Henry Corbin and Russian Religious Thought Hadi Fakhoury Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal August 2013 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master’s of Arts © Hadi Fakhoury, 2013 iii Abstract Henry Corbin and Russian Religious Thought Hadi Fakhoury, M.A. Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 2013 This study addresses the influence of Russian religious thought on the French philosopher and Islamicist Henry Corbin (1903-1978). In the 1930s, Corbin came into contact with religious thinkers of the Russian emigration in Paris, particularly Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948), who had an important role in his critical reception of contemporary German philosophy and theology. In 1939, Corbin moved to Istanbul where, parallel to his work on the first critical edition of the writings of the Iranian philosopher Shahab al-Din al-Suhrawardi (1155-1191), he deepened his knowledge of Byzantine theology and translated some of the writings of the Russian theologian Fr. Sergius Bulgakov (1871-1944). Corbin’s post-war writings thus contain important references to Russian thinkers such as Berdyaev, Bulgakov, Aleksey Khomiakov (1804-1860), Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), Konstantin Leontiev (1831-1891), and Vasily Rozanov (1856-1919). These thinkers had a unique role in Corbin’s ecumenical project. He was indeed convinced that Russian Orthodoxy has an important role in mediating between East and West, Christianity and Islam. Until now, there has been no attempt to study the Russian connection in Corbin’s thought. The present work explores this influence as reflected in the themes of East and West, Sophiology, Divine humanity, eschatology, angelology, and Orthodox iconography. In the process, it sheds light on the sources of Corbin’s philosophical positions, interest in certain themes, and choice of terminology. iv Résumé Henry Corbin et la pensée religieuse russe Hadi Fakhoury, MA L’Institut d’études islamiques, l’Université McGill, 2013 Cette étude traite de l’influence de la pensée religieuse russe sur le philosophe et islamologue français Henry Corbin (1903-1978). Dans les années 1930, Corbin pris contact avec des penseurs religieux issus de l’émigration russe à Paris ; en particulier, Nicolas Berdiaev (1874-1948), qui eût un rôle important dans sa critique de la philosophie et la théologie allemande contemporaine. En 1939, Corbin s’installa à Istanbul où, parallèlement à son travail d’édition des œuvres du philosophe iranien Shahab al-Din al-Suhrawardi (1155-1191), il approfondit ses connaissances en théologie byzantine et traduisit certains écrits du P. Serge Boulgakov (1871-1944). Nous retrouvons ainsi des références importantes à des penseurs russes tels Berdiaev, Boulgakov, Alexeï Khomiakov (1804-1860), Fiodor Dostoïevski (1821-1881), Constantin Léontiev (1831-1891), Vassili Rozanov (1856-1919), dans les écrits d’après-guerre de Corbin. Ces mêmes penseurs eurent un rôle unique dans la vision œcuménique de Corbin. Ce dernier fut en effet convaincu que l’Orthodoxie russe a un rôle médiateur à jouer entre l’Orient et l’Occident, le Christianisme et l’Islam. À ce jour, aucune étude s’intéressant au philosophe n’avait élucidé cette influence. C’est pourquoi, le travail entrepris ici a pour but de combler cette lacune à travers divers thèmes tous traités en tenant compte de cette même influence : l’Orient et l’Occident, la sophiologie, la divino- humanité, l’eschatologie, l’angélologie et l’iconographie orthodoxe. Cette étude met l’accent sur les sources des positions philosophiques de Corbin, sa prédilection pour certains sujets, ainsi que son répertoire lexical. v Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have supported, encouraged and inspired me in the course of preparing and writing this thesis. In particular, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Rula Jurdi Abisaab, for her interest, support, guidance and patience, all of which made possible the completion of this work. For putting me on the track of Corbin and his feedback on the paper I wrote on Corbin for his seminar on Shahab al-Din al-Suhrawardi in 2009, I am indebted to Professor Robert Wisnovsky. I would also like to extend my utmost thanks to Professor Torrance Kirby, my mentor, for being a great source of support and inspiration over the years. Thanks to Professor Kirby, I had the opportunity to present my paper on Henry Corbin’s Hermeneutics of Scripture at an international conference hosted in December 2010 in Istanbul by the Faculty of Theology of Marmara University and jointly sponsored by the Centre for Research on Religion of McGill University. The support and valuable feedback that I received at that conference, as well as the contacts I made there, stimulated my research. I am particularly thankful to Professors Maurice Boutin, Wayne Hankey, Douglas Hedley, and Sasha Treiger, for their interest and encouragement. I am further indebted to Fr. Stephen Janos, whose gracious responses to my initial queries, profound knowledge of Berdyaev, and online library and index of Berdyaev’s works (http://berdyaev.com), were helpful for my research. I am also grateful to Professor Brandon Gallaher for illuminating important aspects of the “Paris School” of Russian theology and his helpful references. For his assistance in questions concerning Corbin and Shestov, I am indebted to Professor Michael Finkenthal. I am thankful to the administrative staff of the Institute of Islamic Studies. In particular, I would like to thank Adina Sigartau and Zeitun Manjothi for their constant help and professionalism. I owe thanks to the staff of the Library of the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Interlibrary Loan Service for their tireless assistance. I am particularly grateful to Stephen Millier for his interest, helpful recommendations, and rare sense of old-school librarianship. I am especially indebted to Dr. Tom Cheetham, who was the first to welcome and encourage the idea of this work. Dr. Cheetham’s numerous publications, online blog “The Legacy of Henry Corbin” vi (http://henrycorbinproject.blogspot.com), and personal communications, have provided a wealth of insights on Corbin and were a guiding light throughout my research. I am deeply grateful to Professor Todd Lawson for his kind support and helpful comments on an early draft of this work. I owe thanks to Dr. Daniel Gastambide and Professor Pierre Lory— president and secretary general, respectively, of the Friends of Henry and Stella Corbin Association—for their permission to use the catalogue of Corbin’s papers held at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, which was instrumental for this research. Last, but not least, I am deeply indebted to Yannick Lambert, Fariduddin Attar Rifai and Omar Rifai for their presence, comradeship, and being ideal discussion partners on Corbin. They were present at every stage of this undertaking, motivated me with their encouragement, and provided many important insights and suggestions that contributed to the progress and completion of this work. I owe special thanks to Fariduddin for lending me constant support and providing the computer on which this thesis was edited. vii Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. iii Résumé ............................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................. v Note on Spelling and Transliteration ........................................................................................... viii Introduction: Corbin, Russian Religious Thought and the “Ghetto of Orientalism” ............. 1 Chapter 1: The Russian Connection: New Light on Corbin’s Intellectual Makeup ................ 9 1.1. Aspects of Russian Religious Thought: Slavophilism, Vladimir Solovyov and Nikolai Fedorov ............................................................................................................... 10 1.2. Berdyaev and the Generation of Religious Thinkers of the Russian Emigration in Paris ................................................................................................................. 21 1.3. Berdyaev’s Role in the Development of Corbin’s Thought in the 1930s ............... 29 Chapter 2: Becoming an Ishraqi: Reading Suhrawardi Through Byzantine Christianity ........................................................................................................................................ 49 Chapter 3: Arriving at the Shi’ite Sophia: Corbin’s Bulgakovian “Turn” ................................ 68 3.1. “The Eternal Sophia” and Jungianism in Corbin’s Thought .................................... 68 3.2. Aspects of Sergius Bulgakov’s Doctrine of Sophia .................................................... 73 3.3. “Fatima-Sophia,” or the Shi’ite Sophia ......................................................................... 77 3.4. Bulgakov as a Source for Corbin’s Angelology ........................................................... 82 3.5. The Imam as Icon—Corbin’s Ecumenical Exegesis of Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity ................................................................................................................................. 86 Chapter 4: Iranian Islam in a Russian Key: