Nun Tereza (Obolevich T.)

Russian Religious Philosophy Between the East and West. The Ways of Russian Sophiology

Abstract

Russian religious thought was created as a result of two great traditions: the Eastern (Byzantine) and the Western. It may be claimed that there is no one philosophical school or movement which did not have leave any trace on the shape of Russian philosophy. There is a number of studies which analyze the influence of Western philosophical culture (German, French, English, etc.). Beside, one should remember that the original Russian religious thought also inspired many Western philosophers. On the other hand, since the 20th century we can observe the renewal of the Eastern Christian style of philosophizing typical for the creativity of the Fathers of the Church and developed in the shape of Neo-patristic synthesis. Inevitably one should pose a number of questions: is there any contradiction between West and East in Russian philosophical thought? Was Russian philosophy in the “captive” of Western rationalism, as Fr George Florovsky claimed, proclaiming the return to Greek patristics? How up to date is Western thought for Russian philosophy and Russian religious philosophy for Western world? In my paper I will consider two possible directions of dialogue of Western and Eastern traditions in the modern world: (1) the perspective of development of Neopatristics in Russian and abroad, and (2) the elaboration of some aspects of Russian religious thought which was born on the cross of Western and Eastern cultures (sophiology and all-unity) in philosophico-theological thought of the 20th century on the example of American mystic, Thomas Merton.

Keywords

sophiology, Neo-patristics, S. Bulgakov, G. Florovsky, reception of Russian philosophy.

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Information about the author

Nun Tereza (Obolevich T.)

Academic Degree: PhD in Philosophy;
Place of work: Pontifical University of John Paul II, Krakow, Poland;
Email: email: tereza.obolevich@upjp2.edu.pl.

Acknowledgments

Статья подготовлена в рамках реализации гранта «Наука, философия и политика в русской религиозной мысли», признанного Национальным центром науки Республики Польша UMO–2014/15/B/HS1/0162