Thesis advisor: Andrew Prevot / Fr. Sergii Bulgakov (1871-1944) produced an extensive theological corpus exploring the concept of “Sophia” in Eastern Orthodox thought, practice, and spirituality. Writing from within the school of modern Russian religious thought, his “sophiology” has been the subject of controversy and misconception since his exile from the Soviet Union in 1922. Although there has been a renaissance of sorts in the 2020s of Bulgakov’s thought in Orthodox and ecumenical spaces, there has been little explicit treatment of his sophiology or its significance in shaping his dogmatic theology. The primary goal of this dissertation is to elucidate the concrete role of Sophia specifically within Bulgakov’s doctrines of the Trinity and creation. Tracking how Sophia operates in both her divine and creaturely roles within Bulgakov’s conception of the God-world relationship, the project demonstrates the essential role she plays not only in understanding Bulgakov’s dogmatic theology on its own terms but also in how one might consider retrieving Bulgakov for more constructive theological ends. To this end, the final chapters of the dissertation explore how Bulgakov’s theology creation is fundamentally shaped by his understanding of a sophianic Trinity while placing such sophiological conclusions into conversation with a constructive theology of the icon, French psychoanalytic philosophers Julia Kristeva and Luce Irigaray, and ecofeminism. In this way, the dissertation looks to Bulgakov’s use of Sophia as a potential source for the development of an Orthodox ecofeminist theology, critically and charitably exploring the feminine character of Sophia in Bulgakov, her relationship to the earth, “feminine” subjectivity, and the Eastern Christian iconographic tradition. Within his doctrines of Trinity and creation, Bulgakov discusses (1) the divine Sophia as the divine world, ousia of God, and her hypostatic relationship to the Father, (2) the hypostatsization of divine Sophia as the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as her kenotic participation in both divine and creaturely worlds through the second and third divine persons, (3) how Sophia operates in the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo and how her presence shapes different definitions of divine and creaturely “nothing,” (4) Sophia, divine “femininity,” and her significance for theological anthropology, and (5) the connection between Sophia and “mother Earth” and humanity’s relationship to the organic world. Each of these points are treated in depth as the argument of the dissertation develops in the order of chapters. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

This study examined the concept of "wisdom" from the perspective of "sophiology"--a current in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Russian religious philosophy--particularly as it was used in the writings of Vladimir Solovyov, Pavel Florensky, and Sergius Bulgakov. The purpose of the study was to examine how the sophiological perspective as developed in these authors could inform an understanding of "wisdom" in the field of adult learning. The nature of "wisdom" has been one of the major themes in both Eastern and Western traditions of philosophical and theological thought for thousands of years. In the mid-nineteenth century, however, the epistemological tendency to approach the world exclusively from the standpoint of observation and experiment reduced "wisdom" to nothing more than technical knowledge verified by experience. The concept/construct of wisdom, however, has been experiencing resurgence in the social sciences, including the field of adult learning. My research did not, however, find an instance in which the sophiological perspective had informed the field's understanding of wisdom. For this reason, the perspective of sophiology and its potential contribution to adult learning offered a unique research opportunity. In this study, I sought to add another dimension to the already multi-faceted nature of wisdom in the field of adult learning. I also hoped to enhance the value of sophiological thought by demonstrating its application to a field with which it had not been previously associated. I sought to accomplish these objectives using the method of hermeneutics, an interpretive mode of inquiry with both reproductive and productive aspects. The reproductive aspect established the historical and philosophical context of the three thinkers and discussed how their sophiological texts aided an understanding of their thought as a whole, and vice versa. The productive aspect explored applications of sophiological thought to the field of adult learning. Since I was the "research instrument" for the study, I also introduced the reader to aspects of my own background and experience that prepared me for this interpretive inquiry. / Ph. D.