Идейный кризис в Московском религиозно-философском обществе памяти Владимира Соловьева (1907–1910 гг.)

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the main development stages of the Moscow Society of Religion and Philosophy in Memory of Vladimir Solovyov (here­inafter, MRFO – Moskovskoye religiosno-filosofskoye obschestvo). The focus is on the second stage of MRFO’s activity, from October 1907 till April 1910. The articles studies the reasons for the expulsion of one of its most active members of the first period, Valentin Sventsitsky, and why the communication with him where broken thereafter. The article also explores the decline of Bulgakov’s po­litical activity towards the end of the revolution and his increased engagement with the problems of Christian history, spurred, among other factors, by the in­fluence of the Circle of Seekers of Christian Illumination. Another issue is the departure of Vladimir Ern from social and ecclesial issues and his transition to classical philosophical topics. The author also specifically focuses on the evo­lution of Berdyaev’s philosophic views – from socio-religious issues close to those explored by the New Religious Consciousness group, to ecclesial issues and the phenomenon of historical Christianity. The articles also describes the features of the formation of the philosophical ideas of Symbolists observed in their pre­sentations made at MRFO meetings in 1907–1908. Some of the presentations discussed are those of Andrey Bely and Vyacheslav Ivanov. The author also ana­lyzes the main reasons for the MRFO crisis of 1907–1910 and discusses the pre­sentations of Dmitry Merezhkovsky at MRFO meetings. In addition, the article seeks to give an overview of how the ideas of St Petersburg and Moscow circles of religious and philosophical thinkers developed in subsequent periods.