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Near-Death Experience and Russian Theology: Sergius Bulgakov’S Near-Death Experience

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Near-Death Experience and Russian Theology: Sergius Bulgakov’S Near-Death Experience Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 71(1-2), 107-125. doi: 10.2143/JECS.71.1.3285910 © 2019 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE AND RUSSIAN THEOLOGY: SERGIUS BULGAKOV’S NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE WALTER N. SIsTO (D’Youville College) A 2001 study by Parnia and Yeates approximates that eighteen percent of cardiac arrest survivors had near-death experience (NDE).1 Whether the NDE is caused by an unknown psychological or physiological factor or the soul’s departure from the body is a matter of debate. Nevertheless, millions of people have experienced an NDE and credit it as a positive, life-altering event. The last two decades have witnessed a myriad of publications from psy- chologists, philosophers, and medical doctors on NDEs. Yet, relatively little has been published on the role of NDEs in organized religion, specifically research that examines if NDEs have influenced or continue to influence religion. A few notable publications on this topic include comparative stud- ies of religious/mystical experience and NDEs by Greyson (2014), Cressy (1994), Badham (1997), Pennacho (1986), and Stace (1960).2 These studies demonstrate that although popular interest in NDEs is a recent phenomenon,3 NDEs themselves are not recent. Religious/mystical experiences, in fact, that are a hallmark of Christian mysticism share substantial similarities with NDE accounts.4 Similarities include encounters with God/light, feeling of 1 Cf. S. Parnia, D.G. Waller, R. Yeates, and P. Fenwick, ‘A qualitative and quantitative study of the incidence, features and aetiology of near death experiences in cardiac arrest survivors’, Resuscitation, 48 (2001), pp. 149-156. 2 Cf. Bruce Greyson, ‘Congruence Between Near-Death and Mystical Experience’, The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 24 (2014), pp. 298-310; J. Cressy, The near-death experience: Madness or mysticism? (Boston, 1994); P. Badham, ‘Religious and near-death experiences in relation to belief in a future life’, Mortality, 2 (1994), pp. 7-21; J. Pennachio, ‘Near-death experience as mystical experience’, Journal of Religion and Health, 25 (1986), pp. 64-72. 3 The preponderance of accounts by NDErs has led more than a few skeptics to claim that NDEs are modern phenomena, a result of the ‘Oprah effect’. (Cf. Raymond A. Moody, The last laugh: A new philosophy of near-death experiences, apparitions, and the paranormal (Charlottesville, VA, 1999), pp. 12-13). 4 The mysticism of Julian of Norwich is a notable example. Julian’s The Revelations of Divine Love that was written in the fourteenth-century explains sixteen revelations she received from Jesus Christ during a near-death experience. 108 WALTER N. SIsTO exceptional peace or joy, and a life-changing perspective.5 However, this research is largely concerned with comparisons between NDEs and mystical experiences, not the influence of NDEs on religion or a specific religious personality. NDEs’ life-changing perspective is known as an aftereffect. That aftereffects generally lead to great religious fervor or life changes suggest that NDEs may play a role in organized religion, particularly religious traditions that are informed by mystics or leaders that purport to have come back from the dead. My goal in this paper is to contribute to the research on NDEs for reli- gious leaders. This article will examine the purported near-death experiences of Rev. Sergius N. Bulgakov (1886-1946). Father Bulgakov is best known for his controversial work known as Sophiology. Today Bulgakov is under- going a renaissance, particularly in the North America. Although most of the research over the past two decades has focused on Bulgakov’s philosophical writings, the past few years have examined his theology.6 This article is situ- ated in the latter phase of Bulgakov research, to understand possible motiva- tions for Bulgakov’s theology as well as to provide valuable information about his biography. Bulgakov, who has been described as a mystic,7 had multiple religious/ mystical experiences throughout his life. However, relevant to this study were two religious experiences that resulted from serious illnesses in 1926 and 1939. Bulgakov published the full account of his experience in Sofiologiia smerti or The Sophiology of Death (1940). This article analyzes Bulgakov’s 1926 and 1939 experiences and deter- mines if these experiences comport to a clinical understanding of an NDE. The article also examines some of the aftereffects associated with Bulgakov’s 5 Moreover, NDE-like experiences not are exclusive to the Christian religion. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are deloks or people who return from the dead and teach about their encounter in the afterlife. For more information on NDEs in various religious traditions see Paul Badham, ‘Religious and near-death experiences in relation to belief in a future’, Mortality, 2.1 (1997), pp. 7-21. 6 Interestingly, the renaissance of Bulgakov’s theology seems to be largely a Western, English and non-Orthodox phenomena. Bulgakov’s theology is generally ignored by Orthodox Russian theologians. 7 Cf. Michael Plekon, Living Icons: Persons of Faith in the Eastern Church (Notre Dame, IN, 2002), pp. 29-58. NEAR-DEATH EXPERIEnCE And RUssIAn THEOLOGY 109 experiences. To accomplish this task, I will use recent scholarship on NDEs, including the Greyson scale. 1. WHAT Is An NDE? Before we embark on this investigation, we ought to define our terms. When I speak of a NDE, I mean ‘a profound subjective [event] often experienced on the threshold of death’.8 Research on NDEs reveal that there are a spectrum of NDEs. To help ascertain the various causes of an NDE as well as to differentiate different NDE experinces, researchers use the Greyson scale which is the dominant tool used to assesss NDEs in clinical trials. The Greyson scale was developed by Dr. Bruce Greyson in 1983,9 for the purpose of differentiating expereiences associated with the dying process from experi- ences that do not have a clear physiological or psychological cause. Greyson’s scale allows researchers to differentiate an NDE from dreaming10 and to categorize­ the intensity of the NDE. Greyson’s research discovered common charateristics of an NDE and created a questioneire comprised of sixteen ques- tions and three answers with an attributed score of 0 for no experience, 1 for an experience, or 2 for an intense experience. In normal circumstances, his scale would be administered as questionnaire for the perspective Near-Death Experiencer (NDEr) to complete. Because Bulgakov died in 1944, this is not possible. However, the in-depth account in his Sophiology of Death will allow me to evaluate his experience based on Greyson’s criteria and to determine the intensity and type of Bulgakov’s purported NDE. Here is the Greyson scale:11 8 Bruce Greyson, ‘The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, reliability, and validity’, Journal of Near-Death Studies, 8.3 (1990), pp. 151-161, on p. 151. 9 Bruce Greyson, ‘The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, reliability, and validity’, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171 (1983), pp. 369–375. 10 Ibid., p. 373. 11 Adapted from Bruce Greyson, ‘Altered States: The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, reliability, and validity, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171 (1983), pp. 369-375 in Lee Graves, ‘Science Analyze the Near-Death Experience’, University of Virginia Magazine, http://iands.org/research/nde-research/important-research-articles/698- greyson-nde-scale.html_. 110 WALTER N. SIsTO 1. Did time seem to speed up or slow down? 9. Were your senses more vivid than usual? 0 = No 0 = No 1 = Time seemed to go faster or slower than usual 1 = More vivid than usual 2 = Everything seemed to be happening at once; or 2 = Incredibly more vivid time stopped or lost all meaning 10. Did you seem to be aware of things going on 2. Were your thoughts speeded up? elsewhere, as if by extrasensory perception (ESP)? 0 = No 0 = No 1 = Faster than usual 1 = Yes, but the facts have not been checked out 2 = Incredibly fast 2 = Yes, and the facts have been checked out 3. Did scenes from your past come back to 11. Did scenes from the future come to you? you? 0 = No 0 = No 1 = Scenes from my personal future 1 = I remembered many past events 2 = Scenes from the world’s future 2 = My past flashed before me, out of my control 12. Did you feel separated from your body? 4. Did you suddenly seem to understand every- 0 = No thing? 1 = I lost awareness of my body 0 = No 2 = I clearly left my body and existed outside it 1 = Everything about myself or others 2 = Everything about the universe 13. Did you seem to enter some other, unearthly world? 5. Did you have a feeling of peace or pleasant- 0 = No ness? 1 = Some unfamiliar and strange place 0 = No 2 = A clearly mystical or unearthly realm 1 = Relief or calmness 2 = Incredible peace or pleasantness 14. Did you seem to encounter a mystical being or presence, or hear an unidentifiable voice? 6. Did you have a feeling of joy? 0 = No 0 = No 1 = I heard a voice I could not identify 1 = Happiness 2 = I encountered a definite being, or a voice clearly 2 = Incredible joy of mystical or unearthly origin 7. Did you feel a sense of harmony or unity with 15. Did you see deceased or religious spirits? the universe? 0 = No 0 = No 1 = I sensed their presence 1 = I felt no longer in conflict with nature 2 = I actually saw them 2 = I felt united or one with the world 16. Did you come to a border or point of no 8. Did you see, or feel surrounded by, a brilliant return? light? 0 = No 0 = No 1 = I came to a definite conscious decision to 1 = An unusually bright light ‘return’ to life 2 = A light clearly of mystical or other-worldly 2 = I came to a barrier that I was not permitted to origin cross; or was ‘sent back’ against my will.
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