Nation, State and the Incarnation in the Political Writings of Vladimir Solov'yev: The Transfiguration of Politics

Abstract

The social and political philosophy of Vladimir Solov'yev has been little studied in English. His combination of Orthodox theology and Hegelian dialectics has placed Solov'yev at the fringes of interest among political theorists in the English-speaking world. Only recently have his writings on politics been translated into English. I Orthodox theology can find much of interest in Solov'yev in terms of developing its own understanding of the political universe, which it has yet to do. The central notion of Solov'yev's social theory is the Christian idea of transfiguration. Cynical western concepts relating to humanity such as free-market competition and utilitarian ethics are for Solov'yev transformed and recreated by the fact of Christ's Incarnation. If human nature has been deified (or given the promise of deification) through the dual nature of Christ, then humanity is called to a life far beyond the physical and material. Humanity, once its collective nature is cleansed by the Resurrection, is to become fully spiritual, and hence ethical for the first time in its history. History is no longer the mere clashing of individual material interests or vulgar power politics, but is now cognisant of the fact that mankind is changed fundamentally given the reality of the Incarnation, and a truly ethical humanity is no longer utopian speculation. Vulgar and nonspiritual concerns such as 'self-interest', national imperialism, competition and so on are now transfigured into a truly ethical solidarity. The centre of Christian history, then, is the realisation of deified human nature within human societies. This essay will deal specifically with the questions of nationalism and the role of the state in the context of Solov'yev's notion of the transfiguration of the human person and the human community. For Solov'yev, the transformation of humanity under the Christian ideal, made manifest through the Incarnation, is a gradual process. History is the symbolisation of this process, and this process itself is the very essence and telos of history. Being heavily influenced by Hegelianism and Herderism (and German romanticism generally), Solov'yev was impressed with the idea of a civilisational maturation process: that is, the familiar dialectical motion of humanity coming to know itself in overcoming the various obstacles to the achievement of the full Idea of human personality. For Hegel, this is a purely secular process, inherent in the very nature of human thought on the one hand and its reciprocal relationship with its objectification on the other. Solov'yev, being an