectual History, 2010
Russian public opinion in the first half of the nineteenth century was buffeted by a complex of cultural, psychological, and historiosophical dilemmas that destabilized many conventions about Russia's place in universal history. This article examines one response to these dilemmas: the Slavophile reconfiguration of Eastern Christianity as a modern religion of theocentric freedom and moral progress. Drawing upon methods of contextual analysis, the article challenges the usual scholarly treatment of Slavophile religious thought as a vehicle to address extrahistorical concerns by placing the writings of A. S. Khomiakov and I. V. Kireevskii in the discursive and ideological framework in which they originated and operated. As such, the article considers the atheistic revolution in consciousness advocated by Russian Hegelians, the Schellingian proposition that human freedom and moral advancement were dependent upon the living God, P. Ia. Chaadaev's contention that a people's religious orientation determined its historical potential, and the Slavophile appropriation of Russia's dominant confession to resolve the problem of having attained historical consciousness in an age of historical stasis. *
Apology of Culture: Religion and Culture in Russian Thought
Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Teresa Obolevitch, Paweł Rojek (red.), Apology of Culture. Religion and Culture in Russian Thought, Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications 2015, pp. 252, ISBN 978–1-4982–0398-2.
Contemporary philosophy and theology are ever more conscious of the fact that the model of relations between religion and culture developed in modernity is fundamentally flawed. e processes of the secularization of society, culture, and even religion are rooted in the dualistic vision of religion and culture introduced in the late Middle Ages. In seeking a way out, we need to explore domains of culture unaffected by Western European secular thinking.