A Study on Religious Philosophy and Aesthetics in Sergei Bulgakov's Sophiology

Abstract

This study examines Bulgakov's socialist ideology and how it was influenced by Sophia's theory of Solovyov. Chapter 1 analyzes the differences between socialism and Christianity through Bulgakov's early writings. Chapter 2 examines aspects of Bulgakov's Sophia Theory that were developed from Solovyov's Sophia Theory. The study seeks to understand Sophia and Gnosticism, the flow of Sophia's divinity and humanity, and the differences and trends in Sophia's theory in Russian religious philosophy. While Solovyov tried to prove the basic concept of Sophia's theory with reason, Bulgarkov analyzed the problem of the fourth person by dividing it into the problem of hypostasis and hypostatized. This problem of personification originates from the duality of Sophia's theory. While Solovyov focused on the divine Sophia, Bulgakov defined Sophia as a middle ground between the divine and human beings in the form of 'creatures'. The problem of duality and person in Sophia's theory is further examined in Chapter 3 through the problem of the image and name of the divine. The study posits that God manifests as divine energy from the word God itself. Before examining the concept of name worship, the study briefly reviews the meaning of icon and compares the correlation between the meaning of icon and name worship as the original image of God.