The Image of the Church – Present and Future – in the Works of Nicholas Berdyaev. Article one: “Berdyaev is always thinking in a sobornal way”

Author: korolevaNV / Date: 26-03-2025 /
Publication Title: 
The Image of the Church – Present and Future – in the Works of Nicholas Berdyaev. Article one: “Berdyaev is always thinking in a sobornal way”
Publication author(s): 
S.V. Androsenko
Abstract: 

This article focuses on the analysis of the image of the Church, both present and future, in the works of N.A. Berdyaev between 1911 and 1948. Berdyaev’s language and philosophical method, which is of fundamental importance for understanding of his image of the Church, are analysed. It is demonstrated, that the ecclesial problematics is present and revealed in the philosopher’s works not only as a constant theme of his reflections, but even more so in the very design of his thought, in his “sobornal” perspective, which have been noted by a number of scholars, as well as in his gnoseological orientation, which comes out of his particular understanding of New Testament revelation about the human person. The epistemological meaning of Berdyaev’s idea of the Church as a spiritual reality that is rather revealed within the human spirit and can only be perceived through communion, than stand before him as an external object, is explained. The article shows the significance of Berdyaev’s fundamental idea of the connection between the levels of perception and the levels of communion (i.e. of the overcoming of discord between people), which is explicitly or implicitly present in almost all of his works, beginning with The Philosophy of Freedom (1911) and ending with Truth and Revelation (1947), and becomes especially clear in the context of his ecclesiological reflections. The article also critically analyzes in what sense one can speak of the “sociological” nature of Berdyaev’s thinking, which some scholars have pointed out, and demonstrates how this feature of his philosophy is connected with its ecclesiastical character. The ideas of “sobornal gnoseology”, “epistemic accusation”, as well as concept of “an integral understanding of Church” over against “understanding via differentiation”, and Berdyaev’s approach to conceiving of the boundaries of the Church, are elucidated.

 

References: 

(Sources)

Collected Works

  1. Berdyaev, N.A. Sbornik sochineniy «O dukhovnoy burzhuaznosti» [Collected Works “On Spiritual Bourgeoisness”]. Moscow: Nouveaux Angles (Moskva); Editions des Syrtes (Parizh), 2022. 184 p.

Individual Works

  1. Afanas'ev, N., protopr. Una Sancta. Pravoslavnaya obshchina, 1996, no. 4(34), pp. 62–112.
  2. Berdyaev, N.A. Eshche o khristianskom pessimizme i optimizme (Otvet protoiereyu S. Chetverikovu) [More on Christian Pessimism and Optimism (Response to Archpriest S. Chetverikov)], in Put', 1935, no. 48, pp. 69–72.
  3. Berdyaev, N.A. Istina i otkrovenie: Prolegomeny k kritike Otkroveniya [Truth and Revelation: Prolegomena to the Critique of Revelation], in Berdyaev, N.A. Istina i otkrovenie. Na poroge novoy epokhi [Truth and Revelation. On the Threshold of a New Era]. Saint-Petersburg: RKhGI, 1996, pp. 5–155.
  4. Berdyaev, N.A. Novoe religioznoe soznanie i obshchestvennost' [New religious consciousness and society]. Saint-Petersburg: Izdanie M.V. Pirozhkova, 1907, IL+ 233 p.
  5. Berdyaev, N.A. O dostoinstve khristianstva i nedostoinstve khristian [On the Dignity of Christianity and the Unworthiness of Christians], in Dmitrieva, N.K. Nikolay Berdyaev: Zhizn' i tvorchestvo. Filosof svobodnogo dukha [Nikolai Berdyaev: Life and Work. Philosopher of the Free Spirit]. Moscow: Vysshaya shkola, 1993, pp. 149–165.
  6. Berdyaev, N.A. O naznachenii cheloveka: Opyt paradoksal'noy etiki [The Destiny of Man: An Experience of Paradoxical Ethics]. Paris: Sovremennye zapiski, 1931. 320 p.
  7. Berdyaev, N.A. O rabstve i svobode cheloveka: Opyt personalisticheskoy metafiziki [Slavery and Freedom: An Essay on Personalistic Metaphysics]. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1939. 224 p.
  8. Berdyaev, N.A. Russkaya ideya (Osnovnye problemy russkoy mysli XIX veka i nachala XX veka) [The Russian idea: Fundamental problems of Russian thought in the 19th and early 20th centuries]. Saint-Petersburg: Azbuka-klassika, 2008. 300 p.
  9. Berdyaev, N.A. Samopoznanie (Opyt filosofskoy avtobiografii) [Dream and Reality (An Experience of Philosophical Autobiography)]. Moscow; Berlin: Direkt-Media, 2016. 451 p.
  10. Berdyaev, N.A. Spasenie i tvorchestvo (Dva ponimaniya khristianstva) [Salvation and Creativity: Two Understandings of Christianity], in Put', 1926, no. 2, pp. 26–46.
  11. Berdyaev, N.A. Filosofiya neravenstva: Pis'ma k nedrugam po sotsial'noy filosofii [Philosophy of Inequality: Letters to Enemies in Social Philosophy]. Berlin: Obelisk, 1923. 246 p.
  12. Berdyaev, N.A. Filosofiya svobodnogo dukha: Problematika i apologiya khristianstva [Freedom and the spirit: Problems and Apology of Christianity], in Berdyaev, N.A. Filosofiya svobodnogo dukha. Ya i mir ob"ektov. Sud'ba cheloveka v sovremennom mire. Dukh i real'nost' [Freedom and the spirit. Solitude and society. The Fate of Man in the Modern World. Spirit and Reality]. Moscow: Respublika, 1994, pp. 14–228.
  13. Berdyaev, N.A. Filosofiya svobody [The Philosophy of Freedom]. Moscow: Put', 1911. 280 p.
  14. Berdyaev, N.A. Ya i mir ob"ektov: Opyt filosofii odinochestva i obshcheniya [Solitude and Society: Philosophical Experience of Solitude and Society]. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1934. 188 p.
  15. Bulgakov, S., prot. Nevesta Agntsa [The Bride of the Lamb]. Moscow: Obshchedostupnyy pravoslavnyy universitet, osnovannyy protoiereem Aleksandrom Menem, 2005. 655 p.
  16. Bulgakov, S., prot. Ocherki ucheniya o Tserkvi [Essays on the Doctrine of the Church], in Put', 1925, no. 1, pp. 53–78.
  17. Florovskiy, G., prot. O granitsakh Tserkvi [On the Boundaries of the Church], in Florovskiy, G. Izbrannye bogoslovskie stat'i [Selected Theological Articles]. Moscow: Izdatel'stvo «Probel», 2000. 317 p.

(Articles from Scientific Journals)

  1. Borovoy, V., protopr. Bulgakov i Berdyaev: bogoslovie i filosofiya [Bulgakov and Berdyaev: Theology and Philosophy], in Svet Khristov prosveshchaet vsekh: Al'manakh Svyato-Filaretovskogo pravoslavno-khristianskogo instituta, 2015, issue 16, pp. 9–35.
  2. Dimitrova, N. Filosofsko-bogoslovski aspekti na antropologichniya povrat: Ruskiyat sluchay [Philosophical and Theological Aspects of the Anthropological Turn: the Russian Case], in Filosofiyata: ot moderniz"m k"m postmoderniz"m, 2017, vol. 25, issue 2, pp. 37–51.
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  4. Gutner, G.B. Sekulyarnost', postsekulyarnost' i russkaya religioznaya filosofiya [Secularity, Post-Secularity, and Russian Religious Philosophy], in Al'manakh SFI “Svet Khristov prosveshchaet vsekh”, 2015, issue 16, pp. 63–82.
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  6. Krokhina, N.P. N.A. Berdyaev o novoy dukhovnosti: sofiynaya (bogochelovecheskaya) tema v rabotakh 30–40-kh gg. [Berdyaev on the New Spirituality: the Sophian (God-human) Theme in the Works of the 1930s–40s], in Solov'evskie issledovaniya, 2006, issue 1(12), pp. 205–211.
  7. Shitikov, P.M. Prelomlenie idey Vl. Solov'eva v filosofii N.A. Berdyaeva [Refraction of Vl. Soloviev's Ideas in N.A. Berdyaev's Philosophy], in Solov'evskie issledovaniya, 2009, issue 3(23), pp. 128–134.
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  9. Timofeev, A.I. Nikolay Berdyaev: chelovechnost' i voyna [Nikolai Berdyaev: Humanity and War], in Solov'evskie issledovaniya, 2016, issue 1(49), pp. 85–93.

(Articles from Proceedings and Collections of Research Papers)

  1. Mozgov, K.A. Oglashenie prosveshchaemykh v svyatootecheskoy traditsii [The Catechism of the Enlightened in the Patristic Tradition], in Traditsiya svyatootecheskoy katekhizatsii: Osnovnoy etap: Materialy Mezhdunarodnoy bogoslovsko-prakticheskoy konferentsii (Moskva – Moskovskaya oblast', 28–30 maya 2013 g.) [The Tradition of Patristic Catechesis: The Main Stage: Proceedings of the International Theological and Practical Conference (Moscow – Moscow Region, May 28–30, 2013)]. Moscow: Svyato-Filaretovskiy pravoslavno-khristianskiy institut, 2014, pp. 15–29.
  2. Sapov, V.V. N.A. Berdyaev: Antisotsiologiya kak kritika sotsiologicheskogo razuma [Anti-sociology as a critique of sociological reason], in Istoriya teoreticheskoi sotsiologii. T. 2 [History of Theoretical Sociology. Vol. 2]. Moscow: Kanon+; OI «Reabilitatsiya», 2002, pp. 245–258.
  3. Stark, K. The idea of God-Man in Nicolas Berdyaev’s existentialism, in Analecta Husserliana: The yearbook of phenomenological research. Vol. 103: Phenomenology and existentialism in the twentieth century. Book 1: New waves of philosophical inspirations. Hannover, NH: Springer, 2009, pp. 217–229.

(Monographs)

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  2. Gavrilyuk, P.L. Istoriya katekhizatsii v drevney tserkvi [History of Catechesis in the Ancient Church]. Moscow: Svyato-Filaretovskaya Moskovskaya Vysshaya Pravoslavno-Khristianskaya Shkola, 2001. 320 p.
  3. Knežević, R.A. Homo Theurgos: Freedom According to John Zizioulas and Nikolai Berdyaev. Paris: Cerf, 2020. 346 p.
  4. Linde, F. The Spirit of Revolt. Nikolai Berdiaev’s Existential Gnosticism. Stockholm: Stockholm University, 2010. 231 p.
  5. Nikolaus, G. K.G. Yung i N. Berdyaev: Individuatsiya i Lichnost'. Kriticheskoe sravnenie [C.G. Jung and N. Berdyaev. Individuation and Personality. A Critical Comparison]. Moscow: ID “Gorodets”, 2017. 288 p.
  6. Schultze, B. Die Schau der Kirche bei Nikolai Berdiaejew. Roma: Pontificum Institutum Orientalium Studiorum, 1938. 251 p.
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Key words: 
ecclesiology, apophatic sociology, Divine humanity, ecclesial gnosis, sobornal gnoseology, sobornost, positivism, antipositivism
2025. Issue 1 (85)
The DOI index: 
10.17588/2076-9210.2025.1.081-097
Publication file: 
str.81-97_85.pdf