Dilemmas of reactions in Leninist Russia : the Christian response to the Revolution in the works of N.A. Berdyaev, 1917-1924 / Christian Gottlieb.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Gottlieb, Christian.

Contributor:

Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

Language:

Danish

English

Subjects (All):

Berdi︠a︡ev, Nikolaĭ, 1874-1948.

Berdi︠a︡ev, Nikolaĭ.

Berdi͡aev, Nikolaĭ, 1874-1948.

History.

Philosophy.

Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921--Philosophy.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Christianity.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

453 pages ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Odense : University Press of Southern Denmark, 2003.

Language Note:

Summary in Danish.

Summary:

In the moral and spiritual vacuum left in Russia by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989-91 some of the thinkers who first opposed the Leninist revolution of 1917 have come to a new prominence. Important among them is the religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) who is now frequently cited as a source of inspiration in the attempt to overcome the disastrous legacy of the Soviet experiment and in the search for a new national identity. This book focuses particularly on his early post-revolutionary works, which express a passionate protest against the revolution. His was clearly the most comprehensive contemporary critique of the revolutionary project from a Christian perspective. Essential themes of Christian theology and social thought are brought out in a radical way suitable to a radical situation. From his consistently religious perspective he foresaw with precision much of the inhuman and tyrannical potential of the revolutionary project -- later to be abundantly confirmed by the development of the Soviet regime. The dilemmas discerned in his response particularly relate to his call for spiritual resistance and to his expectation of a Christian alternative -- an illustrative instance of the confrontation of Christianity with the modern world. The theological and philosophical investigation conducted in this book provides a new interpretation of Berdyaev's response in the light of its historical setting and with a view to its contemporary significance in the post-Soviet situation.

Contents:

1. Dilemmas of reaction 11

2. Purpose, scope and method 15

Part I Revolution against Christianity

2. The Revolution as a challenge to Christianity 27

1. The Marxist-Leninist tradition 27

2. Direct practice, indirect theory 36

3. The responses of the Orthodox Church 43

1. The response of the Patriarchal church 44

2. The 'reactionary' response 49

3. The 'progressive' response 52

4. Responses of the Christian intelligentsia 58

1. Before the revolution 59

Slavophiles, Westernizers and their successors 59

The 'Religious Renaissance' 66

Bulgakov and Berdyaev 74

Struve and Frank 78

2. After the revolution 84

From the depths 85

Struve 92

Part II Berdyaev's response to the revolution

5. Berdyaev and his works 1917-1924 101

1. Berdyaev's career up to 1924 101

2. Works 1917-1924 118

1. 'Spirits of the Russian Revolution', 1918 120

2. The philosophy of inequality, 1918 (1923) 122

3. The meaning of history, 1919-20 (1923) 134

4. The end of the renaissance, 1919 (1922; 1923) 142

5. The philosophy of Dostoevskii, 1920-21 (1923) 144

6. The new middle ages, 1924 146

7. Pamphlets and articles, 1917-18 149

3. Assessment 151

6. Berdyaev's analysis of the Revolution (I) The 'revolutionary ideology' 154

1. Berdyaev's initial reaction 156

2. The revolution is anti-Christian 161

Berdyaev's doctrinal arguments 165

Christianity and democracy 167

Christianity and socialism 168

Christianity and anarchism 179

The religious significance of revolution 180

The revolutionary criticism of Christianity: The 'Grand Inquisitor' 184

7. Berdyaev's analysis of the Revolution (II) The 'divine world-order' 193

1. The basis of the 'divine world-order' 194

2. The 'divine world-order' applied: Principles of a political philosophy 203

The 'objective basis of society' 205

The synthesis of religion and science 210

Consequences of rejecting the divine world-order 220

The critical application of 'objectivity' 227

3. The 'divine world-order' applied: The philosophy of history 233

Setting and aim of the philosophy of history 237

The "historical", or the centre of history 244

Godmanhood: The drama of God and man 252

The relation of time to eternity 258

The existential and epistemological dimension 259

The analysis of history and culture: The gradual realization of freedom 268

Progress versus eschatology 300

Philosophy of history as a response to revolution 309

8. The Christian alternative to the Revolution 321

1. The 'true spiritual revolution' 322

The individual dimension 328

The social dimension 334

The social dilemma resolved: Aristocracy 341

9. Berdyaev's dilemmas of reaction 349

1. Berdyaev's method 350

2. Theological and philosophical implications 358

Objectivity vs. subjectivity: Gnosis, faith and suffering 359

The dilemma solved is the dilemma sharpened 371

3. The relevance of Berdyaev's response 379

Critical theory 381

Positive practice 383

The revolution is dead!

Long live Berdyaev? 388

Appendix 1 A note on related research 397

Appendix 2 Diagram of Berdyaev's philosophy of history 407

Reaktionens dilemmaer i Lenins Rusland: Dansk resume 410.

Notes:

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Copenhagen, 2002.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [436]-448) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Class of 1891 Department of Arts Fund.

ISBN:

8778388074

OCLC:

52401420