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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Faculty of Theology 1 KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN FACULTY OF THEOLOGY SOPHIA, THE WISDOM OF GOD. AN EASTERN CHRISTIAN POLITICAL THEOLOGY IN THE SOPHIOLOGY OF SERGEI BULGAKOV A research paper presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Advanced Master’s Degree in Theology and Religious Studies Promoter by Prof. Dr. Jacques HAERS S.J. Radu Costin IACOB 2011 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. III-XII Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................XIII CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF SOPHIA, THE WISDOM OF GOD .................................................. 1 § 1. THE SOPHIOLOGICAL CURRENTS ..................................................................................................................... 1 A. THE PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES ............................................................................................................................. 1 B. THE BIBLICAL NARRATIVES .................................................................................................................................... 5 C. THE GNOSTIC MOVEMENTS ..................................................................................................................................... 8 D. THE CHRISTIAN SOPHIOLOGIES ............................................................................................................................ 10 § 2. THE RUSSIAN TRADITION ............................................................................................................................... 13 A. PRELIMINARIES ..................................................................................................................................................... 13 B. SOLOVYOV .............................................................................................................................................................. 15 CHAPTER II. THE CONCEPT OF SOPHIA IN THE THEOLOGICAL WORKS OF SERGEI BULGAKOV ........................................................................................................................................................... 19 § 1. INITIAL FORMULATIONS ................................................................................................................................. 19 § 2. THE THEOLOGICAL CONCEPT ......................................................................................................................... 22 A. PRELIMINARIES ..................................................................................................................................................... 22 B. THE DIVINE SOPHIA AND OUSIA ........................................................................................................................... 24 C. THE DIVINE SOPHIA AND THE PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRINITY ........................................................................ 27 D. THE CREATURELY SOPHIA .................................................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER III. SOPHIOLOGY AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY ............................................................. 36 § 1. POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF SOPHIOLOGY ................................................................................................. 36 A. WHERE IS “POLITICAL THEOLOGY” TO BE FOUND? ........................................................................................... 36 B. ARE SOPHIOLOGY AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY ‘COMPATIBLE’? ........................................................................ 39 C. SOPHIOLOGY - BETWEEN PANENTHEISM AND PANTHEOSIS .............................................................................. 41 C. PANENTHEISM AS APOCATASTASIS, OR GOD’S LOVE FOR CREATION ................................................................ 45 § 2. POLITICAL THEOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 50 A. SOPHIOLOGY AS HISTORIOSOPHY ......................................................................................................................... 50 C. THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY ................................................................................................................................... 57 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................................... 60. 3 Bibliography Alojz Litva S. J. “La “Sophia” dans la creation selon la doctrine de S. Boulgakof “. Excerpt from the Doctoral Thesis, Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, 1951. Andronikof, Constantin. Preface to Bibliographie des Oeuvres de Serge Boulgakov, by Kliment Naumov. Paris: Institute d’Études Slaves, 1984. Arjakovsky, Antoine. “The Sophiology of Father Sergius Bulgakov and Contemporary Western Theology.” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly Vol. 49, No. 1-2 (2005): 219-235. Augustine, On the Trinity, trans. Arthur West Haddan, ed. Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post- Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 3. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1887) Bamford, Christopher. Foreword to Sophia, The Wisdom of God: an outline of sophiology, by Sergei Bulgakov. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne, 1993. Berdyaev, Nikolai. “Studies concerning Jacob Boehme: Etude II. The Teaching about Sophia and the Androgyne. J. Boehme and the Russian Sophiological Current.” Translated by Fr. S. Janos. Journal Put 21 (1930). http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1930_351.html#br (accessed July 14, 2011). Berdyaev, Nikolai. “Concerning Sophiology: (ArchPriest Sergii Bulgakov. Jacob's Ladder. Concerning Angels).” Translated by Fr. S. Janos. Journal Put, no. 16 (1929). http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1929_343.html (accessed July 14, 2011). Boulgakov, Serge. La Lumière sans déclin. Translated by Constantin Andronikof. Laussane: L’Age d’Homme, 1990. Bulgakov, Sergei. Philosophy of Economy: The World as Household. Translated by Catherine Evtuhov. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2000. Bulgakov, Sergius. The Bride of the Lamb. Translated by Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002. Bulgakov, Sergius. The Comforter. Translated by Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002. Bulgakov, Sergius. The Lamb of God. Translated by Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008. Bulgakov, Sergius. “The Old and the New: A Study in Russian Religion.” The Slavonic Review 2, No. 6 (1924): 487-513. 4 Bulgakov, Sergei. The Wisdom of God: A Brief Summary of Sophiology. Translated by Patrick Thompson, O. Fielding Clarke and Xenia Braikevitc. New York: Praisley and London: Williams and Norgate, 1937. Bulgakov, Sergei. The Wisdom of God: An Outline of Sophiology. Hudson, N.Y.: Lindisfarne, 1993. Bulgakov, Sergii. Towards a Russian political theology. Edited by Rowan Williams. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999. Courtois, Stéphane et al., eds. The black book of communism. crimes, terror, repression. Translated by Jonathan Murphy and Mark Kramer. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999. Carson, Scott. “Sophia,” Gale Encyclopedia of Philosophy 10 (2006): 41-2. Carte de Rugaciuni [Book of Prayers]. București: Editura Institutului Biblic și de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române. Dunn, James D. G.. “Jesus: Teacher of Wisdom or Wisdom Incarnate?.” In Where shall wisdom be found? Wisdom in the bible, in the church and the contemporary world, edited by Stephen C. Barton. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999. Epstein, Mikhail. “The Phoenix of Philosophy: On the Meaning and Significance of Contemporary Russian Thought,” Symposion. A Journal of Russian Thought, vol. 1 (1996), http://www.emory.edu/INTELNET/ar_phoenix_philosophy.html#_ednref18 (accessed July 19, 2011). Evtuhov , Catherine. Introduction to Philosophy of Economy: The World as Household, by Sergei Bulgakov. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2000. Gaidenko, Piama. “Solov’ëv (Solovyov), Vladimir Sergeevic.” Translated by Boris Jakim. Gale Encyclopedia of Philosophy 9 (2006): 122-127 Gallaher, Anastassy Brandon and Irina Kukota. “Protopresbyter Sergii Bulgakov: Hypostasis and Hipostaticity: Scholia to The Unfading Light.” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 49, 1-2 (2005): 5-46. Grillmeier, Aloys S.J., Christ in Christian Tradition, trans. John Bowden, 2nd ed., vol. 1 Louisville, KY: John Knox, 1973. Hubbs, Joanna. “Reconstructing the Russian Great Goddes: Mother Earth,” in Mother Russia: the feminine myth in Russian culture, 52-87. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1993. 5 Jakim, Boris. Introduction to Lectures on Divine Humanity, by Vladimir Solovyov. Translated by Peter Zouboff, edited by Boris Jakim. Hudson, N.Y.: Lindisfarne, 1995. Kirwan, Michael. Political Theology. A New Introduction. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2008. Langella, Maria Rigel. Salvezza Come Illuminazione. Uno studio comparato di S. Bulgakov, V. Lossky, P. Evdokimov . Rome: Gregorian University Press, 2000. Louth, Andrew. “Wisdom and the Russians: The Sophiology of Fr Sergei Bulgakov.” In Where shall wisdom be found?, edited by Stephen C. Barton. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999. Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperOne, 2001. MacRae , G. W.. “Valentinus.” The New Catholic Encyclopedia 14 (2003): 373-4. Mateo-Seco, Lucas Francisco and GIulio Maspero. ed. The Brill Dictionary
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