Overview

Holy Russia, Sacred Israel examines how Russian religious thinkers, both Jewish and Christian, conceived of Judaism, Jewry and the 'Old Testament' philosophically, theologically and personally at a time when the Messianic element in Russian consciousness was being stimulated by events ranging from the pogroms of the 1880s, through two Revolutions and World Wars, to exile in Western Europe. An attempt is made to locate the boundaries between the Jewish and Christian, Russian and Western, Gnostic-pagan and Orthodox elements in Russian thought in this period. The author reflects personally on how the heritage of these thinkers little analyzed or translated in the West can help Orthodox (and other) Christians respond to Judaism (including 'Messianic Judaism'), Zionism, and Christian anti-Semitism today.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dominic Rubin
Publisher:   Academic Studies Press
Imprint:   Academic Studies Press
Weight:   0.525kg
ISBN:  

9781618118202

ISBN 10:   161811820
Pages:   570
Publication Date:   14 June 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

Table of Contents

Preface Chapter One: Soloviev’s Judeo-Russian Wisdom Introduction: Russian Jewry in the time of Soloviev Soloviev’s general development Soloviev, the Jews and Judaism The flawed wholeness of the Jewish nation The encounter with J.Rabinowitz Judaism, Judeo-Christianity and the Law Talmudic Judaism and integral Christianity Sophia (Soph-Jah) and Judaic/Christian pan(en)theism Jewish responses to Soloviev Chapter Two: Bulgakov and the sacred blood of Jewry Bulgakov: wrestling with Soloviev’s heritage The Jews in Bulgakov’s thought: a preview of the main problem Judaism and the Old Testament in Bulgakov’s early philosophy Two Cities (1906-1910) The Unfading Light (1917) Bulgakov and Kabbalah Bulgakov and Jewry (1): in Russia – the shadow of the Revolution An early essay in Christian Zionism (1915) The paradox of Bulgakov’s anti-Semitism Bulgakov’s recollections of the 1905 and 1917 Revolutions Bulgakov and Jewry (2): in exile – the shadow of the Holocaust The Biblical conception of blood and nation Sophiology and sacred blood The blood-chosenness of the Jews after Christ The collective fate of Israel and the remnant A critical development of Bulgakov’s ideas A Messianic Jewish reading of Bulgakov? A (covert) two-covenant reading of Bulgakov? Judas, Saul, and Paul Conclusion Bulgakov in two contemporary Russian-Jewish interpretations Chapter Three: N Berdyaev, M Gershenzon and L Shestov: Jewish and Russian Nihilists of the Spirit The three pessimists Berdyaev and Gershenzon Nicolai Berdyaev Mikhail Gershenzon Between Slavophilism and Bolshevism Berdyaev and Gershenzon on Slavophilism Gershenzon, Berdyaev and the Bolshevik Revolution Gershenzon and Vyacheslav Ivanov aft er the Revolution 1922: Berdyaev and Gershenzon on history Berdyaev on history and Jewry Gershenzon and Jewish destiny Pushkin-Ahasuerus Apotheosis of Jewishness: Gershenzon against Land, Torah and People The ‘Judaization’ of Berdyaev Lev Shestov Shestov on Gershenzon Shestov on Buber and Judaism Shestov on Berdyaev Shestov, Bulgakov and Steinberg Bulgakov on Shestov: ‘fi deist without faith’ Steinberg on Shestov: reveal the ‘black man’ Judaism beyond the Pale: superseding both Testaments Gershenzon and Shestov – differences and similarities V.V.Zenkovsky: the dialectic of Jewry and Christianity Chapter Four: Vasily Rozanov (and Pavel Florensky) ‘Sinful slave Vasily….’ Rozanov’s intellectual development Early Rozanov: Judaism over Christianity “Judaism” (1903) The immanent church of conciliar Jewry 1.Circumcision 2.Sabbath 3.Mikveh Astarte, Egypt and Judaism The agonies of Marcionism Middle Rozanov: Russia expels the Jew within Two Jewish encounters in the Beilis years Mikhail Gershenzon Aaron Steinberg Rozanov’s Judeophobic outpourings (1911-1914) Florensky: Rozanov’s secret helper Florensky’s Jewish writings Ritual murder and the eucharist.The fl aw in Florensky’s two-tiered logic Florensky, Romans 11 and Jewish blood Florensky’s ‘Kabbalistic scholarship’ Florensky: the broader context Occultism and magic Political totalitarianism Katsis and Florensky’s ‘Christian exegesis’ Preface Florensky’s position in Russian religious thought Name-worship and symbolism Iosef Davydovich Levin: “I met Florensky once….” Christianity and anti-Semitism: final words Chapter Five: L Karsavin and A Steinberg: Russia and Israel Symphonically Interwined Two friends, two worlds Eurasianism,Volphila, Autonomism The Karsavin-Steinberg exchange Karsavin Steinberg Inflected philosophy: Jews and Russians among the Greeks Steinberg, Jewishness and philosophy: How strange that I am a Jew Jewishness and Russianness in philosophy Jewish Platonized Kantianism Steinberg and Jewishness in philosophy The boundaries between the believer and the world Core and periphery, Orthodoxy and Revolution The case of Georgy Fedotov The case of Alexander Meier Karsavin: rootless Christianity “A Study in Apologetics” Karsavin: experiencing the Jewish vision of God (Poem on Death) Th e tortured Jewess Contrary couples Karsavin’s and Steinberg’s triadology Israel and the living God The end of the Poem on Death The Inquisitor and the Jewess-‘conversa’ The final drama The role of the Jewess in the final drama Jews and personality Final years: London, Lithuania, Siberia Abez and a final Jewish encounter Death and burial Chapter Six: Semyon Frank: from russkiy yevrei to russkiy yevropeetz Frank: the Jew as universal man Frank’s philosophy Frank and Gershenzon Frank’s universalism Frank and Gershenzon from Landmarks to Revolution Gershenzon and Frank: the wisdom of Pushkin Pushkin between Frank and Gershenzon Pushkin’s message for contemporary Russia Russian-Jewish Wisdom Frank and German-Jewish philosophy Cohen and Frank Frank and Cohen on suffering Frank and Rosenzweig The argument of The Star and Frank’s critique The Star The critique Evaluation of Frank’s critique Frank and O.Goldberg Conclusion Conclusion: Soloviev’s heirs: the third generation Alexander Men: Bulgakovian Judeo-Christianity? The polemic against Men’s Jewish Christianity N.Feingold and S.Lyosov Men in the context of post-Auschwitz theology Benevich: no Jew, no gentile – no Russian? Conclusion: Russian Orthodoxy and Jewish-Christian dialogue – a note Bibliography Index

Reviews

This is a truly exceptional book. I have reread chapters time and again. In these pages, there are so many things of immediate interest, mainly, I think, for Orthodox theologians and Church leaders. The presentation and commentary on landmark figures like Soloviev, Bulgakov, Berdyaev and Florensky will be of great benefit in helping Orthodox Christians in the twenty first century understand in depth the past relationship between Christianity and Judaism in the Orthodox context, during a period that was of crucial importance for both faiths. Very few people are aware of the details of this relationship, and this book is invaluable in assessing how today's Orthodox Christians can learn from the past. --Fr. Vasile Mihoc, Professor of New Testament Studies, Lucien Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania Dominic Rubin's Holy Russia, Sacred Israel is a formidable and profoundly impressive piece of research, which needed to be done, and I was very glad to see it. It is a major piece of work. --Most Reverend. Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury When Rubin (philosophy, Biblical Hebrew, and Old Testament, St. Philaret's Orthodox Christian Institute and Moscow Higher School of Economics) read Sergei Bulgakov's Sophia: The Divine Wisdom, he was struck by the parallels between Jewish mysticism and Orthodox Russian religious thought. He analyzes these similarities in historical, cultural, literary, and political contexts, plus how still-influential Russian religious thinkers of Silver Age thought from 1880-1950, e.g., Bulgakov, P. Florensky, N. Berdyaev, V. Rozanov, and V. Soloviev, thought about the Jewish question as a Christian question and how Jewish friendships influenced their writings. --(Annotation (c)2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR) Holy Russia, Sacred Israel is without a doubt a very important book and contribution to the field. With a deep and sympathetic understanding for both Judaism and Russian Orthodoxy, Dominic Rubin gives us new readings of some of the canonical figures of Russian thought: Soloviev, Florensky, Rozanov, Gershenzon, Karsavin, and Fedotov, among others. This is an important book for Russian culture because the author has no axe to grind and is unafraid of telling truth to power, facing both past anti-Jewish agitation and propaganda, while at the same time never surrendering hope for a future Russian-Jewish philosophical dialogue. Each figure is judged primarily on the merits of their thinking as theology and as humane expression, in a way which displays erudition, tolerance and a love for both Russian and Jewish culture. --Brian Horowitz, Professor of Russian and Chair of Jewish Studies, Tulane University This book is a bold attempt to examine the place of Judaism and Jewry in Russian religious thought from Vladimir Solov'ev to Semen Frank. What distinguishes D. Rubin's approach is that he takes Judaism seriously, he takes anti-Semitism seriously, and he also takes Russian Orthodox Christianity seriously, and he tries to look at their intersections in ways that bring out all the complexities. Although the book is primarily an intellectual history, it is also in part the author's assessment of the contribution and continuing relevance of Russian religious thought to that dialogue.--Scott M. Kenworthy

Author Information

Dominic Rubin (Ph.D. in Linguistics, London University) is a lecturer in Philosophy, Biblical Hebrew, Old Testament at St.Philaret's Orthodox Christian Institute and the Moscow Higher School of Economics.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions