Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The purpose of this study is (1) to explore the theological significance of Berdyaev's idea of human creativity and to determine its relation to a Christian doctrine of salvation, and (2) to identify the major theological presuppositions which undergird this idea, compare them with the thought of Paul Tillich and L. Harold DeWolf, and evaluate them. The study engages the thought of Berdyaev at its most inclusive and determinative point--his dualism of spirit and nature. It then narrows to an investigation of the content and meaning which is given to the idea of "spirit." On the basis of theological meanings which appear, the preliminary conclusion is drawn that the main theological concern of Berdyaev's teaching on human creativity involves the problem of a particular understanding of man's relationship to God Following a study of Berdyaev's doctrines of God and man, and an identification of the marks of the creative experience of God and its cosmic consequences, the conclusion is dram that Berdyaev, in his teaching on human creativity, seeks to give an interpretation of the meaning of Christian salvation. [TRUNCATED]

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1985.

This thesis is focused on a concept of revolution in writings of Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev. It starts with general characteristics of a philosopher's works and special attention is given to the style of his writing. Main objective of the thesis is a description of Berdyaev's relation to the term revolution itself, which is given from philosophical, sociological and his- toriosophical perspective, as well as putting his notion of revolution into the context of histor- ical events that has occurred during the first quarter of 20th century in Russia. Thesis draws on Berdyaev's articles that appeared in these collections of papers: The Problems of Idealism (Problemy idealizma), Signposts (Vekhi), De profundis (Iz glubiny) and on his works: The Spir- itual Crisis of the Intelligentsia, The Philosophy of Inequality, The Spiritual Origins of Russian Revolution.

This thesis is a study of the Russian religious philosopher Nikolai Berdiaev (1874-1948). The aim of the thesis is to re-examine the alleged gnostic subtext in Berdiaev’s thought by exploring a number of interrelated motifs in his world outlook, teaching on man and theory of knowledge. The method employed is a close reading of Berdiaev's philosophical and autobiographical writings. In order to establish which motifs should be examined, how they are to be understood and the manner in which they are interconnected, a scrutiny is made of Hans Jonas’s phenomenological elucidation of ancient Gnosticism. A synthetic conception labelled Jonasian Gnosticism is proposed as the interpretive framework, in order to provide a unitary and consistent heuristic tool with which to investigate the topic, and to distinguish the specific proposed representation of Gnosticism from other existing ones. A chapter is devoted to an analysis of the concept of gnosis as employed by Berdiaev. Another key notion taken from the Jonasian framework is that of demundanization, which denotes among other things a rejectionary attitude towards the world grounded in a negative experience of evil and suffering. Varieties of dualism as well as Berdiaev’s doctrine of the human spirit’s otherworldly origin and non-belonging in the world, constitute other issues that are examined. In addition, both Berdiaev’s assessment of historical Gnosticism and his view of a gnostic return in modern times are examined. The study demonstrates the complexity of Berdiaev’s attitude towards the classic Gnostics, and his attempt to denounce Gnosticism while at the same time making a case for a Christian gnosis. The results suggest both affinities and divergences in the relationship between Berdiaev’s thought and Jonasian Gnosticism. Even though the doctrinal standpoints diverge on crucial points, it is argued that a suggestive affinity nevertheless exists in the shared existential attitude towards self and world.

This thesis seeks to shed light on a remarkable figure in Russian history, Father Alexander Men’. How and why did Men’ identify Vladimir Solovyov, Nikolai Berdyaev, and other pre-revolutionary cultural figures as representatives of authentic Russian religious culture? Why would a popular Russian Orthodox priest present the writings of mystics, anarchists, and the Silver Age counterculture as the antidote for seventy years of Soviet materialism? What role did Judaism and the Russo-Jewish intellectual tradition have on Men’s identifications as an Orthodox priest? I use a semiotic theory of culture following Yuri Lotman and the Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School as a framework to analyze the historical development of Orthodox personalism. Through this we find a coherent justification for Men’s cultural project. This thesis traces this line of thought from theories of cultural unity by Pyotr Chaadayev, through Christian universalism in Vladimir Solovyov, the existential personalism of Nikolai Berdyaev, and finally through Men’s personal relationship with Nadezhda Mandelstam.

Работа посвящена наиболее интеллектуальному роману русского писателя-эмигранта В. С. Яновского «Портативное бессмертие» (1953). Как показывает исследование, в романе присутствуют философские идеи, которые не только декларируются персонажами, но и активно влияют на развитие сюжета и образов главных героев произведения. В частности, можно говорить о влиянии на роман идей общества «Круг» (и его лидера И. И. Фондаминского), Н. Ф. Федорова, А. Бергсона, В. С. Соловьева, Х. Ортеги-и-Гассета, Н. А. Бердяева. Кроме того, исследователь демонстрирует, что автор романа не только вплетает идеи в ткань повествования, но и активно дискутирует с ними. / The work is devoted to the most intellectual novel of the Russian emigrant writer V. S. Yanovsky "Portable Immortality" (1953). As the research shows, there are philosophical ideas in the novel, which are not only declared by the characters, but also actively influence the development of the plot and images of the main characters of the work. In particular, we can talk about the influence on the novel of the ideas of the Circle society (and its leader I. I. Fondaminsky), N. F. Fedorov, A. Bergson, V. S. Solovyov, H. Ortega-i-Gasset, N. A. Berdyaev. In addition, the researcher demonstrates that the author of the novel not only weaves ideas into the fabric of the narrative, but also actively discusses them.

Juan Luis Segundo (1925-1996) was a Uruguayan Jesuit priest who, I argue, based his liberation theology on his understanding of existentialism. The major contribution of this thesis is the exploration of unknown and unexplored sources in Segundo's work. These sources support my thesis of his basis in existentialism and are corroborated by his mature theology. This thesis is significant because the connection between existentialism and liberation theology has been widely overlooked. My starting point is Segundo's 1948 book, in which he combines existentialism with personalism and develops a transcendental method grounded in love and inter-subjectivity. The following three chapters develop my argument through his engagement with four existentialist thinkers: Berdyaev, Sartre and Camus, and Heidegger. Chapter 3 demonstrates how Segundo follows Berdyaev's primacy of freedom, which allows for human creativity, but Segundo takes it as a "quality of the will" and relates freedom to love. Berdyaev influences Segundo's preference for a methodology yielding consistent growth rather than a systematic approach to theology. Chapter 4 shows how Sartre's and Camus' understanding of freedom and limits influenced Segundo's sense that a person's lived reality must be the starting point for theological reflection (e.g. the hermeneutic circle). In chapter 5, I use an unpublished manuscript to show how Segundo uses the place of tradition in the Christian church and the role of tradition in Heidegger's phenomenological analysis of Dasein in order to build his theology of "liberative human seeking and divine revelation". In the final two chapters, I draw the new sources together with two of Segundo's widely read books: Faith and Ideologies (1982) in chapter 6 and The Liberation of Theology (1975) in chapter 7. In chapter 6, the transcendental method he first wrote about in 1948 returns and he addresses materialism and personalism. Chapter 7 serves as my conclusion and uses Segundo's hermeneutic circle as the fullest manifestation of my argument.