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Sergei Bulgakov

Anglican BratAnglican Brat Shipmate
in Purgatory
For Lent, I want to learn the theology of Sergei Bulgakov. Does anyone know where to start? I'm thinking of beginning with his Mariology.

Comments

  • Gamma GamalielGamma Gamaliel Shipmate
    His name keeps cropping up and I've been meaning to read him for some time. Big on Sophia, Holy Wisdom ... to the extent that his pneumatology was held to be suspect in some quarters.

    I've heard talks and lectures about him and read articles about him, all of which went way over my head as I haven't read any of his stuff.

    So, sorry. I can't help you, I'm afraid but thanks for the reminder ...
  • MaryLouiseMaryLouise Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Treading in relatively unknown waters here, but I like Andrew Louth's commentaries and introductions to Bulgakov, who was a contemporary of Karl Barth, Hans Ur van Balthasar and Karl Rahner.

    I've found some insights into the ideas of Bulgakov in the only Orthodox theologian I know well -- Christos Yannaras comes from a Greek Orthodox perspective and writes on the Sophia tradition, as well as the ascetic wisdom on the vast anthology known as the Philokalia.

    But this is just scratching the surface and I'm sure other Orthodox Shipmates will be along with suggestions.
  • Gamma GamalielGamma Gamaliel Shipmate
    Not me, I'm afraid.

    It's taking me a good while to get to grips with how the services 'work' let alone the theology - but then 'lex orandi, lex credendi' - or whichever way round it is.

    That's part of the point, of course. Orthodoxy is pretty kinetic.

    But I really ought to read more Orthodox theology rather than simply picking it up as I go along from occasional articles and essays and the odd (sometimes very odd) homily.

    I know the names of these people but less about what they wrote. The Philokalia is pretty pricey but I've got book tokens somewhere, and as MaryLouise has indicated it's not a systematic theological tome as such but a compendium of ascetic wisdom.
  • Ex_OrganistEx_Organist Shipmate
    You might start with "A Bulgakov Anthology" to get an overview before moving on to his longer works.
  • Augustine the AleutAugustine the Aleut Shipmate
    Nicholas Zernov's Russian Religious Renaissance of the Twentieth Century is now about 60 years old, but is a good primer on the theological world in which Bulgakov's writing took place. It's very readable.
  • KendelKendel Shipmate
    Goodness! I thought you meant theology of Mikhail Bulgakov!
  • Gamma GamalielGamma Gamaliel Shipmate
    I thought that too when I first heard people talking about Bulgakov at a conference I attended.
  • Augustine the AleutAugustine the Aleut Shipmate
    Think of it as a theological student's nightmare exam question: Sergei and Mikhail Bulgakov-- pneumenological twins or not? Discuss.
  • Gamma GamalielGamma Gamaliel Shipmate
    Yikes!
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