Orthodox Panentheism: Sergius Bulgakov’s Sophiology

Abstract

Not only the use of language as a whole but also its philosophical use is changing all the time. For example, some philosophers start to use a certain philosophical term in a sense which is not at all its original sense. In this sense, they misuse the term; but instead of censuring this, others imitate them; the misuse catches on, and soon the misuse becomes normal, and thus ceases to be a misuse—at least within certain philosophical circles. This is what happened to the term »phenomenology«: formerly, it was used by philosophers— very properly, in view of its etymology—to designate a human science which is dedicated to the description of the phenomena (of some stripe or other); nowadays, many philosophers use it exclusively for designating something which, presumably, not only humans but also mice, bats, and even bugs have: phenomenology (i.e., conscious experience, which is full of what-it-is-like). And this—the replacement of the original use of a term by its misuse, which then becomes normal and ceases to be a misuse—is precisely what seems to be happening to the term »theism« these days. Formerly, it was used by philosophers—again, very properly—to designate a position which acknowledges the existence of at least one god. In fact, the present use of the term in such combinations as »polytheism,« »monotheism,« »henotheism,« or »tritheism« in no way contradicts this former use, and one would expect that the same is true of its use in the combinations »pantheism« and »panentheism.« But no: Quite a few philosophers nowadays believe that pantheism and panentheism are so far from entailing theism that these positions entail the negation of theism—also known (formerly at least) as atheism. Contrary to this somewhat infelicitous replacement of an original meaning by a new meaning (a replacement which can seem to turn pious Spinoza into an atheist), I will describe a version of pantheism/panentheism which is not only, in the old sense, theistic (as is Spinoza’s version of pantheism/ panentheism) but also prosopon-theistic (as Spinoza’s is not): a version which acknowledges a personal god, but no impersonal god. What I have in mind is the Christian panentheism of the Russian-Orthodox philosopher-theologian