Aspects of Schelling’s influence on Sergius Bulgakov and other thinkers of the Russian religious Renaissance of the twentieth century

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper deals with the appropriation of Schelling’s ideas by Sergey Bulgakov, one of the most renowned twentieth century Orthodox theologians. Bulgakov’s appropriation of Schelling’s themes is sometimes mediated through his Russian predecessors Vladimir Soloviev and Pavel Florensky. Moreover, Bulgakov was in constant dialogue with other contemporaneous Russian thinkers influenced by Schelling, in particular with Nikolai Berdiaev. Brief sketches of Schelling’s presence in the thought of such important Russian thinkers as P. Florensky and N. Berdiaev will set the historical context of Bulgakov’s works.Both Schelling and Bulgakov have attracted considerable interest in recent scholarship. Despite the fact that Bulgakov provides a fair number of references to the German philosopher in his works and draws on his ideas extensively, no single study exists dedicated entirely to Bulgakov’s appropriation of Schelling. This paper aims to fill this gap in modern scholarship and offer a detailed analysis of Bulgakov’s texts in regards to their dependence on Schelling’s ideas. This seems particularly telling in the light of the ongoing re-evaluation of Bulgakov’s sources.