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Αλήθεια και αποκάλυψη
Ο Ν. ΜΠΕΡΝΤΙΑΕΦ (1874-1948), ο "νοσταλγός της αιωνιότητας" που πάλλεται από τον πυρετό των οραματισμών, αναζητά πίσω από τις ιστορικές εξαντικειμενικεύσεις τη γνήσια και ζώσα αλήθεια που κατευθύνει το άτομο προς τον θείο προορισμό του. Συμμετέχει με ασίγαστο πάθος στον δραματικό αγώνα της διασώσεως του ανθρώπου από την ιστορική του έκπτωση, μάχεται για την ιστορική του αποκατάσταση και τον καλεί να μην απιστήσει στο κοσμικής ευθύνης έργο του. Με το παρόν βιβλίο επιχειρεί την επανεξέταση των θεμελιωδών προβλημάτων του Χριστιανισμού στο φως του πνεύματος και της αλήθειας. Η φύση της αλήθειας δεν είναι διανοητική, δεν είναι γνωστική, δεν δίνεται στους ανθρώπους ως αντικείμενο, αλλά προϋποθέτει κίνηση και τάση προς το άπειρο. Είναι η τέλεια πληρότητα, στην οποία φθάνει κανείς "από την οδό και τη ζωή". Κατά την αναζήτησή του, ο συγγραφέας οραματίζεται την αποκάλυψη του νέου ανθρώπου, του υπερβατικού και αιώνιου, "που μάχεται ενεργώς στη δημιουργία του κόσμου και του εαυτού του".
- GenresPhilosophyTheology
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1947
3 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Nikolai Berdyaev
139 books271 followersNikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was born at Kyiv in 1874 of an aristocratic family. He commenced his education in a military school and subsequently entered the University of Kiev. There he accepted Marxism and took part in political agitation, for which he was expelled. At twenty-five he was exiled from Kiev to the north of Russia and narrowly escaped a second period of exile shortly before the Revolution. Before this, however, he had broken with Marxism in company with Sergius Bulgakov, and in 1909 he contributed to a symposium which reaffirmed the values of Orthodox Christianity. After the October Revolution he was appointed by the Bolshevists to a chair of philosophy in the University of Moscow, but soon fell into disfavour for his independent political opinions. He was twice imprisoned and in 1922 was expelled from the country. He settled first in Berlin, where he opened a Russian Academy of Philosophy and Religion. Thence he moved to Clamart near Paris, where he lectured in a similar institution. In 1939 he was invited to lecture at the Sorbonne. He lived through the German occupation unmolested. After the liberation, he announced his adhesion to the Soviet government, but later an article by him published in a Paris (Russian) newspaper, criticising the return to a policy of repression, was tantamount to a withdrawal of this. He died at Clamart March 24, 1948.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 24, 2018
I read this one back around 1969 or so, and have forgotten the main points Berdyaev makes, but I remember finding it an interesting read, by a Russian Orthodox writer.
December 31, 2020
I consider myself an avid reader of N. Berdyayev books
I came to know him about 10 yrs before and I can say that he stands as
a liberator from dogmatic religion or else an interpreter of the aporhatism whilst
so into this world.
The "russian idea" is one of his exceptional books ,but truth and revelation
is focusing clearly in the notion of transcendence and gets close to the big mystics
i.e Meister Eckhart , Nikolaos of Cusa , Gregory of nyssa and so many others.
It was a bit unfortunate - or fortunate - for him that he found himself in a turbulence of events
such as the '17 revolution and the world war .
In these troubled times ,religious contemplation was exiled in the sphere called ' unnecessary '
since thinking over politics had a certain degree of cruciality and presented itself as the basic trend, something like AI for today.
In this book Berdyayev appears as a field expert and poses the case for the undiagnosed of
god following the byzantine trend of the Hesychasts and in a way of the Heraclitian notion
of a world perceived by us only as a way-of living - and not as an object that can be tangible and materialized.
He is not withdrawn from this world expressing a certain phobia for the 'other' or the entropic process but he considers this , the great opportunity for one to be a ' creator' and deposit his work as a consignment for his connections to evaluate and adopt
One would surely appreciate the wealth of his gnostical load and learn a lot on this way of inimical theology he lays in the hands of his readers
On top of that there will be a worth discourse in other faculties such as philosophy and sociology for more diverse spirits
I came to know him about 10 yrs before and I can say that he stands as
a liberator from dogmatic religion or else an interpreter of the aporhatism whilst
so into this world.
The "russian idea" is one of his exceptional books ,but truth and revelation
is focusing clearly in the notion of transcendence and gets close to the big mystics
i.e Meister Eckhart , Nikolaos of Cusa , Gregory of nyssa and so many others.
It was a bit unfortunate - or fortunate - for him that he found himself in a turbulence of events
such as the '17 revolution and the world war .
In these troubled times ,religious contemplation was exiled in the sphere called ' unnecessary '
since thinking over politics had a certain degree of cruciality and presented itself as the basic trend, something like AI for today.
In this book Berdyayev appears as a field expert and poses the case for the undiagnosed of
god following the byzantine trend of the Hesychasts and in a way of the Heraclitian notion
of a world perceived by us only as a way-of living - and not as an object that can be tangible and materialized.
He is not withdrawn from this world expressing a certain phobia for the 'other' or the entropic process but he considers this , the great opportunity for one to be a ' creator' and deposit his work as a consignment for his connections to evaluate and adopt
One would surely appreciate the wealth of his gnostical load and learn a lot on this way of inimical theology he lays in the hands of his readers
On top of that there will be a worth discourse in other faculties such as philosophy and sociology for more diverse spirits
December 22, 2024
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2022
“God is that which cannot be expressed.”
“Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the whole matter is that the idea of hell is connected with a notion of justice which is derived from the instinct of revenge. We see this in St. Augustine, in St. Gregory the Great, in St. Thomas Aquinas and in Calvin, although in the last of these justice has a very small part to play. In all this the forensic way of understanding Chrstianity reached its ultimate expression. If it is true, the justice of the Supreme Judge who imposes the sentence is at a much lower level than that of ordinary earthly justice in an earthly court. The sentence of hell is imposed by an almighty and all-gracious God, and yet it is he who brought everything into existence, including human freedom, who foresaw everything and, therefore, predestined it. A sentence for eternity is passed upon the deeds commited by a weak finite creature within a very short space and time, by a creature who is entirely in the power of God. There is nothing here which recalls even the very limited justice of men, to say nothing of divine justice. St. Augustine even thought all humans beings without exception did in justice merit the eternal pains of hell, though the Supreme Judge excepts certain of them from this just fate; to them he communicates saving grace, and predestines them to salvation. It would be difficult to devise anything more abominable.”
“The eternal light was poured out in the Gospel, but it was received into a human environment. The eternal truth of Christianity is expressed in the limitations of human language, and translated into the categories of thought of the limited human world. God speaks to men in a language they understand.”
“God has been regarded as a master, tsar, sovereign and governor, while man is looked upon as a subject and a slave. The master-slave relation is fundamental. God is offended as people are offended. He is vengeful and he demands a ransom. He institutes criminal proceedings against disobedient man. This has left a fatal impress upon men’s understanding of Christianity, but it has brought it more within their reach.”
“It is absolutely wrong to apply the category of causality to God and to the relation between God and the world. It is suitable only to relations which belong to the phenomenal world.”
“It is even probable that God loves those who struggle against him.”
"It must always be remembered that godlessness may be a protest against false and servile ideas about God. In this sense atheism even deserves sympathy."
“There is quite enough hell in this world to ensure its projection into the next.”
"There is deep-rooted cruelty in the thought of St. Augustine, of St. Thomas Aquinas, Calvin and many others."
“Christian people have even been capable of quarreling in all seriousness wether children who have died unbaptized will burn in the fires of hell…”
“To the Emperor Justinian the suffering of this earthly life was so small a thing (though the pain was not for him, of course) that he needed suffering in the life beyond as well.”
“Either I shall be cast into hell and my good friends will be in heaven, or they will be cast into hell and I shall be in heaven. But neither of these alternatives can be accepted by conscience. Men must all be saved together. It does the greatest honour to such Greek fathers of the Church as Origen and St. Gregory that they rejected belief in an eternal hell and admitted that even the devil would be saved.”
“St. Augustine, who was one of the founders of hell, is acclaimed by all Christian Europe, catholic and protestant alike. All thought on the subject of hell was kept within the limits of human rational concepts, as every ontology has been. It has been a rationalized form of human cruelty. In opposition to this we might say, in Kantian phraseology, that the non-existence of hell is a moral postulate.”
“The mystery lies in the fact that we cannot think of the existence of paradise kataphatically, we can only conceive of it in apophatic terms. Paradise and perfection within the confines of our aeon would be intolerable. Dostoevsky understood that very well.”
“Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the whole matter is that the idea of hell is connected with a notion of justice which is derived from the instinct of revenge. We see this in St. Augustine, in St. Gregory the Great, in St. Thomas Aquinas and in Calvin, although in the last of these justice has a very small part to play. In all this the forensic way of understanding Chrstianity reached its ultimate expression. If it is true, the justice of the Supreme Judge who imposes the sentence is at a much lower level than that of ordinary earthly justice in an earthly court. The sentence of hell is imposed by an almighty and all-gracious God, and yet it is he who brought everything into existence, including human freedom, who foresaw everything and, therefore, predestined it. A sentence for eternity is passed upon the deeds commited by a weak finite creature within a very short space and time, by a creature who is entirely in the power of God. There is nothing here which recalls even the very limited justice of men, to say nothing of divine justice. St. Augustine even thought all humans beings without exception did in justice merit the eternal pains of hell, though the Supreme Judge excepts certain of them from this just fate; to them he communicates saving grace, and predestines them to salvation. It would be difficult to devise anything more abominable.”
“The eternal light was poured out in the Gospel, but it was received into a human environment. The eternal truth of Christianity is expressed in the limitations of human language, and translated into the categories of thought of the limited human world. God speaks to men in a language they understand.”
“God has been regarded as a master, tsar, sovereign and governor, while man is looked upon as a subject and a slave. The master-slave relation is fundamental. God is offended as people are offended. He is vengeful and he demands a ransom. He institutes criminal proceedings against disobedient man. This has left a fatal impress upon men’s understanding of Christianity, but it has brought it more within their reach.”
“It is absolutely wrong to apply the category of causality to God and to the relation between God and the world. It is suitable only to relations which belong to the phenomenal world.”
“It is even probable that God loves those who struggle against him.”
"It must always be remembered that godlessness may be a protest against false and servile ideas about God. In this sense atheism even deserves sympathy."
“There is quite enough hell in this world to ensure its projection into the next.”
"There is deep-rooted cruelty in the thought of St. Augustine, of St. Thomas Aquinas, Calvin and many others."
“Christian people have even been capable of quarreling in all seriousness wether children who have died unbaptized will burn in the fires of hell…”
“To the Emperor Justinian the suffering of this earthly life was so small a thing (though the pain was not for him, of course) that he needed suffering in the life beyond as well.”
“Either I shall be cast into hell and my good friends will be in heaven, or they will be cast into hell and I shall be in heaven. But neither of these alternatives can be accepted by conscience. Men must all be saved together. It does the greatest honour to such Greek fathers of the Church as Origen and St. Gregory that they rejected belief in an eternal hell and admitted that even the devil would be saved.”
“St. Augustine, who was one of the founders of hell, is acclaimed by all Christian Europe, catholic and protestant alike. All thought on the subject of hell was kept within the limits of human rational concepts, as every ontology has been. It has been a rationalized form of human cruelty. In opposition to this we might say, in Kantian phraseology, that the non-existence of hell is a moral postulate.”
“The mystery lies in the fact that we cannot think of the existence of paradise kataphatically, we can only conceive of it in apophatic terms. Paradise and perfection within the confines of our aeon would be intolerable. Dostoevsky understood that very well.”
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews