Theology of N. Berdyaev’s Culture

Abstract

the paper considers the specificity of the cultural concept of N. Berdyaev. In this work we analyze philosophical and methodological prerequisites of his culture concept and reveal the duality and antinomy of the cultural creativity phenomenon within the framework of Berdyaev’s “crisis” concept. The reconstructed dynamics of Berdyaev’s religious search and a comparative analysis of cultural concepts by Berdyaev and Spengler reveal the specificity of Berdyaev’s cultural-cultural concept and show that his philosophy was based on philosophical theologism and philosophical religiosity. The main features of the philosophy of life, the life of the Spirit entirely determine the originality of the concept of culture by Berdyaev. In our paper we justify that mysticism and creativity according to Berdyaev is a spiritual substitute for religion. It is argued that Berdyaev’s desire to create a philosophical analogue of religion is nothing more than an attempt to create a cultural analogue of theology, that is, theology of culture. The work provides a brief overview of the most characteristic themes of different versions of cultural theology and it is alleged that in one context or another, the understanding and disclosure of these themes is in the culturally sensitive concept of Berdyaev. This allows us to qualify Berdyaev’s concept of culture as a theology of culture, in contrast to the morphology of culture