Holy Russia, Sacred Israel

Dominic Rubin (Ph.D. in Linguistics, London University) is a lecturer in Philosophy, Biblical Hebrew, Old Testament at St.Philaret’s Orthodox Christian Institute and the Moscow Higher School of Economics.

“Holy Russia, Sacred Israel is without a doubt a very important book and contribution to the field. With a deep and sympathetic understanding for both Judaism and Russian Orthodoxy, Dominic Rubin gives us new readings of some of the canonical figures of Russian thought: Soloviev, Florensky, Rozanov, Gershenzon, Karsavin, and Fedotov, among others. This is an important book for Russian culture because the author has no axe to grind and is unafraid of telling truth to power, facing both past anti-Jewish agitation and propaganda, while at the same time never surrendering hope for a future Russian-Jewish philosophical dialogue. Each figure is judged primarily on the merits of their thinking as theology and as humane expression, in a way which displays erudition, tolerance and a love for both Russian and Jewish culture.”

• Preface. Chapter One: Soloviev’s Judeo-Russian Wisdom. Introduction: Russian Jewry in the time of Soloviev. Soloviev’s general development. Soloviev, the Jews and Judaism. The flawed wholeness of the Jewish nation. The encounter with J.Rabinowitz. Judaism, Judeo-Christianity and the Law. Talmudic Judaism and integral Christianity. Sophia (Soph-Jah) and Judaic/Christian pan(en)theism. Jewish responses to Soloviev. Chapter Two: Bulgakov and the sacred blood of Jewry. Bulgakov: wrestling with Soloviev’s heritage. The Jews in Bulgakov’s thought: a preview of the main problem. Judaism and the Old Testament in Bulgakov’s early philosophy. Two Cities (1906-1910). The Unfading Light (1917). Bulgakov and Kabbalah. Bulgakov and Jewry (1): in Russia – the shadow of the Revolution. An early essay in Christian Zionism (1915). The paradox of Bulgakov’s anti-Semitism. Bulgakov’s recollections of the 1905 and 1917 Revolutions. Bulgakov and Jewry (2): in exile – the shadow of the Holocaust. The Biblical conception of blood and nation. Sophiology and sacred blood. The blood-chosenness of the Jews after Christ. The collective fate of Israel and the remnant. A critical development of Bulgakov’s ideas. A Messianic Jewish reading of Bulgakov? A (covert) two-covenant reading of Bulgakov? Judas, Saul, and Paul. Conclusion. Bulgakov in two contemporary Russian-Jewish interpretations. Chapter Three: N. Berdyaev, M. Gershenzon and L. Shestov: Jewish and Russian Nihilists of the Spirit. The three pessimists. Berdyaev and Gershenzon. Nicolai Berdyaev. Mikhail Gershenzon. Between Slavophilism and Bolshevism. Berdyaev and Gershenzon on Slavophilism. Gershenzon, Berdyaev and the Bolshevik Revolution. Gershenzon and Vyacheslav Ivanov aft er the Revolution. 1922: Berdyaev and Gershenzon on history. Berdyaev on history and Jewry. Gershenzon and Jewish destiny. Pushkin-Ahasuerus. Apotheosis of Jewishness: Gershenzon against Land, Torah and People. The ‘Judaization’ of Berdyaev. Lev Shestov. Shestov on Gershenzon. Shestov on Buber and Judaism. Shestov on Berdyaev. Shestov, Bulgakov and Steinberg. Bulgakov on Shestov: ‘fi deist without faith’. Steinberg on Shestov: reveal the ‘black man’. Judaism beyond the Pale: superseding both Testaments. Gershenzon and Shestov – differences and similarities. V.V.Zenkovsky: the dialectic of Jewry and Christianity. Chapter Four: Vasily Rozanov (and Pavel Florensky). ‘Sinful slave Vasily….’ Rozanov’s intellectual development. Early Rozanov: Judaism over Christianity. “Judaism” (1903). The immanent church of conciliar Jewry. 1.Circumcision. 2.Sabbath. 3.Mikveh. Astarte, Egypt and Judaism. The agonies of Marcionism. Middle Rozanov: Russia expels the Jew within. Two Jewish encounters in the Beilis years. Mikhail Gershenzon. Aaron Steinberg. Rozanov’s Judeophobic outpourings (1911-1914). Florensky: Rozanov’s secret helper. Florensky’s Jewish writings. Ritual murder and the eucharist.The fl aw in Florensky’s two-tiered logic. Florensky, Romans 11 and Jewish blood. Florensky’s ‘Kabbalistic scholarship’ Florensky: the broader context. Occultism and magic. Political totalitarianism. Katsis and Florensky’s ‘Christian exegesis’. Preface. Florensky’s position in Russian religious thought. Name-worship and symbolism. Iosef Davydovich Levin: “I met Florensky once….” Christianity and anti-Semitism: final words. Chapter Five: L. Karsavin and A. Steinberg: Russia and Israel Symphonically. Interwined. Two friends, two worlds. Eurasianism,Volphila, Autonomism. The Karsavin-Steinberg exchange. Karsavin. Steinberg. Inflected philosophy: Jews and Russians among the Greeks. Steinberg, Jewishness and philosophy: How strange that I am a Jew. Jewishness and Russianness in philosophy. Jewish Platonized Kantianism. Steinberg and Jewishness in philosophy. The boundaries between the believer and the world. Core and periphery, Orthodoxy and Revolution. The case of Georgy Fedotov. The case of Alexander Meier. Karsavin: rootless Christianity. “A Study in Apologetics” . Karsavin: experiencing the Jewish vision of God (Poem on Death). Th e tortured Jewess. Contrary couples. Karsavin’s and Steinberg’s triadology. Israel and the living God. The end of the Poem on Death. The Inquisitor and the Jewess-‘conversa’. The final drama. The role of the Jewess in the final drama. Jews and personality. Final years: London, Lithuania, Siberia. Abez and a final Jewish encounter. Death and burial. Chapter Six: Semyon Frank: from russkiy yevrei to russkiy yevropeetz. Frank: the Jew as universal man. Frank’s philosophy. Frank and Gershenzon. Frank’s universalism. Frank and Gershenzon from Landmarks to Revolution. Gershenzon and Frank: the wisdom of Pushkin. Pushkin between Frank and Gershenzon. Pushkin’s message for contemporary Russia. Russian-Jewish Wisdom. Frank and German-Jewish philosophy. Cohen and Frank. Frank and Cohen on suffering. Frank and Rosenzweig.The argument of The Star and Frank’s critique. The Star.The critique. Evaluation of Frank’s critique. Frank and O.Goldberg. Conclusion. Conclusion: Soloviev’s heirs: the third generation. Alexander Men: Bulgakovian Judeo-Christianity? The polemic against Men’s Jewish Christianity. N.Feingold and S.Lyosov. Men in the context of post-Auschwitz theology. Benevich: no Jew, no gentile – no Russian? Conclusion: Russian Orthodoxy and Jewish-Christian dialogue – a note. Bibliography. Index.