Title of the article:

THE SOCIAL IDEAL OF F. M. DOSTOEVSKY AND THEOCRATIC PROJECT OF V. S. SOLOVYOV IN ASSESSMENTS OF THINKERS OF THE SILVER AGE

Author(s):

Ksenia V. Vorozhikhina

Information about the author/authors

Ksenia V. Vorozhikhina — PhD in Philosophy, Senior Researcher, Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Goncharnaya St., 12, p. 1, 109240 Moscow, Russia. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6500-0357. E-mail: x.vorozhikhina@gmail.com

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2021

Volume

Vol. 61

Pages

pp. 115–126

Received

April 15, 2020

Date of publication

September 28, 2021

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2021-61-115-126

Index UDK

008+1(091)

Index BBK

71+83.3(2Рос=Рус)52+87.3(2)53

Acknowledgements

The paper is prepared for publication with financial support from The Russian Foundation for Basic Research, grant № 18-012-90027.

Abstract

The paper studies the reception of social and theocratic ideas of F. M. Dostoevsky and V. S. Solovyov by Silver Age thinkers (N. A. Berdyaev, S. N. Bulgakov, V. V. Rozanov, Vyach. I. Ivanov, D. S. Merezhkovsky, D. V. Filosofov, E. N. Trubetskoy, A. S. Volzhsky (Glinka), S. A. Askoldov (Alekseev) and others). Dostoevsky and Solovyov developed the ideal of “Christian politics,” according to which the state and public spheres are sanctified by spiritual authority of the church and are directed towards the highest goal — the erection of the Kingdom of God on earth. The call made in Dostoevsky’s Pushkin speech, as well as Solovyov’s theocratic prophecies, remained almost unappreciated and unclaimed by contemporaries; at the beginning of the 20th century these ideas began to be discussed again. Dostoevsky and Solovyov are key figures for thinkers of religious renaissance. The great novelist became a forerunner of Christian freedom, rejecting all earthly authorities, as well as a precursor of the religious revolution, denying any human power in the name of divine authority. Despite the fact that Silver Age thinkers were largely unaffected by Soloviev’s philosophical doctrines, he became the prophet of a “new religious consciousness,” setting main topics for the further development of Russian thought and raising questions about the religious community, the role of the church, religious justification of culture, the sense of marriage and sexual love, as well as giving faith in the possibility of renewal of historical Christianity.

Keywords

Theocracy, Christian politics, Christian state, “The Grand Inquisitor,” Pushkin speech, V. S. Soloviev, F. M. Dostoevsky, Silver Age, religious renaissance, religious revolution.

References

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