Apology of Culture

46 Pages·2015·2.76 MB·English

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Contemporary philosophy and theology are ever more conscious of the fact that the model of relations between religion and culture developed in
modernity is fundamentally flawed. The processes of the secularization of society, culture, and even religion are rooted in the dualistic vision of religion
and culture introduced in the late Middle Ages. In seeking a way out, we need to explore domains of culture unaffected by Western European secular
thinking.
Russian thought is remarkably well prepared to formulate an alternative to secular modernity. Indeed, in Russian culture there was neither a
Renaissance nor an Enlightenment. Eastern Christianity retained an integral patristic vision of human nature that had not been divided into separate
“natural” and “supernatural” elements. These pre- and non-modern visions are now gaining exceptional value in the postmodern reality in which we find
ourselves. The heritage of Russian Christian thought may serve as a source of inspiration for alternative approaches to religion and culture. In this
respect, Russian thought may be compared with nouvelle théologie, Radical Orthodoxy, and other recent movements in Christian postsecular thought.
For this reason it remains astonishingly contemporary.
APOLOGY CULTURE
of
Religion and Culture in Russian Thought
Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Teresa Obolevitch, & Paweł Rojek
edited by
“Apology of Culture is a timely volume addressing the unity of theology and culture in the
conditions of extreme secularization of all forms of life. The appeal to the Russian religious
philosophical thought provides a fresh look at the place of humanity in the world where
diminution of communities and alienating tendencies of technology become threatening
factors of its stability. The volume complements sources on ‘Radical Orthodoxy’ by
advancing the scope of modern critique of secularism, atheism, and nihilism.”
—ALEXEI NESTERUK, Senior Research Lecturer, University of Portsmouth, UK
“Faced with the twin threat of moral relativism and secular nihilism, much of Christianity
has become far too defensive and pietistic. To restore and renew Christendom, we need to
re-enchant religious transcendence and recover the archaic western wisdom in a more
culturally mediated and dispersed idiom. A more imaginatively ‘incultured’ faith can unite
the patristic fusion of biblical revelation with Greco-Roman philosophy to the Romantic
blending of high with popular and folk culture. These extraordinarily rich essays highlight
the crucial contribution of Russian religious thought to such an orthodox yet generous
Christian revival, in particular the integral unity of the person, the city and the cosmos; . . .
mystical metaphysics combined with cosmic contemplation binds together nature with the
supernatural and culture with faith.”
—ADRIAN PABST, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Kent, UK
Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen is Professor at the International
Center for the Study of the Christian Orient and Instituto de Filosofía “Edith Stein,”
Granada, Spain. He is the author of Between the Icon and the Idol (Cascade, 2013).
Teresa Obolevitch is Professor at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in
Krakow, Poland. Recently she published in French La philosophie religieuse russe
(2014).
Paweł Rojek is Assistant Lecturer at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in
Krakow, Poland. ISBN: 978-1-4982-0398-2 / $28 / 252 pp. / paper
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Apology of Culture
Religion and Culture in Russian Thought

Edited by
Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen,
Teresa Obolevitch,
Paweł Rojek
and
APOLOGY OF CULTURE
Religion and Culture in Russian Thought
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Pickwick Publications
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ISBN 13: 978–1-4982–0398-2
Cataloging-in-Publication data:
Apology of culture : religion and culture in Russian thought / edited by Artur
Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Teresa Obolevitch, and Paweł Rojek.
x + 242 p. ; 23 cm. —Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 13: 978–1-4982–0398-2
1. Religion and civil society—Russia—History. 2. Christianity and culture—Rus-
sia—History. I. Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Artur. II. Obolevitch, Teresa. III. Rojek,
Paweł. IV. Title.
BR932 .A67 2015
Manufactured in the U.S.A. 02/17/2015
Contents
Contributors | ix
Introduction—Apology of Culture and Culture of Apology: Russian Reli-
gious Thought against Secular Reason | 1
—Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Teresa Obolevitch, and Paweł Rojek
Part I: Russian Thought and Secular Reason
1 Man as Spirit and Culture: Russian Anthropocentrism | 15
—Marcelo López Cambronero
2 The Trinity in History and Society: The Russian Idea, Polish Messian-
ism, and the Post-Secular Reason | 24
—Paweł Rojek
3 Georgy Fedotov’s Carmen Saeculare: A Reflection on Culture as a
Judgment of Modernity from the Philosophy and Theology of Some
Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Russian Thinkers | 43
—Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen
4 The Polyphonic Conception of Culture as Counterculture in the
Context of Modernity: Fr. Pavel Florensky, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Maria
Yudina | 53
—Olga Tabatadze
5 Pavel Florensky on Christ as the Basis of Orthodox Culture and Chris-
tian Unity | 63
—Nikolai Pavluchenkov
6 The Problem of Christian Culture in the Philosophy of Vasily
Zenkovsky | 72
—Oleg Ermishin
7 Overcoming the Gap between Religion and Culture: The Life and
Works of Mother Maria (Skobtsova) | 79
—Natalia Likvintseva
8 Apology of Culture in The Journals of Father
Alexander Schmemann | 87
—Svetlana Panich
Part II: Historical Focuses
9 Catholicity as an Ideal Foundation of Social Life: Gregory Skovoroda
and His Concept of the High Republic | 99
—Victor Chernyshov
10 Religiosity and Pseudo-Religiosity in Russia’s Nineteenth Century
Liberation Movement Preceding Bolshevik Quasi-Religiosity | 110
—Katharina Anna Breckner
11 Tolstoy and Conrad’s Visions of Christianity | 119
—Brygida Pudełko
12 Nikolai Fedorov and Godmanhood | 129
—Cezar Jędrysko
13 Catastrophism as a Manifestation of the Crisis of Consciousness in
Russian and Polish Cultures | 138
—Natalia Koltakova
14 Nikolai Berdyaev and the Transformations of the Idea of
Humanism | 146
—Ovanes Akopyan
15 Between Idol and Icon: A Critical Appraisal of the Mystery Project of
Culture by Vyacheslav Ivanov in the Context of the Thought of Jean-
Luc Marion | 153
—Marta Lechowska
16 Ivan Il’in on the Foundations of Christian Culture | 162
—Yury Lisitsa
vi
17 Religious Realism and Historical Challenges: Vasily Zenkovsky and
Russian Youth Abroad | 172
—Natalia Danilkina
18 Russian Religious Thought in the Middle of the Twentieth Century:
Discursive Strategies in the Philosophical Diaries of Yakov Druskin
and Alexander Schmemann | 180
—Maria Kostromitskaya
19 The Symphonic Unity of Traditions: Sergey Horujy’s Synergetic An-
thropology and the Interpretation of History | 187
—Roman Turowski
Part III: Religion, Politics, and Ecumenism
20 The Roman Question in the History of Russian Culture in the Late
Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries | 199
—Fr. Yury Orekhanov
21 The Rotten West and the Holy Rus: Ethical Aspects of the Anti-Occi-
dentalism of the Contemporary Russian Orthodox Church | 208
—Fr. Marcin Składanowski 208
22 The Universalism of Catholicity (Sobornost’): Metaphysical and Exis-
tential Foundations for Interdenominational Dialogue in the Philoso-
phy of Semen Frank | 218
—Gennadi Aliaiev
23 Local Civilizations and the Russian World: Nikolai Danilevsky and the
Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate | 227
—Olga Shimanskaya
24 The Idea of the Antichrist in Russia: From Religious to Political
Narration | 235
—Magda Dolińska-Rydzek
vii
Contributors
Ovanes Akopyan, Doctoral Student at the University of Warwick, England.
Gennadi Aliaiev, Professor at the Poltava National Technical Yuriy Kon-
dratyuk University, Poltava, Ukraine.
Katharina Anna Breckner, Independent scholar, Hamburg, Germany.
Marcelo López Cambronero, Professor at the Institute of Philosophy
“Edith Stein,” Granada, Spain.
Victor Chernyshov, Professor at the Poltava National Technical Yuriy Kon-
dratyuk University, Poltava, Ukraine.
Natalia Danilkina, Assistant Lecturer at the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal
University, Kaliningrad, Russia.
Magda Dolińska-Rydzek, Doctoral Student at the Justus-Liebig-Univer-
sität, Giessen, Germany.
Oleg Ermishin, Research Fellow at the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Memorial
House of the Russian Abroad, Moscow, Russia.
Cezar Jędrysko, Doctoral Student at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow,
Poland.
Natalia Koltakova, Assistant Lecturer at the Interregional Academy of Per-
sonnel Management, Donetsk, Ukraine.
Maria Kostromitskaya, Doctoral Student at the Russian State University
for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia.
Marta Lechowska, Assistant Lecturer at the Jagiellonian University, Kra-
kow, Poland.
Natalia Likvintseva, Research Fellow at the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Me-
morial House of the Russian Abroad, Moscow, Russia.
ix
x Contributors
Yuri Lisitsa, Professor at the St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University, Moscow,
Russia.
Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Professor at the International Center for
the Study of the Christian Orient and Instituto de Filosofía “Edith Stein,”
Granada, Spain.
Teresa Obolevitch, Professor at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in
Krakow, Poland.
Fr. Yury Orekhanov, Professor at the St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University,
Moscow, Russia.
Svetlana Panich, Research Fellow at the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Memorial
House of the Russian Abroad, Moscow, Russia.
Nikolai Pavluchenkov, Assistant Professor at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox Uni-
versity, Moscow, Russia.
Brygida Pudełko, Assistant Professor at Opole University, Opole, Poland.
Paweł Rojek, Assistant Lecturer at the Pontifical University of John Paul II
in Krakow, Poland.
Olga Shimanskaya, Associate Professor at the Linguistics University of
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
Fr. Marcin Składanowski, Assistant Professor at the John Paul II Catholic
University of Lublin, Poland.
Olga Tabatadze, Assistant Lecturer at the International Center for the Study
of the Christian Orient, Granada, Spain.
Roman Turowski, Doctoral Student at the Pontifical University of John
Paul II in Krakow, Poland.
Introduction
Apology of Culture and Culture of Apology
Russian Religious Thought against Secular Reason
—Artur Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Teresa Obolevitch,
and Paweł Rojek
The secret police which supervised the Church under the various
Eastern European communist regimes issued a special questionnaire for
informers who spied on priests. According to it, they were to pay special at-
tention to references occurring in sermons, firstly to those pertaining to the
Bible, secondly to Church Fathers, and thirdly to general literature.1 Priests
were not considered dangerous when they quoted religious sources alone;
the communist regime saw the greatest threat in merging Christianity with
general culture.
Surprisingly enough, the same intuition can be found in John Paul II.
He wrote: “The synthesis between culture and faith is not only a demand
of culture, but also of faith . . . A faith that does not become culture is not
fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived.”2 Christianity,
understood as an existential Event, remaining within the limits imposed by
the artificial concept of “the religious,” becomes meaningless, powerless and
worthless. To stay alive, religion should embrace and penetrate the whole of
1. We owe this observation to Аndrey Kurayev, “Kak nauchnyy ateist stal
d’yakonom,” 341.
2. John Paul II, Address to the Italian National Congress.
1
2 Apology of Culture
human reality, including art, science, politics and economy. It seems very
significant that both enemies and defenders of faith alike admitted it.
True religion implies culture, but also culture calls for true religion.
A Christian religion without culture is dead, as is a culture devoid of faith.
The “deculturalization of faith” is as dangerous as the “desacralization of
culture.” Catharine Pickstock wrote about “necrophilia,” the love of death,
of modern culture,3 which stems from its closeness to religion. We would
like to pay attention on the twin phenomenon on the side of religion, which
could be labeled “zoophobia,” that is a fear of life. Religion too often fears
its own manifestation and incarnation in all spheres of human reality. As a
result, both the necrophilia of culture and the zoophobia of religion leads to
the domination of secular order.
The Integrality of Russian Thought
Contemporary philosophy and theology are still more conscious of the fact
that the model of relations between religion and culture developed in mo-
dernity is the key for understanding the current state of the Western world.
The processes of the secularization of society, culture, and even religion, are
rooted in the dualistic vision of religion and culture introduced in the late
Middle Ages. Modern thought, language and practice are deeply affected
by this dualism. The division between the sacred and the secular brings
about the gradual removal of the sacred and the final triumph of the secular.
Christian Events, instead of being the fundamental inspiration of human
life, ultimately become a particular private interest of no real importance.4
If we seek a way out, we need to explore domains of culture unaffected
by Western European secular thinking. We might look for inspiration in past
pre-modern Western thought, but we also may investigate contemporary
non-modern Eastern thought. Russian thought is remarkably well prepared
to formulate an alternative to secular modernity. Indeed, in Russian culture
there was neither a Renaissance nor an Enlightenment. Eastern Christianity
retained an integral patristic vision of human nature which had not been
divided into separate “natural” and “supernatural” elements. These pre- and
non-modern visions are now gaining exceptional value in the post-modern
reality in which we find ourselves.5
3. Pickstock, After Writing, 105–6.
4. For a concise summary of accounts of the endogenous process of secularization,
see Javier Martínez, Beyond Secular Reason.
5. See Mrówczyński-Van Allen, Between the Icon and the Idol, 80, 104, and Rojek,
“Mesjańska teologia polityczna.”