Theological Reflection in Eighteenth-Century Russia

Adam Drozdek is associate professor at Duquesne University.

It is usually believed that Russian religious thought started in the first half of the nineteenth century. As a rule, both admirers and critics of this thought assume that the previous centuries were something like the Dark Ages of Russian religious culture. Adam Drozdek’s book casts a new light on the crucial period when traditional Orthodox culture was forced to meet European Enlightenment. Drozdek carefully describes various theological reactions to modernization, reveals the influences of Western thought, and explains the striking forms of Orthodox political theology. The book provides a much-needed survey of Russian religious imagination, which shaped the context of the subsequent original religious thought.

• Introduction: Imperial Religious Policies and Imperial SpiritualityPart I: Ecclesiastical TheologyChapter 1: Stefan IavorskiiChapter 2: Feofan Prokopovich Chapter 3: Grigorii KonisskiiChapter 4: Tikhon ZadonskiiChapter 5: Metropolitan PlatonChapter 6: Ivan KandorskiiChapter 7: Biblical CommentariesChapter 8: PreachingChapter 9: Old Believers vs. OrthodoxyPart II: Theological Reflection of Non-EcclesiasticsChapter 10: Two Books and Physico-TheologyChapter 11: God and His AttributesChapter 12: The Soul and Proofs its ImmortalityChapter 13: Memento MoriChapter 14: God in HistoryChapter 15: Masons, the Universalist WingChapter 16: Masons, the Revivalist Wing Conclusion: Theological Balance of the Age