Kultura jako objawienie bogoczłowieczeństwa. Elementy historiozofii kultury w pismach rosyjskich myślicieli religijnych XIX-XX wieku

Abstract

Culture has its historical dimension. That’s why the philosophy of history becomes one of the elements of the theology of culture. The Russian religious thinkers agreed to consider that the process of growing of the human person to the fullness of its humanity passes through culture. Such a vision of culture implies its wide understanding: the overcoming disharmony and hostility of the world as well as the reaching the state of its unity with God. Here one has to do with the metaphysical character of the culture and its vertical dimension, which is contrary to its horizontal, empirical dimension. Human culture becomes the ascending way of humanity. Humanity tries to consolidate of “the multiplicity of the universe” These efforts take forms of social utopias of every kind and of civilisation. According to Russian thinkers, especially F. Dostoyevski, consolidation overpases man’s capabilities - the man being considered as deprived of metaphysical depth and contradictory to God’s will. The Russian religious thinking of the second half of the 20lh century is characterised by the search of another way leading to the solution of the problem. Helpful turned to be here the Orthodox ecclesiology. In the circle of the Slavophile thinkers an idea of “conciliarity” (sobornost’) had given birth of the vision of “God-manhood” as the image of the deified humanity of the end of time. This idea arose in the context of understanding culture as theourgia - the collaboration of man and God. The purpose of this collaboration, the transfiguration of the whole creation shows culture in the light of eschatology. This transfiguration appears also to be the end of history, the final event - the eighth day of creation.