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159-583: Mariology is the Christian theological study of Mary , the mother of Jesus . Mariology seeks to relate doctrine or dogma about Mary to other doctrines of the faith , such as those concerning Jesus and notions about redemption , intercession and grace . Christian Mariology aims to place the role of the historic Mary in the context of scripture, tradition and the teachings of the Church on Mary. In terms of social history, Mariology may be broadly defined as

318-481: A human nature and a divine nature can co-exist in one person. The study of the inter-relationship of these two natures is one of the preoccupations of the majority tradition. Teachings about Jesus and testimonies about what he accomplished during his three-year public ministry are found throughout the New Testament . Core biblical teachings about the person of Jesus Christ may be summarized that Jesus Christ

477-665: A supramundane fall , saying that "empirical history begins precisely with the fall, which is its starting premise." In 1935, after the publication of his book, Lamb of God , Bulgakov was accused of teachings contrary to Orthodox dogma by the Metropolitan Sergius I of Moscow , who recommended his exclusion from the Church until he amended his "dangerous" views. The Karlovtsy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia also joined in this condemnation. Metropolitan Evlogy set up

636-614: A basis for popes to justify Marian doctrine, veneration, and dogmas such as the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Thus, in Fulgens corona and Munificentissimus Deus , Pope Pius XII explained the two dogmas in terms of existing biblical references to Mary, the patristic tradition, and the strong historical faith of believers ( sensus fidelium ) using a deductive theological method. Some scholars do not see

795-441: A clash of merely hostile class interests, but as the implementation and development of a moral idea. "Is" cannot justify "ought"; the ideal cannot follow from reality. According to Bulgakov, the doctrine of class egoism and class solidarity is imprinted by the nature of superficial hedonism . From a moral point of view, parties fighting over worldly goods are quite equivalent, since they are guided not by religious enthusiasm, not by

954-410: A classification of philosophical systems is derived, allowing us to see in their main types various monistic distortions of the dogma of the trinity, which excludes monism and requires complete equality, consubstantiality of the three principles, united in an elementary statement ("I am the existing") and understood as ontological principles. As a result, the history of philosophy appears as the history of

1113-666: A committee in Paris to investigate Bulgakov's orthodoxy, which reached a preliminary conclusion that his thought was free from heresy. However, an official conclusion was never reached. In 1939, Bulgakov was diagnosed with throat cancer . He underwent surgery, after which he learned to speak without vocal cords. He served early liturgies in the chapel in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and continued to lecture on dogmatic theology, carry out his pastoral care, and write. Although

1272-539: A cosmic view of Mariology, placing Jesus and Mary together at the center of the cosmos and saw them as the goal of world history. More recently Eastern Orthodox Mariology achieved a renewal among 20th century theologians in Russia, for whom Mary is the heart of the Church and the center of creation. However, unlike the Catholic approach, Eastern Orthodox Mariology does not support the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Prior to

1431-549: A council of the Orthodox Church in support of social reforms. In 1906, a preconciliar commission prepared six volumes of information for the council. Nicholas II thwarted the planned council, but the information would be put to use when it eventually did convene eleven years later. In 1906, Bulgakov was editor of the Kiev newspaper Narod . After its closure, he returned from Kiev to Moscow. He taught at Moscow University as

1590-568: A daughter. Yelena was the daughter of Ivan Tokmakov  [ ru ] , owner of the Oleiz estate  [ ru ] in Crimea . In 1898, Bulgakov received a scholarship for a two-year internship in Western Europe. He left for Germany, where he tested the results of his research in personal correspondence with representatives of German Social Democracy. The result of his research was

1749-480: A direct relation of Mariology to moral theology . Pius X , however, described Mary as the model of virtue , and a life free of sin , living a life which exemplifies many of the moral teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. As a result, Mary is often cited in this guise in pastoral theology and in sermons. Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of

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1908-809: A famous proclamation of faith among Christians since the 1st century, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Most Christians now wait for the Second Coming of Christ when they believe he will fulfill the remaining Messianic prophecies . Christ is the English term for the Greek Χριστός ( Khristós ) meaning " the anointed one ". It is a translation of the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ ‎ ( Māšîaḥ ), usually transliterated into English as Messiah . The word

2067-628: A field of study, Mariology uses the sources, methods and criteria of theology, beginning with the Marian reference in the Apostles' Creed . In Mariology the question of scriptural basis is more accentuated. In Roman Catholic Mariology , the overall context of Catholic doctrines and other Church teachings are also taken into account. The Marian Chapter of the Vatican II document, Lumen gentium , includes twenty-six biblical references. They refer to

2226-454: A general teaching on matter and the world, and, finally, to a comprehensive theological system that provides a final solution to the original problem: rooting the world in God and at the same time directly following Christian revelation and dogma. Bulgakov says that God created the world from His own essence, placed outside of Himself. Here Father Sergius resorts to the biblical concept of Sophia -

2385-658: A head over the persons of the Godhead and their relationship with one another. Christology was a fundamental concern from the First Council of Nicaea (325) until the Third Council of Constantinople (680). In this time period, the Christological views of various groups within the broader Christian community led to accusations of heresy , and, infrequently, subsequent religious persecution . In some cases,

2544-589: A larger amount of formal attention in Roman Catholic Mariology based on the four dogmas on Mary which are a part of Roman Catholic theology. The Second Vatican Council document Lumen gentium summarized the views on Roman Catholic Mariology , its focus being on the veneration of the Mother of God . Over time, Roman Catholic Mariology has been expanded by contributions from Liberation Theology , which emphasizes popular Marian piety, and more recently from feminist theology , which stresses both

2703-590: A negative attitude towards Father Sergius. But Bishop Anthony told me about him: “Unhappy Father Sergius, unfortunate Father Sergius. After all, he is a very smart man, one of the smartest in the world. He understands many things that only very few understand. And this makes one terribly proud. It is difficult not to become proud if you know that this is clear and completely understandable to you, but no one around you can understand it. This consciousness exalts and makes one proud. Only God’s grace, attracted by humility, which Father Sergius apparently lacked, only it can protect

2862-678: A number of ecumenical meetings which produced common documents . Outside Christianity, the Islamic view of the Virgin Mary , known as Maryam in Arabic, is that she was an extremely pious and chaste woman who miraculously gave birth while still a virgin to the prophet Jesus, known in Arabic as Isa . Mary is the only woman specifically named in the Qur'an . The nineteenth chapter of the Qur'an , which

3021-492: A point of reference for all other Christologies. Most of the major branches of Christianity— Catholicism , Eastern Orthodoxy , Anglicanism , Lutheranism , and Reformed —subscribe to the Chalcedonian Christological formulation, while many branches of Eastern Christianity— Syrian Orthodoxy , Assyrian Church , Coptic Orthodoxy , Ethiopian Orthodoxy , and Armenian Apostolicism —reject it. According to

3180-891: A privatdozent in the department of political economy and statistics of the Law Faculty, and was also professor at the Moscow Commercial Institute until 1918. He was elected to the Second State Duma in 1906 as a non-partisan "Christian socialist" deputy from the Oryol Governorate. In June 1907, the Second State Duma dissolved after barely five months in session. After the dissolution of the Second State Duma, Bulgakov lost what remaining zeal he had for direct political involvement. Another major factor in his eventual separation from

3339-477: A sect's unique Christology is its chief distinctive feature, in these cases it is common for the sect to be known by the name given to its Christology. The decisions made at First Council of Nicaea and re-ratified at the First Council of Constantinople , after several decades of ongoing controversy during which the work of Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers were influential. The language used

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3498-610: A semi-divine status. They also attack titles such as Queen of Heaven , Our Mother in Heaven , Queen of the World , or Mediatrix . Since the writing of the apocryphal Protevangelium of James , various beliefs have circulated concerning Mary's own conception, which eventually led to the Roman Catholic Church dogma, formally established in the 19th century, of Mary's Immaculate Conception , which exempts her from original sin . Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox teaching also extends to

3657-446: A special kind of Trinitarian heresy. Bulgakov concludes that an adequate expression of Christian truth is fundamentally inaccessible to philosophy and is achievable only in the form of dogmatic theology. According to the memoirs of Archbishop Nathanael (Lvov)  [ ru ] : “Once, in the presence of Metropolitan Anthony [Khrapovitsky] , a conversation arose about Father Sergius Bulgakov. Everyone around Metropolitan Anthony had

3816-552: A two-volume dissertation, Capitalism and Agriculture , released in 1900. The dissertation was intended to test the application of Marx's theory of capitalist societies to agriculture. Bulgakov examined the entire agricultural history of Germany , the United States , Ireland , France , and England . The thesis ended by declaring that Marx's analysis of capitalism, limited by features of the English economy, did not integrate this system with an economic theory of agriculture, and

3975-519: A unique role in salvation and redemption was contemplated and written about in the early Church. In recent centuries, Roman Catholic Mariology has come to be viewed as a logical and necessary consequence of Christology: Mary contributes to a fuller understanding of who Christ is and what he did. In these views, Mariology can be derived from the Christocentric mysteries of Incarnation: Jesus and Mary are son and mother, redeemer and redeemed. Within

4134-637: Is "eternally begotten of the Father", indicating that their divine Father-Son relationship is not tied to an event within time or human history. In Christianity , the doctrine of the Trinity states that God is one being who exists, simultaneously and eternally , as a mutual indwelling of three Persons: the Father, the Son (incarnate as Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost). Since earliest Christianity, one's salvation has been very closely related to

4293-820: Is Sophia - the world soul, creative nature, ideal humanity. He was elected full professor of political economy at Moscow University. In 1917, Bulgakov became a delegate of the All-Russian Congress of Clergy and Laity and a member of the All-Russian Local Council of the Orthodox Russian Church , the Religious and Educational Conference under the Cathedral Council, the Commission for Familiarization with

4452-490: Is a different path, which presupposes a transformation of one’s own personality. This path requires not external, but internal feat. He warned that the path of heroism would lead Russia to a bloody tragedy. With his theology, Bulgakov, as Father Sergius, provoked accusations from the Moscow and Karlovci jurisdictions of the Orthodox Church. The conflict had both political and theological reasons. The church-political background of

4611-478: Is a further concept of infallibility, by suggesting that current biblical text is complete and without error, and that the integrity of biblical text has never been corrupted or degraded. Historians note, or claim, that the doctrine of the Bible's infallibility was adopted hundreds of years after the books of the Bible were written. The authority of the Bible can also be linked to the principle of sola scriptura ,

4770-484: Is a trinity in God's single being, the meaning of which has always been debated. This mysterious "Trinity" has been described as hypostases in the Greek language ( subsistences in Latin ), and "persons" in English. Nonetheless, Christians stress that they only believe in one God. Most Christian churches teach the Trinity, as opposed to Unitarian monotheistic beliefs. Historically, most Christian churches have taught that

4929-435: Is a worldwide religion . Christian theology varies significantly across the main branches of Christian tradition: Catholic , Orthodox and Protestant . Each of those traditions has its own unique approaches to seminaries and ministerial formation. Systematic theology as a discipline of Christian theology formulates an orderly, rational and coherent account of Christian faith and beliefs. Systematic theology draws on

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5088-533: Is also a creative principle. Mother Earth does not simply give birth, but brings forth from its depths all that exists. At the height of its generative and creative effort, in its utmost tension and utmost purity, it is potentially "God-earth" and the Mother of God. Mary comes from its depths and the earth becomes ready to accept the Logos and give birth to the God-man. The earth becomes the Mother of God and only in this

5247-557: Is best known for his teaching about Sophia the Wisdom of God , which received mixed reception; it was condemned by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1935, but without accusations of heresy. Sergei Nikolayevich Bulgakov was born on 16 July 1871 to the family of a rural Orthodox priest (Nikolai Bulgakov) in the town of Livny , Oryol Governorate , in Russia. The family produced Orthodox priests for six generations, beginning in

5406-450: Is called "Father" in a more literal sense, besides being the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his children. The Father is said to be in unique relationship with his only begotten ( monogenes ) son, Jesus Christ , which implies an exclusive and intimate familiarity: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." In Christianity, God

5565-568: Is evident in many places, however, the early part of the book of Hebrews addresses the issue in a deliberate, sustained argument, citing the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible as authorities. For example, the author quotes Psalm 45:6 as addressed by the God of Israel to Jesus. The author of Hebrews' description of Jesus as the exact representation of the divine Father has parallels in a passage in Colossians . Sergei Bulgakov Bulgakov

5724-542: Is for Marian perspectives and aspects to be inserted into the conventional treatises, the other is to offer an independent presentation. The first approach was followed by the Church Fathers and in the Middle Ages, although some issues were treated separately. This method has the advantage that it avoids isolating Mariology from the rest of theology. The disadvantage of this method is that it cannot assess Mary to

5883-498: Is named after her, begins with two narrations of "miraculous birth". The First Council of Ephesus in 431 formally approved devotion to Mary as Theotokos , which most accurately translated means God-bearer; its use implies that Jesus, to whom Mary gave birth, is God. Nestorians preferred Christotokos meaning "Christ-bearer" or "Mother of the Messiah" not because they denied Jesus' divinity, but because they believed that since God

6042-662: Is often misunderstood to be the surname of Jesus due to the numerous mentions of Jesus Christ in the Christian Bible . The word is in fact used as a title , hence its common reciprocal use Christ Jesus , meaning Jesus the Anointed One or Jesus the Messiah. Followers of Jesus became known as Christians because they believed that Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah, prophesied about in the Old Testament , or Tanakh . The Christological controversies came to

6201-490: Is often used. The Orthodox Mariological approach emphasizes the sublime holiness of Mary, her share in redemption and her role as a mediator of grace. Eastern Orthodox mariological thought dates as far back as Saint John Damascene who in the 8th century wrote on the mediative role of Mary and on the Dormition of the Mother of God . In the 14th century, Orthodox Mariology began to flourish among Byzantine theologians who held

6360-568: Is said to permeate, in a way, the entire life of the Church as a "dimension" of dogma as well as piety, of Christology as well as of Ecclesiology . While similar to the Roman Catholic view, barring some minor differences, the Orthodox do not see a need for a separate academic discipline of Mariology, as the Mother of God is seen as the self-evident apogee of God's human creation. A significant number of Marian publications were written in

6519-571: Is the creator and preserver of the universe . God is the sole ultimate power in the universe but is distinct from it. The Bible never speaks of God as impersonal. Instead, it refers to him in personal terms – who speaks, sees, hears, acts, and loves. God is understood to have a will and personality and is an all powerful , divine and benevolent being. He is represented in Scripture as being primarily concerned with people and their salvation. Many Reformed theologians distinguish between

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6678-722: Is the essence of eternal life . God the Son is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus of Nazareth as God the Son, united in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit (the first and third persons of the Trinity). God the Son is co-eternal with God the Father (and the Holy Spirit), both before Creation and after

6837-464: Is the revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious through active or passive communication with God, and can originate directly from God or through an agent, such as an angel . A person recognised as having experienced such contact is often called a prophet . Christianity generally considers the Bible as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. Such revelation does not always require

6996-450: Is the true apotheosis of matter, the rise and crowning of its creative effort. Here is the key to all of Bulgakov's "religious materialism." Bulgakov also explores the philosophical foundations of language in another book of the same period, The Philosophy of the Name , dedicated to the apology of imiaslavie and related to similar apologies by Florensky and Losev. From this correspondence,

7155-612: The Angel of the Lord spoke to the Patriarchs, revealing God to them, some believe it has always been only through the Spirit of God granting them understanding, that men have been able to perceive later that God himself had visited them. This belief gradually developed into the modern formulation of the Trinity , which is the doctrine that God is a single entity ( Yahweh ), but that there

7314-481: The Anglo-Catholic (very close to Roman Catholic views ) to the more Reformed views. The Anglican Church formally celebrates six Marian feasts, Annunciation (25 March), Visitation (31 May), Day of Saint Mary ( Assumption or dormition ) (15 August), Nativity of Mary (8 September), Our Lady of Walsingham (15 October) and Mary's Conception (8 December). Anglicans, along with other Protestants, teach

7473-405: The Bible as authoritative and as written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit . Some Christians believe that the Bible is inerrant (totally without error and free from contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts) or infallible (inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not necessarily on matters of history or science). Some Christians infer that

7632-803: The Bible , the Apostles' Creed , (which professes the Virgin Birth), and the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus , in 431, which called Mary the Mother of God . While some early Protestants created Marian art and allowed limited forms of Marian veneration, most Protestants today do not share the veneration of Mary practiced by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. Martin Luther's views on Mary , John Calvin's views on Mary , Karl Barth's views on Mary and others have all contributed to modern Protestant views. Anglican Marian theology varies greatly, from

7791-669: The Brotherhood of St. Sophia  [ ru ] , created with the blessing of Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow , and an organizer and participant in the congresses of the Russian Student Christian Movement  [ ru ] (RSCM). He participated in the first congresses of the RSCM in Přerov , Czechoslovakia and Argeron, France , and continued to supervise it. In July 1925, Bulgakov moved to Paris . He

7950-729: The Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) Party , which held the most seats in the representative assemblies, the First and Second Dumas (1906–1907). Bulgakov did not join the Kadets and instead unsuccessfully attempted to form his own organization, the Union of Christian Politics, which advocated Christian socialism and collaborated with the Christian Brotherhood of Struggle. Amidst the chaos of 1905, Bulgakov made

8109-416: The Eastern Orthodox Church . Bulgakov presented the individual stages of his philosophical development in his collection From Marxism to Idealism , published in Saint Petersburg in 1903. Together with Pyotr Struve, Bulgakov published the journal Liberation ; together, they were co-founders of the illegal political organization Union of Liberation in 1903. After the Revolution of 1905, its members formed

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8268-413: The Father , the Son ( Jesus Christ the Logos ), and the Holy Spirit . The Trinitarian doctrine is considered by most Christians to be a core tenet of their faith. Nontrinitarians typically hold that God, the Father, is supreme; that Jesus, although still divine Lord and Saviour, is the Son of God ; and that the Holy Spirit is a phenomenon akin to God's will on Earth. The holy three are separate, yet

8427-454: The Incarnation , the relationship of Jesus's nature and person with the nature and person of God, and the salvific work of Jesus. As such, Christology is generally less concerned with the details of Jesus's life (what he did) or teaching than with who or what he is. There have been and are various perspectives by those who claim to be his followers since the church began after his ascension. The controversies ultimately focused on whether and how

8586-403: The Kiev Polytechnic Institute in 1901. It was evident in lectures such as "Ivan Karamazov as a philosophical type" delivered in Kiev that Bulgakov had already distanced himself from Marxism. At the time of Bulgakov teaching about Dostoevsky, the counterweight to Marxism in 20th century Russia was neo-Kantianism ; heavily influenced by neo-Kantianism, Bulgakov returned to idealism and believed in

8745-425: The Marian dogmas of divine maternity and the virgin birth of Jesus , although there is no systematic agreed upon Mariology among the diverse parts of the Anglican Communion . However, the role of Mary as a mediator is accepted by some groups of modern Anglican theologians. Lutheran Mariology is informed by the Augsburg Confession and honours Mary as "the most blessed Mother of God, the most blessed Virgin Mary,

8904-430: The Roman civilization, were a disease of modern European society. Bulgakov viwed the inability to be satisfied with the increase in external material benefits and to come to terms with the deep-rooted forms of social untruth, the desire for universal human ideals, and the insatiable need for conscious and effective religious faith as the most characteristic and happiest features of the Russian spirit. This conviction of his

9063-401: The Son of God through incarnation . The exact phrase "God the Son" is not in the New Testament. Later theological use of this expression reflects what came to be standard interpretation of New Testament references, understood to imply Jesus's divinity, but the distinction of his person from that of the one God he called his Father. As such, the title is associated more with the development of

9222-435: The communicable attributes (those that human beings can also have) and the incommunicable attributes (those which belong to God alone). Some attributes ascribed to God in Christian theology are: Some Christians believe that the God worshiped by the Hebrew people of the pre-Christian era had always revealed himself as he did through Jesus ; but that this was never obvious until Jesus was born (see John 1 ). Also, though

9381-520: The divine and religion – of Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament , as well as on Christian tradition . Christian theologians use biblical exegesis , rational analysis and argument. Theologians may undertake the study of Christian theology for a variety of reasons, such as in order to: Christian theology has permeated much of non-ecclesiastical Western culture , especially in pre-modern Europe, although Christianity

9540-420: The "traditional" interpretation; Daniel B. Wallace calls the alternative "probably not the best translation." Some modern English versions of the Bible renders theopneustos with "God-breathed" ( NIV ) or "breathed out by God" ( ESV ), avoiding the word inspiration , which has the Latin root inspīrāre - "to blow or breathe into". Christianity generally regards the agreed collections of books known as

9699-403: The 16th-century Protestant Reformation certain reformers proposed different canonical lists of the Old Testament. The texts which appear in the Septuagint but not in the Jewish canon fell out of favor, and eventually disappeared from Protestant canons. Catholic Bibles classify these texts as deuterocanonical books, whereas Protestant contexts label them as the Apocrypha . In Christianity , God

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9858-415: The 1905 Revolution, he wrote an article titled "Heroism and Asceticism", in which he spoke about the "two paths" for the Russian intelligentsia. Heroism was the path followed by the majority; this path is an attempt to change society by external means, replacing one class with another, and using violence and terror with complete disregard for the spiritual and moral content of one's own personality. Asceticism

10017-529: The 20th century, Eastern Orthodox Mariology was almost entirely liturgical, and had no systematic presentation similar to Roman Catholic Mariology. However, 20th century theologians such as Sergei Bulgakov began the development of a detailed systematic Orthodox Mariology. Bulgakov's Mariological formulation emphasizes the close link between Mary and the Holy Spirit in the mystery of the Incarnation. Protestant views on Mary vary from denomination to denomination . They focus generally on interpretations of Mary in

10176-473: The 20th century, with theologians Raimondo Spiazzi and Gabriel Roschini producing 2500 and 900 publications respectively. The Pontifical Academy of Mary and the Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum in Rome are key Mariological centers. A wide range of views on Mary exist at multiple levels of differentiation within distinct Christian belief systems. In many cases, the views held at any point in history have continued to be challenged and transformed. Over

10335-462: The 27-book canon of the New Testament that all use). A definitive list did not come from any early ecumenical council . Around 400, Jerome produced the Vulgate , a definitive Latin edition of the Bible, the contents of which, at the insistence of the Bishop of Rome , accorded with the decisions of the earlier synods. This process effectively set the New Testament canon, although examples exist of other canonical lists in use after this time. During

10494-411: The 3rd century, Tertullian claimed that God exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the three personae of one and the same substance. To trinitarian Christians God the Father is not at all a separate god from God the Son (of whom Jesus is the incarnation) and the Holy Spirit, the other hypostases (Persons) of the Christian Godhead . According to the Nicene Creed, the Son (Jesus Christ)

10653-424: The All-Russia Sobor of the Russian Orthodox Church that elected patriarch Tikhon of Moscow . Bulgakov rejected the October Revolution and responded to it with the dialogues At the Feast of the Gods ("На пиру богов", 1918), written in a style similar to the Three Talks of Vladimir Solovyov. In July 1918, Bulgakov left Moscow, first going to Kiev then joining his wife and children in Koreiz in Crimea . For

10812-398: The Bible cannot both refer to itself as being divinely inspired and also be errant or fallible. For if the Bible were divinely inspired, then the source of inspiration being divine, would not be subject to fallibility or error in that which is produced. For them, the doctrines of the divine inspiration, infallibility, and inerrancy, are inseparably tied together. The idea of biblical integrity

10971-428: The Bible than his Father, had to be a secondary, lesser, and therefore distinct god. For Jews and Muslims , the idea of God as a trinity is heretical – it is considered akin to polytheism . Christians overwhelmingly assert that monotheism is central to the Christian faith, as the very Nicene Creed (among others) which gives the orthodox Christian definition of the Trinity does begin with: "I believe in one God". In

11130-632: The Bible, the second Person of the Trinity, because of his eternal relation to the first Person (God as Father), is the Son of God . He is considered (by Trinitarians) to be coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit. He is all God and all human : the Son of God as to his divine nature, while as to his human nature he is from the lineage of David. The core of Jesus's self-interpretation was his "filial consciousness", his relationship to God as child to parent in some unique sense (see Filioque controversy). His mission on earth proved to be that of enabling people to know God as their Father, which Christians believe

11289-411: The End (see Eschatology ). So Jesus was always "God the Son", though not revealed as such until he also became the "Son of God" through incarnation . "Son of God" draws attention to his humanity, whereas "God the Son" refers more generally to his divinity, including his pre-incarnate existence. So, in Christian theology, Jesus was always God the Son, though not revealed as such until he also became

11448-475: The Father has a special role in his relationship with the person of the Son, where Jesus is believed to be his Son and his heir. According to the Nicene Creed , the Son (Jesus Christ) is "eternally begotten of the Father", indicating that their divine Father-Son relationship is not tied to an event within time or human history. See Christology . The Bible refers to Christ, called " The Word " as present at

11607-453: The Father's relationship with humanity is as a father to children—in a previously unheard-of sense—and not just as the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his children, his people. Thus, humans, in general, are sometimes called children of God . To Christians, God the Father's relationship with humanity is that of Creator and created beings, and in that respect he is the father of all. The New Testament says, in this sense, that

11766-853: The Financial Situation of the Council, and the VI, VII, IX, and XX Departments. He was an author of the Patriarchal Message on Accession to the Throne. From December 1917, he was a member of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church  [ ru ] . In June 1918, Bulgakov was ordained a deacon and then a priest. He quickly rose to prominence in church circles. He took part in

11925-700: The Imperial Moscow University  [ ru ] in 1894, he began graduate studies at the university and taught for two years at the Moscow Commercial Institute. It was during his graduate studies when Bulgakov studied with the economist Alexander Chuprov , on whose recommendation Bulgakov was retained at the Department of Political Economy of Statistics to prepare for the professorship. Bulgakov's thought during his studies with Chuprov has generally been seen through

12084-702: The Martyrs", and the re-dedication of the early Christian titulus Julii et Calixtii , one of the oldest Roman churches, as Santa Maria in Trastevere . The earliest Marian feasts were introduced into the Roman liturgical calendar by Pope Sergius I (687–701). During the Middle Ages, devotion to the Virgin Mary as the "new Eve" lent much to the status of women. Women who had been looked down upon as daughters of Eve , came to be looked upon as objects of veneration and inspiration. The medieval development of chivalry , with

12243-600: The Mother of Christ," and "the Queen of Heaven." The Smalcald Articles , a confession of faith of the Lutheran Churches , affirm the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. The Oriental Orthodox Churches regard Mary as the highest of saints and the Theotokos. It celebrates various Marian feast days. A better mutual understanding among different Christian groups regarding their Mariology has been sought in

12402-491: The Son and the Holy Spirit are still seen as originating from God the Father. The New Testament does not have the term "Trinity" and nowhere discusses the Trinity as such. Some emphasize, however, that the New Testament does repeatedly speak of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to "compel a trinitarian understanding of God." The doctrine developed from the biblical language used in New Testament passages such as

12561-403: The Son or Logos existed before time and before Mary, Jesus therefore took divinity from God the Father and humanity from his mother, so calling her "Mother of God" was confusing and potentially heretical. Others at the council believed that denying the Theotokos title would carry with it the implication that Jesus was not divine. The council of Ephesus also approved the creation of icons bearing

12720-510: The Trinity teaches the unity of Father , Son , and Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead . The doctrine states that God is the Triune God, existing as three persons , or in the Greek hypostases , but one being. Personhood in the Trinity does not match the common Western understanding of "person" as used in the English language—it does not imply an "individual, self-actualized center of free will and conscious activity." To

12879-696: The Trinity, is a mark of Catholicism , Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy as well as other prominent Christian sects arising from the Protestant Reformation , such as Anglicanism , Methodism , Lutheranism , Baptist , and Presbyterianism . The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church describes the Trinity as "the central dogma of Christian theology". This doctrine contrasts with Nontrinitarian positions which include Unitarianism , Oneness and Modalism . A small minority of Christians hold non-trinitarian views, largely coming under

13038-416: The Union of Liberation was the increasingly anti-Christian direction being championed by leading representatives of left-liberal politics. During 1904–1909, his focus shifted to an explicitly Christian perspective. Bulgakov also changed his attitude towards the controversial Nicholas II . He believed Nicholas II was responsible for the social problems plaguing Russia. However, Bulgakov also did not appreciate

13197-659: The World Christian Conference "Faith and Church Order" in Lausanne . Until the end of the 1930s, he took part in many ecumenical endeavors, becoming an influential figure and ideologue of the movement; in 1934 he made a trip to the United States . The most promising direction in the ecumenical sphere turned out to be dialogue  [ ru ] with the Anglican Church . At the end of 1927 and beginning of 1928, an Anglo-Russian religious congress

13356-587: The acquaintance of Pavel Florensky (1882–1937), with whom he would establish a long-lasting friendship. Bulgakov and Florensky were among founding members of the Vladimir Solovyov Memorial Religious-Philosophical Society, which was founded in Moscow at the end of 1905. In 1905 Bulgakov, along with the Brotherhood of Christian Struggle, bishops , priests , and many others, supported the call for

13515-456: The advantages of small peasant farms over large ones, analyzed the reasons for the stability of family farming, and came up with a distributive version of the source of land rent. He set out to show in the history of agrarian evolution the universal applicability of Karl Marx 's law of concentration of production, but came to the exact opposite conclusions. To Bulgakov, Marx's economic scheme turned out to be inconsistent with historical reality, and

13674-401: The ancients, personhood "was in some sense individual, but always in community as well." Each person is understood as having the one identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures. Since the beginning of the 3rd century the doctrine of the Trinity has been stated as "the one God exists in three Persons and one substance , Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." Trinitarianism, belief in

13833-496: The baptismal formula in Matthew 28:19 and by the end of the 4th century it was widely held in its present form. In many monotheist religions, God is addressed as the father, in part because of his active interest in human affairs, in the way that a father would take an interest in his children who are dependent on him and as a father, he will respond to humanity, his children, acting in their best interests. In Christianity, God

13992-411: The beginning of God's creation., not a creation himself, but equal in the personhood of the Trinity. In Eastern Orthodox theology, God the Father is the "principium" ( beginning ), the "source" or "origin" of both the Son and the Holy Spirit, which gives intuitive emphasis to the threeness of persons; by comparison, Western theology explains the "origin" of all three hypostases or persons as being in

14151-607: The blessing of Metropolitan Eulogius Georgiyevsky , he served in Prague's St. Nicholas Cathedral and took the position of professor in the department of church law and theology at the Law Faculty of the Russian Scientific Institute  [ ru ] in Berlin . Bulgakov involved himself in the spiritual leadership of Russian youth and participated in the ecumenical movement. He was founder and leader of

14310-412: The brightest variety of the religion of progress, inspired its supporters with faith in the imminent and natural arrival of a renewed social system; it was strong not in its scientific, but in its utopian elements, and Bulgakov came to the conviction that progress is not an empirical law of historical development, but a moral task, an absolute religious obligation. Social struggle appeared to Bulgakov not as

14469-469: The centuries, Roman Catholic Mariology has been shaped by varying forces ranging from sensus fidelium to Marian apparitions to the writings of the saints to reflection by theologians and papal encyclicals . Eastern Orthodox theology calls Mary the Theotokos , which means God-bearer. The virginal motherhood of Mary stands at the center of Orthodox Mariology, in which the title Ever Virgin

14628-742: The claim that by scripture alone that the authority of the Bible is more important than the authority of the Church. The content of the Protestant Old Testament is the same as the Hebrew Bible canon , with changes in the division and order of books, but the Catholic Old Testament contains additional texts, known as the deuterocanonical books . Protestants recognize 39 books in their Old Testament canon, while Roman Catholic and Eastern Christians recognize 46 books as canonical. Both Catholics and Protestants use

14787-556: The concept of a triune God, although the Trinitarian doctrine was not formalized until the 4th century. At that time, the Emperor Constantine convoked the First Council of Nicaea , to which all bishops of the empire were invited to attend. Pope Sylvester I did not attend but sent his legate . The council, among other things, decreed the original Nicene Creed. For most Christians, beliefs about God are enshrined in

14946-416: The concept of the honor of a lady and the ensuing knightly devotion to it, not only derived from the thinking about the Virgin Mary, but also contributed to it. The medieval veneration of the Virgin Mary was contrasted by the fact that ordinary women, especially those outside aristocratic circles, were looked down upon. Although women were at times viewed as the source of evil, it was Mary who as mediator to God

15105-675: The conception, birth and childhood of Jesus, Mary's role in several events and her presence at the foot of the cross . Of importance to Mariological methodology is a specific Vatican II statement that these reports are not allegories with symbolic value but historical revelations, a point further emphasized by Pope Benedict XVI . The treatment of Mariology differs among theologians. Some prefer to present its historical development, while others focus on its content (dogmas, grace, role in redemption, etc.). Some theologians prefer to view Mariology only in terms of Mary's attributes (honour, titles, privileges), while others attempt to integrate Mary into

15264-629: The conclusion that Christian speculation can be expressed without distortion exclusively in the form of dogmatic theology. When the Bolsheviks captured Crimea in 1920, Bulgakov was dismissed from his teaching position at the university. In 1921, Bulgakov became archpriest and assistant rector of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Yalta . In September 1922, he was arrested on charges of political unreliability. In 1922, Bulgakov

15423-530: The conflict was expressed in the confrontation between the Karlovci (pro-monarchist) and Moscow (under severe pressure from Stalin) churches of the free "Eulogian" church  [ ru ] , which since 1931 was subordinate to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople . In the field of theology, the fear of posing new theological questions made itself felt. In 1935, Bulgakov's teaching

15582-492: The divine nature, which gives intuitive emphasis to the oneness of God's being. Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature, person, and works of Jesus Christ , held by Christians to be the Son of God . Christology is concerned with the meeting of the human ( Son of Man ) and divine ( God the Son or Word of God ) in the person of Jesus . Primary considerations include

15741-466: The doctrine of Trinitarianism , which holds that the three persons of God together form a single God. The Trinitarian view emphasizes that God has a will and that God the Son has two wills, divine and human, though these are never in conflict (see Hypostatic union ). However, this point is disputed by Oriental Orthodox Christians, who hold that God the Son has only one will of unified divinity and humanity (see Miaphysitism ). The Christian doctrine of

15900-506: The doctrine of the Trinity than with the Christological debates. There are over 40 places in the New Testament where Jesus is given the title "the Son of God", but scholars don't consider this to be an equivalent expression. "God the Son" is rejected by anti-trinitarians , who view this reversal of the most common term for Christ as a doctrinal perversion and as tending towards tritheism . Matthew cites Jesus as saying, "Blessed are

16059-677: The effects of such inspiration on others. Besides the direct accounts of written revelation (such as Moses receiving the Ten Commandments inscribed on tablets of stone), the Prophets of the Old Testament frequently claimed that their message was of divine origin by prefacing the revelation using the following phrase: "Thus says the LORD" (for example, 1 Kgs 12:22–24;1 Chr 17:3–4; Jer 35:13; Ezek 2:4; Zech 7:9 ; etc.). The Second Epistle of Peter claims that "no prophecy of Scripture ...

16218-878: The end of Mary's life ending with the Assumption of Mary, formally established as dogma in 1950, and the Dormition of the Mother of God respectively. Within Lutheran Marian theology and Anglican Marian theology the Blessed Virgin Mary holds a place of honour. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a number of traditions revolve around the Ever ;– Virgin Mary and the Theotokos , which are theologically paramount concepts. As an active theological discipline, Mariology has received

16377-562: The equality of women and gender differences. While systematic Marian theology is not new, Pope Pius XII is credited with promoting the independent theological study of Mary on a large scale with the creation or elevation of four papal Mariological research centres in Rome, e.g. the Marianum . The papal institutes were created to foster Mariological research and to explain and support the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary. This new orientation

16536-436: The field of Church history, Mariology is concerned with the development of Marian teachings and the various forms of Marian culture. An important part of Church history is patristics or patrology , the teaching of the early Fathers of the Church. They give indications of the faith of the early Church and are analyzed in terms of their statements on Mary. In the Roman Catholic context, patrology and dogmatic history have provided

16695-546: The following year, Bulgakov published a study "On Markets in Capitalist Conditions of Production." It was these writings that originally established Bulgakov as a significant representative of Marxism in Russia. During his years as a legal Marxist, he had met with Karl Kautsky , August Bebel , Victor Adler , and Georgi Plekhanov . On 14 January 1898, shortly before embarking for Western Europe , Bulgakov married Yelena Tokmakova, with whom he had two sons and

16854-591: The fore at critical moments: the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the beginning of the First World War in 1917. A number of significant themes of Bulgakov's thought developed almost exclusively in journalism: religion and culture, Christianity, politics and socialism, the tasks of the public, the path of the Russian intelligentsia, problems of church life, and problems of art. Bulgakov was one of

17013-536: The foundational sacred texts of Christianity, while simultaneously investigating the development of Christian doctrine throughout history, particularly through the ecumenical councils of the early church (such as the First Council of Nicea ) and philosophical evolution. Inherent to a system of theological thought is the development of a method, one which can apply both broadly and particularly. Christian systematic theology will typically explore: Revelation

17172-445: The full extent of her role and her person, and the inherent connections between various Mariological assertions can not be highlighted. The second method has the disadvantage that it may impose the limitations of isolation and at times overstep its theological boundaries. However, these problems can be avoided in the second approach if specific reference is made in each case to connect it to the processes of salvation, redemption, etc. As

17331-433: The good, the truth, and beauty. To him, positive science, with its theory of progress, wanted to absorb both metaphysics and religious faith, but, leaving people in complete uncertainty regarding the future destinies of humanity, it gave them only the dogmatic theology of atheism; a mechanical understanding of the world, subordinating everything to fatal necessity, ultimately turns out to rest on faith. For Bulgakov, Marxism, as

17490-495: The heading of Unitarianism . Most, if not all, Christians believe that God is spirit, an uncreated, omnipotent , and eternal being, the creator and sustainer of all things, who works the redemption of the world through his Son, Jesus Christ. With this background, belief in the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit is expressed as the doctrine of the Trinity , which describes the single divine ousia (substance) existing as three distinct and inseparable hypostases (persons):

17649-427: The highest principle, endowed with the exclusive prerogative of connection with God. The justification of the world thus presupposes the justification of matter, and Bulgakov sometimes defined the type of his philosophical worldview by the "religious materialism" of Vladimir Solovyov. Father Sergius's thought developed "from below", from economic issues and philosophical teaching on the economy ( Philosophy of Economy ) to

17808-483: The images of the Virgin and Child. Devotion to Mary was, however, already widespread before this point, reflected in the fresco depictions of Mother and Child in the Roman catacombs. The early Church Fathers saw Mary as the "new Eve" who said "yes" to God as Eve had said "no". Mary, as the first Christian Saint and Mother of Jesus, was deemed to be a compassionate mediator between suffering mankind and her son, Jesus, who

17967-454: The increasing radicalization of the leftists in Russia and their abandonment of Russian Orthodoxy in favor of a purely secular state; on the contrary, it caused him to uphold the positive value of governance by Nicholas II, even as he continued to detest him, accusing him of promoting the revolution and bringing about the demise of the royal family. Bulgakov continued to struggle with the meaning of political power as he wrote Unfading Light . In

18126-646: The issues in Russia. At the beginning of the First World War, he wrote Slavophile articles and expressed faith in the universal calling and great future of the state. Later, in the dialogues At the Feast of the Gods and other texts of the revolutionary period, he depicted the fate of Russia as apocalyptic and alarmingly unpredictable, rejecting any recipes and forecasts. For a short time, Bulgakov believed that Catholicism rather than Orthodoxy would be able to prevent

18285-616: The lens of the Marxist-Populist debate. From this perspective, he has been labeled a " legal Marxist ." In 1895, Bulgakov began teaching political economy at the Imperial Moscow Technical School  [ ru ] . In the same year, he published a review of Karl Marx 's unfinished third volume of Das Kapital , and authored an essay in 1896, "On the Regularity of Social Phenomena." In

18444-456: The main exponents of vekhovstvo , an ideological movement that called on the intelligentsia to "sober up" and move away from "herd morality", "utopianism", and "rabid revolutionism" in favor of the work of spiritual comprehension and a constructive social position. During the same period, he developed on his ideas of socialist Christianity, producing an analysis of the Christian attitude to economics and politics (with an apology for socialism, which

18603-407: The mother and model for the Church, a view later highlighted by Popes Paul VI through Benedict XVI . While Christology has been the subject of detailed study, some Marian views, in particular in Roman Catholic Mariology , see it as an essential basis for the study of Mary. Generally, Protestant denominations do not agree with this approach. The concept that by being the "Mother of God", Mary has

18762-414: The nature of God is a mystery , something that must be revealed by special revelation rather than deduced through general revelation . Christian orthodox traditions (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant) follow this idea, which was codified in 381 and reached its full development through the work of the Cappadocian Fathers . They consider God to be a triune entity, called the Trinity, comprising

18921-707: The next two years, he was a member of the Tauride Diocesan Council in Simferopol and a professor of political economy and theology at the Tauride University in Simferopol . In the works Philosophy of the Name (written in 1920, published in 1953) and The Tragedy of Philosophy (written in 1920, published in 1928), written at that time, he revised his view of the relationship between philosophy and dogmatics of Christianity, coming to

19080-453: The outbreak of World War II limited Bulgakov, he did not stop working on new works and performing services. In 1943, he was awarded a miter. In occupied Paris , he wrote the work Racism and Christianity , debunking the ideology of fascism. He finished his last book, The Apocalypse of John , shortly before his death. On the night of 5-6 June 1944, he had a stroke, after which he remained unconscious for forty days. He died on 13 July 1944. He

19239-448: The overall theology of the salvation mystery of Jesus Christ. Some prominent 20th century theologians, such as Karl Barth and Karl Rahner , viewed Mariology only as a part of Christology . However, differences exist between them, e.g. Hugo Rahner , the brother of Karl Rahner, disagreed and developed a Mariology based on the writers of the early Church, including Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo among others. He viewed Mary as

19398-407: The pains and temptations of a mortal man, yet he did not sin. As fully God, he defeated death and rose to life again. Scripture asserts that Jesus was conceived, by the Holy Spirit, and born of his virgin mother Mary without a human father. The biblical accounts of Jesus's ministry include miracles , preaching, teaching, healing , Death , and resurrection . The apostle Peter, in what has become

19557-535: The peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God (5:9)." The gospels go on to document a great deal of controversy over Jesus being the Son of God, in a unique way. The book of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of the New Testament, however, record the early teaching of the first Christians– those who believed Jesus to be both the Son of God, the Messiah, a man appointed by God, as well as God himself. This

19716-551: The policies of the Minister of Public Education Lev Kasso . The following years were the period of Bulgakov's greatest social and journalistic activity. He participated in many endeavors that marked a religious and philosophical revival, such as the journals Novy put' and Voprosy religii , the collections Questions of Religion , About Vladimir Solovyov , On the Religion of Leo Tolstoy , Problems of Idealism , and Milestones ,

19875-427: The positive theory of social progress associated with it was unable to nourish man's ineradicable faith in the historical justification of the good. After unsuccessful attempts to use Kant's epistemological precepts in the interests of Marxism, Bulgakov settled on the idea that a solid justification for the guiding principles of personal and public life is possible only by developing unconditional standards in matters of

20034-495: The presence of God or an angel. For instance, in the concept which Catholics call interior locution , supernatural revelation can include just an inner voice heard by the recipient. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) first described two types of revelation in Christianity: general revelation and special revelation . The Bible contains many passages in which the authors claim divine inspiration for their message or report

20193-416: The process was slower in Rome is provided by the incident during the visit of Pope Agapetus to Constantinople in 536, when he was upbraided for opposing the veneration of the theotokos and refusing to allow her icons to be displayed in Roman churches. Early seventh-century examples of new Marian dedications in Rome are the dedication in 609 of the pagan Pantheon as Santa Maria ad Martyres , "Holy Mary and

20352-477: The processes of schism and disintegration that prepared the catastrophe of the nation. Later, he was engaged in the creation of Christian economic theory, and his journalism focused only on church and religious-cultural topics. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Bulgakov became disillusioned with Marxism because he considered it incapable of answering the deep religious needs of the human personality and radically changing it. He returned to Christianity. In

20511-497: The quality of growth are directly related to the self-determination and activity of man - the hypostasis of the created Sophia. "Earth" and "mother" are the key definitions of matter for Bulgakov, expressing its conceiving and birthing power, its fruitfulness. The earth is "saturated with limitless possibilities"; it is "all-matter, for everything is potentially contained in it" ( The Unfading Light  [ ru ] . Moscow, 1917, pp. 240-241). Although after God, by His will, matter

20670-639: The role of Mary in Lutheran Mariology and Anglican Marian theology . As a field of theology, the most substantial developments in Mariology (and the founding of specific centers devoted to its study) in recent centuries have taken place within Roman Catholic Mariology. Eastern Orthodox concepts and veneration of Mary are integral to the rite as a whole, (the theotokos) and are mostly expressed in liturgy. The veneration of Mary

20829-695: The same 27-book New Testament canon. Early Christians used the Septuagint , a Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures. Christianity subsequently endorsed various additional writings that would become the New Testament. In the 4th century a series of synods , most notably the Synod of Hippo in AD 393, produced a list of texts equal to the 46-book canon of the Old Testament that Catholics use today (and

20988-746: The scriptures have been known by Timothy from "infancy" (verse 15). Others offer an alternative reading for the passage; for example, theologian C. H. Dodd suggests that it "is probably to be rendered" as: "Every inspired scripture is also useful..." A similar translation appears in the New English Bible , in the Revised English Bible , and (as a footnoted alternative) in the New Revised Standard Version . The Latin Vulgate can be so read. Yet others defend

21147-486: The search for the unconditional and lasting meaning of life, but by ordinary self-love. According to Bulgakov, the eudaimonic ideal of progress, as a scale for assessing historical development, leads to antimoral conclusions, to the recognition of suffering generations as only a bridge to the future bliss of their descendants. Bulgakov's work as a priest began with journalism, articles on economic, socio-cultural, and religious-philosophical topics. Bulgakov's journalism came to

21306-482: The seminary after a loss of his faith. In the same year, he attempted suicide. Bulgakov later noted that his passion for priesthood waned as he grew disenchanted with Orthodoxy because his teachers were unable to answer his questions. After Bulgakov quit the seminary, he entered Yelets Classical Gymnasium to prepare for the law faculty of the Imperial Moscow University . Among his teachers there

21465-407: The significance of the historical role of the valuese of goodness and beauty. However, it was the philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov , who he began to read in 1902, that Bulgakov considered to be the highest synthesis of philosophical thought; this philosophy considered the vital principle of Christianity to be the organizing principle of social creativity. Bulgakov's idealism eventually led him back to

21624-618: The sixteenth century with their ancestor Bulgak, a Tatar from whom the family name derives. Metropolitan Macarius Bulgakov (1816–1882), one of the major Eastern Orthodox theologians of his days, and one of the most important Russian church historians , was a distant relative. In 1884, Bulgakov graduated from the Livny Theological School. At the age of fourteen, Bulgakov entered the Oryol Theological Seminary. In 1888, however, Bulgakov quit

21783-486: The study of devotion to and thinking about Mary throughout the history of Christianity. There exist a variety of Christian (and non-Christian) views on Mary as a figure ranging from the focus on the veneration of Mary in Roman Catholic Mariology to criticisms of "mariolatry" as a form of idolatry. The latter would include certain Protestant objections to Marian devotion . There are also more distinctive approaches to

21942-494: The summer of 1909, Bulgakov's four-year-old son Ivan died. At the funeral, Bulgakov had a profound religious experience that is generally regarded as his final step in his journey back to Orthodoxy. Bulgakov would later contemplate the meaning of death in his later works, including Unfading Light . In 1911, Bulgakov left the Moscow University among a large group of liberal-minded university teachers in protest against

22101-529: The three "Persons"; God the Father , God the Son , and God the Holy Spirit , described as being "of the same substance" ( ὁμοούσιος ). The true nature of an infinite God, however, is commonly described as beyond definition, and the word 'person' is an imperfect expression of the idea. Some critics contend that because of the adoption of a tripartite conception of deity, Christianity is a form of tritheism or polytheism . This concept dates from Arian teachings which claimed that Jesus, having appeared later in

22260-413: The very idea of family, wherever it appears, derives its name from God the Father, and thus God himself is the model of the family. However, there is a deeper "legal" sense in which Christians believe that they are made participants in the special relationship of Father and Son, through Jesus Christ as his spiritual bride . Christians call themselves adopted children of God. In the New Testament, God

22419-426: The wisdom of God, which is identical to nature, the ousia of God. And this Divine Sophia, placed outside of Itself by the creative act of God, becomes the created Sophia and is the basis of the created world. Its createdness lies in its position during time and becoming. The created Sophia is manifested in the potentials of being, which, like seeds sown in the earth, must sprout, but the possibility of their sprouting and

22578-572: The works Religion of the Vladimir Solovyov Memorial Philosophical Society , and the publishing house Put' , where the most important works of Russian religious thought were published in 1911-1917. In his work during this period, he transitioned from lectures and articles on topics of religion and culture (the most important of which he collected in the two-volume book Two Cities , published 1911) to original philosophical developments. In 1911, Bulgakov

22737-474: Was Vasily Rozanov . In 1890, Bulgakov entered the Imperial Moscow University where he chose to study political economy and law . As he reflected years later, however, literature and philosophy were his natural inclination and he had no interest in law. Bulgakov only chose to study law because it seemed more likely to contribute to his country's redemption. After his graduation from the Law Faculty of

22896-655: Was a member of the Committee for the Construction of the Sergius Metochion and an assistant to its organizer. He helped found the St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute ( l'Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-Serge ), where he worked until his death. He taught courses on "Holy Scripture of the Old Testament" and "Dogmatic Theology". Bulgakov became involved in the work of the ecumenical movement in 1927 at

23055-477: Was a source of refuge for man. The development of medieval Mariology and the changing attitudes towards women paralleled each other and can best be understood in a common context. Since the Reformation , some Protestants accuse Roman Catholics of having developed an un-Christian adoration and worship of Mary, described as Marianism or Mariolatry , and of inventing non-scriptural doctrines which give Mary

23214-530: Was and forever is fully God (divine) and fully human in one sinless person at the same time, and that through the death and resurrection of Jesus , sinful humans can be reconciled to God and thereby are offered salvation and the promise of eternal life via his New Covenant . While there have been theological disputes over the nature of Jesus, Christians believe that Jesus is God incarnate and " true God and true man " (or both fully divine and fully human). Jesus, having become fully human in all respects, suffered

23373-655: Was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in the southern suburbs of Paris. Bulgakov condemned the basic view of political economy of the early 20th century, according to which the growth of material needs is the fundamental principle of normal economic development. He viewed economic progress as a necessary condition for spiritual success, but warned against the inclination to replace universal human and cultural progress with economic progress alone. To him, moral materialism and spiritual bourgeoisness, which once destroyed

23532-419: Was condemned in the decrees of the Moscow Patriarchate, and in 1937, also by the foreign Council of Bishops in Karlovci. However, the commission of professors of the St. Sergius Institute and the diocesan commission (1936), convened by Metropolitan Eulogius Georgiyevsky , rejected all accusations of heresy. In polemics with the tradition of German idealism , Bulgakov refuses to consider reason and thinking as

23691-473: Was continued by Popes John XXIII , Paul VI and John Paul II with the additional creation of the Pontifica Academia Mariana Internationale and the Centro di Cultura Mariana , a pastoral center to promulgate Marian teachings of the Church, and the Societa Mariologica Italiana , an Italian mariological society with an interdisciplinary orientation. There are two distinct approaches as to how Mariology might interact with conventional theological treatises: one

23850-403: Was elected fellow chairman of the Alexander Chuprov Society for the Development of Social Sciences  [ ru ] and a member of the Commission on Church Law at the Moscow Law Society. In 1913, Bulgakov defended his doctoral dissertation on political economy, Philosophy of Economics , at Moscow University, in which he put forward Christianity as a universal process, the subject of which

24009-421: Was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" The Second Epistle of Peter also implies that Paul's writings are inspired ( 2 Pet 3:16 ). Many Christians cite a verse in Paul's letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16–17, as evidence that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable ..." Here St. Paul is referring to the Old Testament, since

24168-400: Was fully divine and also human. What it did not do was make clear how one person could be both divine and human, and how the divine and human were related within that one person. This led to the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries of the Christian era. The Chalcedonian Creed did not put an end to all Christological debate, but it did clarify the terms used and became

24327-423: Was gradually declining), criticism of Marxism and bourgeois-capitalist ideology, projects for a "party of Christian politics," and responses to the issues of the day (from the standpoint of Christian liberal-conservative centrism). The theme of Russia was a special focus, and was addressed, following Dostoevsky and Solovyov, along the paths of Christian historiosophy . Bulgakov's views changed greatly in response to

24486-540: Was held, which resulted in the establishment of the bilateral Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius . While living in Paris, he completed two dogmatic trilogies on Sophiology — the first, The Burning Bush (1926), The Friend of the Bridegroom (1927), Jacob’s Ladder (1929); the second, The Lamb of God , The Comforter , The Bride of the Lamb (1939). It is in The Bride of the Lamb that Bulgakov argues for apokatastasis . Bulgakov states that humankind will "ultimately be justified." He also argues in this book for

24645-432: Was included in a list of scientific and cultural figures subject to deportation, compiled by the State Political Directorate on the initiative of Vladimir Lenin . On 30 December 1922, he was deported to Constantinople on one of the so-called philosophers' ships without the right to return to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . After a short stay in Constantinople, he arrived in Prague . In May 1923, with

24804-473: Was not a realistic, universal account of capitalist society. Originally intended to be defended as a doctoral dissertation, the work did not receive the highest rating from the Academic Council of Moscow University and was defended as a master's thesis. In 1900 Bulgakov presented his finished dissertation for examination. It was this examination that led Bulgakov to being a privatdozent at the Kiev University of St. Vladimir and Professor of Political Economy at

24963-446: Was revealed in his public lectures and in his article " Carlyle and Tolstoy" ( Novy Put , December 1904). Being a direct student of Vladimir Solovyov in his philosophical convictions, Bulgakov, however, was critical of his church-political and economic program. In his extensive dissertation, the two-volume book Capitalism and Agriculture , Bulgakov questioned the effect of the law of concentration of production in agriculture, examined

25122-453: Was seen as King and Judge. In the East, devotion to Mary blossomed in the sixth century under official patronage and imperial promotion at the Court of Constantinople . The popularity of Mary as an individual object of devotion, however, only began in the fifth century with the appearance of apocryphal versions of her life, interest in her relics, and the first churches dedicated to her name, for example, S. Maria Maggiore in Rome. A sign that

25281-435: Was that the one God exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit); in particular it was affirmed that the Son was homoousios (of one substance) with the Father. The Creed of the Nicene Council made statements about the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus, thus preparing the way for discussion about how exactly the divine and human come together in the person of Christ (Christology). Nicaea insisted that Jesus

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