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Philosophical Theology and the Christian Tradition: Russian and Western Perspectives Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series IVA, Eastern and Central Europe, Volume 44 Series VIII, Christian Philosophical Studies, Volume 3 General Editor George F. McLean Philosophical Theology and the Christian Tradition: Russian and Western Perspectives Russian Philosophical Studies, V Christian Philosophical Studies, III Edited by David Bradshaw The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Copyright © 2012 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Box 261 Cardinal Station Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Philosophical theology and the Christian traditions : Russian and Western perspectives / edited by David Bradshaw. p. cm. – (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series IVA, Eastern & Central European philosophical studies ; v. 44) (Cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series VIII, Christian philosophical studies ; v. 3) Proceedings of a conference held June 1-3, 2010 at Moscow State University. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Philosophical theology--Congresses 2. Philosophy and religion--Congresses. 3. Theology, Doctrinal--Congresses. I. Bradshaw, David, 1960- BT40.P445 2012 2012017634 230.01--dc23 CIP ISBN 978-1-56518-275-2 (paper) This publication was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 David Bradshaw Chapter I. Philosophy of Religion and the Varieties of 5 Rational Theology Vladimir Shokhin Chapter II. Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice 21 Richard Swinburne Chapter III. Models of the Trinity in Patristic Theology 31 Alexey Fokin Chapter IV. Divine Simplicity and the Doctrine of the Trinity: 53 Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine Richard Cross Chapter V. The Unity of the Human Person according to 67 the Greek Fathers Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia Chapter VI. Divine Freedom: The Greek Fathers and 77 the Modern Debate David Bradshaw Chapter VII. The Reality of Sin: Anselm’s Unusual View 93 Katherin A. Rogers Chapter VIII. Ways Two and Three: 107 Thomas Aquinas on the Intelligibility of Being Robert C. Koons Chapter IX. The Role of Imagination in Attaining 123 the Knowledge of God Tatyana Borodai Chapter X. Interrelations between Philosophy and 139 Religion from the Viewpoint of Hegel’s Heritage Vladimir V. Mironov Chapter XI. Philosophy in the Russian Academies: 147 The Case of Viktor Kudryavtsev-Platonov Irina Tsvyk Chapter XII. Father Sergei Bulgakov’s Sophiology: 161 Philosopheme or Theologeme? Alexey Kozyrev Chapter XIII. The Theology of Communion and 177 Eucharistic Anthropology Alexander Filonenko Chapter XIV. Post-secular Subjectivity in Western 187 Philosophical Debates and Orthodox Theology Kristina Stoeckl Index 199 INTRODUCTION DAVID BRADSHAW The papers contained in this volume were presented at a conference entitled “Philosophical Theology and the Christian Tradition: Russian and Western Perspectives” held at Moscow State University, June 1-3, 2010. The conference was sponsored jointly by the Philosophy Department of Moscow State University, the Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Biblical-Theological Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate, and the Society of Christian Philosophers, with the generous support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. It was the seventh in a series of joint Anglo- American/Russian conferences on various topics organized by the Society of Christian Philosophers. The proceedings have also been published in Russian in Philosophy of Religion: An Almanac 2010-2011, ed. Vladimir K. Shokhin (Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura Publishers, 2011). The papers have been arranged here in broadly chronological order, beginning with methodological issues, continuing through the Biblical, patristic, and medieval eras, and concluding with modern thought. The opening paper is by Vladimir Shokhin, who offers a probing examination of the boundaries of philosophy of religion in relation to various forms of “rational theology” such as natural theology and philosophical theology. Shokhin argues for the importance of recognizing philosophy of religion as a discipline distinct from rational theology in all of its forms, however important the latter may be. After this methodological preface, the contribution by Richard Swinburne provides a case study in the careful analytic assessment of a Biblical concept, that of atonement. Swinburne argues that the atonement of Christ consists in offering a perfect human life to God as reparation for sin, a reparation that believers can appropriate and offer as their own through prayer, baptism, and partaking of the Eucharist. Swinburne also critiques several alternative ways of understanding the atonement, such as that it is a restoration of human nature, a ransom offered to the devil, or a form of penal substitution. The next several papers deal with issues in patristic theology. That by Alexey Fokin describes six different models adopted (separately or in conjunction) by the Church Fathers in discussing the Trinity: the arithmetical, metaphysical, anthropological, psychological, social, and logical. Fokin provides a concise explication of each of the six as they appear across both Greek and Latin patristic literature, 2 David Bradshaw arguing that although each has advantages and disadvantages, collectively they present an excellent model for philosophizing about the mystery of the Trinity. The paper by Richard Cross also deals with patristic teaching on the Trinity, this time in connection with divine simplicity. Cross argues that Gregory of Nyssa is a nominalist regarding the propria (distinguishing features) of the three Persons of the Trinity, and that such a view brings him close to the position later adopted by Augustine. Cross suggests that this convergence provides fertile ground for a rapprochement in Trinitarian doctrine between the Eastern and Western churches. The next paper, by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, describes the concept of the human person in the Greek patristic tradition, particularly as it emerges through the two interlocking themes of man as made in the image of God and man as mediator between creation and Creator. The paper argues that each of these is not simply a given condition, but a vocation, so that full personhood emerges only in active engagement with God and with others. The paper by David Bradshaw also deals with the Greek patristic tradition, focusing on the issue of divine freedom as it has been debated within contemporary philosophy of religion. Bradshaw argues that the Greek Fathers present an original and insightful approach to this issue, one that offers a way out of the contemporary impasse between classical and “open” theism. There follow three papers dealing with themes in the philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages. That by Katherin Rogers argues on behalf of Anselm’s understanding of sin as willing other than that which God wills one to will. Rogers argues that this view is superior on both philosophical and theological grounds to a number of alternatives – among them a reductive evolutionary account of sin, the thesis that sin is necessary in order for God to achieve a greater good, and versions of classical theism in which all acts (including the choice of evil) are caused by God. The paper by Robert Koons turns to Aquinas, offering a close explication and defense of Aquinas’s Second and Third Ways. It suggests that a crucial premise of the Second Way – that all things have a per se cause – can be defended via the Third Way, and builds on this insight to present an “Aristotelian First Cause Argument” that is a synthesis of the two Thomistic arguments. The paper by Tatyana Borodai offers a wide-ranging survey of the value assigned to imagination in classical and medieval thought. It points to the early fourteenth-century Meditationes vitae Christi as the work that inaugurated the positive valuation of imagination (and particularly of imagining scenes from the life of Christ) that became so characteristic of spirituality in the late medieval West. Introduction 3 The next several papers turn to the modern era. Vladimir Mironov offers an explication and defense of Hegel’s philosophy of religion, particularly Hegel’s delineation of the separate spheres of faith, philosophy, and theology, and his understanding of faith as rational although it is based on personal perception and experience. Irina Tsvyk describes the philosophy of Viktor Kudryavtsev-Platonov, the leading representative of the Russian “ecclesiastical-academic” philosophy of the nineteenth century. Kudryavtsev-Platonov advocated a distinctive form of Christian Platonism in which “the Absolute,” in contrast to its role in Hegel’s philosophy, is a personal being who is never fully cognizable and is inexhaustible by his manifestation within creation. Alexei Kozyrev describes the Sophiology of Fr. Sergei Bulgakov, an important Russian author of the 1920’s and 30’s whose works have been receiving increasing attention in the West. Kozyrev argues that Bulgakov’s thought ultimately owes less to Orthodox sources than to the tradition of “European Gnosis” typified by figures such as Jakob Böhme and John Pordadge. The final two papers deal with contemporary thought. Alexander Filonenko discusses the “Eucharistic theology of communion” in twentieth-century Eastern Orthodoxy.
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