The concept of new religious consciousness as a political act: remarks on the influence of D. Merezhkovsky’s ideas on the elaboration of N. Berdyaev’s philosophy

Abstract

The paper “The Concept of New Religious Consciousness as a Political Act: Remarks on the Influence of D. Merezhkovsky’s Ideas on the Elaboration of N. Berdyaev's Philosophy” claims to identify the influence of Merezhkovsky’s teaching on the development of Berdyaev’s philosophy using the methodology of intellectual history and the history of concepts. The author shows the discrepancies in current Berdyaev studies analyzing the place of concepts taken by Berdyaev from Merezhkovsky’s ‘new religious consciousness’ (criticism of ascetic Christianity, the idea of ‘the third testament’ and others) in Berdyaev’s philosophy. While some researchers interpret these concepts as just metaphors, others understand them as fundamental for Berdyaev’s thought. According to the author, this problem turns connected with the insufficiency of the methodology used by scholars, which does not allow to draw a consistent connection between the context and the internal logic of philosophical thought. The author argues that this problem can be solved with using the methodology of intellectual history, which considers philosophical texts to be actions (Skinner) and analyzes terms as dynamic, redefined concepts, for the content of which a political struggle is being waged (Lübbe). Outlining the intellectual history of the ‘new religious consciousness’, the author shows how this expression introduced in Merezhkovsky’s L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky becomes a concept redefined in discussions and used in a polemical way. Berdyaev played an important role in this conversion, developing the ‘new religious consciousness’ as a consistent doctrine. Approaching Merezhkovsky’s group, Berdyaev understands the ‘new religious consciousness’ as connected with Merezhkovsky’s ideas, but redefines its metaphysical content, linking it with spiritualistic personalism. Merezhkovsky responds Berdyaev by agreeing to recognize him as the main philosophical theorist of the ‘new religious consciousness’ if Berdyaev joins Merezhkovsky’s religious and political project. Although Berdyaev distances himself from religious and political practices of the Merezhkovsky family, he nevertheless continues to use the expression ‘new religious consciousness’ while claiming his teaching to be the genuine ‘new religious consciousness’. In The Meaning of a Creative Act (1916) Berdyaev formulates a complete metaphysical doctrine based on the intuitions expressed in an earlier polemic. The book publication was unequivocally perceived by Merezhkovsky's circle as Berdyaev’s claim to redefine the ‘new religious consciousness’. The author concludes that it is precisely this approach, considering the ‘new religious consciousness’ as a political concept, that allows to consistently trace the influence of this concept on the internal logic of Berdyaev’s philosophy.