Journal articles on the topic 'Christianity and existentialism'

Specificity of Shestov’s interpretation of existentialtheological views of Kierkegaard. This article reveals the problem of understanding of Soren Kierkegaard’s specific religious existentialism by Lev Shestov. The author argues that Shestov failed to adequately understand the Kierkegaard’s indirect discursive method. Therefore, Shestov is inadmissible interpretation of Kierkegaard of canonical Christianity.

abstract: The essay examines the historical role of an important yet largely forgotten work, namely, Hans Jonas's 1934 Gnosticism and the Spirit of Late Antiquity, Part 1: Mythological Gnosticism , the major project of his early philosophical career. The essay suggests that this early work should be understood not only as a preliminary stage of a debate that will reach fruition later, but as it addresses some of the fundamental problems in nineteenth-century German thought, namely the problem of dualism. More specifically, the essay suggests seeing Jonas's early work as part of the history of German thought as it depicts a transition from German Romanticism to Existentialism, making innovative use of two of the most salient terms of nineteenth-century German philosophy, the "symbol" and the "myth."

Happiness, life and liberty are central terms in the history of philosophy. At the same time, they belong to the core of Christianity. We find these key terms already in the New Testament and we also find that reflections on these terms have defined their meanings in new ways throughout the centuries. I show the way how the original meanings have gradually changed. In contemporary reflections, we find interesting attempts to reform the traditional meanings, in which the influence of the natural sciences and twentieth century philosophies (such as phenomenology, existentialism, Marxism and post-modernism) have proven to be decisive. Christianity-oriented philosophies in contemporary academia, such as those of Michel Henry or Jean-Luc Marion, offer versions of these thoughts. The main defect of the traditional understandings may be seen simply their isolationist approach, that is to say, their approach to consider these terms as unrelated to one another. My own solution finds the common structure in the reality of revelation and considers life, liberty, and happiness as moments only insufficiently grasped by traditional approaches.

The subject of this research is the psychoanalytic theory of religion and the evolution of its interpretation of Christianity. The dynamics of theoretical development is represented by three main epochs of development. First, it is worth considering the prerequisites from which psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic theory of religion originated. In Western Christian culture, the intellectual thought of the XIX–XX centuries is fueled by the Enlightenment era, the philosophy of the “death of God” and scientific progress. But psychoanalysis is initially in a twofold position: it exposes primitive ideas about religion, and at the same time there is a lot of evidence that the symbolism and revelations of intuition embedded in the Judeo-Christian religion are included in its structure. The next milestone is the reign of existentialism and the development of postmodern thought. The understanding of the spiritual aspects of the human subject is significantly deepened. Psychoanalytic thinking about religion perceives existential intuitions and turns out to be an ally of Christianity. Finally, the third stage, when by the beginning of the XXI century there is a characteristic request of the New Time for the transformation of previous knowledge about religion and religiosity, from the side of psychoanalysis there are a number of important discoveries about the subject. The dialogue of religions and psychoanalysis is becoming extremely relevant and, as this study shows, modern psychoanalysis has worthy answers to the problem of Christianity in the post-Christian (secular) world. The research is based on the theory of religion, in addition to the theory of Freud, by such authors as G. Bataille, J.Lacan, Y.Kristeva, as well as modern psychoanalytic developments in the field of studying the reality of a religious subject, presented on the intellectual scene over the past decades. In conclusion, conclusions are given regarding the general discourse of psychoanalysis and Christianity.

The article’s objective is to illustrate the need for a deeper analysis and interpretation of Todos Osmachka’s epic of the 40s and 50s of the XX century as a text in which national world-view constants accumulate. A sharp ideological and political confrontation with the aggression of Moscow, presented in the text of the Osmachka as a diachronic imprint of the national history of the Soviet-Stalinist regime, reveals the essence of the patriot-artist. The existence of the Ukrainian man, as well as the nation in general, is the only one possible within the framework of God’s world, subject to the observance of the canonical and Christian virtues and, foremost, in an active national patriotic position. The linguistic, ideologically political textual and context reading of Todos Osmachka’s artistic prose clearly manifests the genesis of the Ukrainian mentality of the author himself. For Todos Osmachka, Ukraine was the basis of all of his work, the imperative and the fundamental concentration of all creative and ideologically political meanings. Actually, the core of the national entity existence is the creative essence of Osmatchka’s prose. In the person of Todos Osmachka – the poet, prose writer, translator, philosopher – there can be seen one of those infrequent cases when, unlike western existentialists, the aesthetic-philosophical concept was not only of a frame of mind declaration kind, and manifested but at the level of author’s prosaic and poetic texts, but it also found an uncompromising and consecutive embodiment in his personal life. After the existential moduses in Osmachka’s prose have been allocated and interpreted, there frequently arises the already noticed in the literature study thought an essential issue of distinction between the specificity of the western (European) existentialism, that concentrates on the existential problems of a separate, often denationalized, individual, and the Ukrainian existentialism, which manifests itself at the “outlook-mental” level and displays a specific “existential- boundary” world view of the Ukrainian, considering and explicating the existential problems of a person first of all through the national ontology prism.An attempt at positioning the author as a Christological writer, for whom Christianity as a measurement of spirituality was one of the priority concepts of a national-ideological position.

Интерес к историческим проблемам, появившийся в богословской мысли, относительно недавно, заставляет ставить вопрос о соотношении богословия и истории. В частности, не заключается ли в «историзации» богословия опасность релятивизации вечной христианской истины? Протоиерей Георгий Флоровский считает, что не только возможно, но и следует богословствовать исторически, однако историческое мышление богослова должно быть просвещено светом откровения. В такой перспективе центральным событием является Боговоплощение, и это создает принципиально иное, по сравнению с античным, историческое ви́дение - персоналистическое понимание истории. Здесь Флоровский сближается с Бердяевым, развивавшим аналогичную концепцию. Напротив, философский экзистенциализм, в отличие от христианского, в лице, например, К. Ясперса, рассматривая Рождество Иисуса Христа как рядовое локальному событию, оказывается, скорее, «рецидивом эллинизма». The interest in historical problems, relatively recently emerged in theology, poses the question of relationships between theology and history. In particular, does «historization» of theology conceal the danger of relativization of the eternal Truth of Christianity? Fr. Georges Florovsky believes that one not only should, but must do theology in a historical manner. However, historical thinking of a theologian must be enlightened with the light of Revelation. In this perspective the Incarnation of God becomes the central event, and this creates a vision of history substantially different from the one of antiquity - the personalistic understanding of history. Here Florovsky comes close to Berdyaev, who developed a similar conception. Philosophical existentialism, though, e. g. Karl Jaspers, as opposed to Christian existentialism, considers the Birth of Jesus Christ as an ordinary local event, and thus becomes rather «a relapse into pre-Christian Hellenism».

The philosophical works of F. Rosenzweig have particular meaning for both academic and existential inquiries and interests, as he deeply re-observes the religious life of Judaism and Christianity through the reflection of human existence. Fear of death, observation of Plato’s understanding of Eros, overcoming of atheism of Goethe in the experience of faith - these key motives form a challenging discourse of Rosenzweig’s theological and philosophical thought, which invites reader into a truly charming spiritual journey. The article provides an intriguing introduction to the issue of RUDN Journal of Philosophy , which is dedicated to F. Rosenzweig and provides a scope to various aspects of the philosophy of one of the most prominent German-Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century, including topics such as criticism and reception of German idealism and existentialism, «new thinking» as a philosophical system, philosophical interpretation of biblical texts, Kabbalah and mysticism.

The article deals with the problem of Nikolai Berdyaev’s reception and interpretation of the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. We attempt to reconstruct Berdyaev’s attitude to the creative heritage of the great German philosopher. The phenomenon of Nietzsche was mainly perceived by the Russian philosophy of the early 20th century in a religious context. For Berdyaev himself, the personality of Nietzsche became one of the starting points for comprehending the existential dialectic of human destiny in the world historical process. In Nietzsche’s works, Berdyaev was first of all captivated by the eschatological theme the philosopher addressed, his striving for the end and the limit. Berdyaev called Nietzsche the greatest phenomenon of modern history, dialectically completing the humanistic anthropology of the West. The Russian philosopher viewed Nietzsche as the forerunner of a new religious anthropology, a religious prophet of the West, making a return to the old European humanism no longer possible. Berdyaev was convinced of the need to overcome and internalize the spiritual experience of Nietzsche. The latter opens up the prospect of transition to a new anthropological era, in which human existence must be justified by creativity. Berdyaev viewed creativity as a new religious revelation of Christianity, not manifested in patristic tradition and historical Christianity. In creative acts, man overcomes objectification as a fallen state of the world. The article examines the key ideas of Nietzsche’s philosophy through the prism of religious existentialism and personalism of Berdyaev. Berdyaev’s attitude to Nietzsche was ambivalent: on the one hand, he highly appreciated how radically the German philosopher formulated the problem of a person’s creativity; on the other hand, he viewed the anti-Christian concept of the superman, leading to human godhood, as absolutely unacceptable for Russian religious philosophy and Christianity. Berdyaev assessed the new revelation of Nietzsche about the superman and the will to power as false and demonic, radically contradicting the foundations of Christian anthropology about man and the religious ethics of creativity.

The separatism that represents the challenge existing between reason and revelation is a distinctive feature of the Western intellectual heritage. This separatism arose from the concept of conceptualizing existential convergence, which enables philosophers to use standards of judgment to measure the outcomes of both reason and revelation. This existential convergence leads to the equality of fields. Cognitivism, and subjecting judgments to criteria or standards like this is in fact a declaration of the true sovereignty of reason, which led to man becoming the focus of Western philosophy, the dialectic of (Locke) that most knowledge comes from experience, and the hypothesis of (Kent) that knowledge A joint product of the mind and the external world, and the certainty of (Auguste Comte) which focuses on the scientific stage as opposed to the metaphysical and theological stages, and the experimental radicalism of (William James) are all many ideas stemming from the cognitive foundations presented by Aristotle’s empirical doctrine and keeping pace with human-centered knowledge. The approximation of the levels of existentialism stemming from the syncretic atmosphere of the Roman era, which was an essential element in Christianity, was gradually subjected to the two systems. Hume’s interpretation of God as the spirit of the material world, Hobbesian materialism in metaphysics, the theory of thought (the Absolute, the specific deity), and James’s idea of finiteness. Thinking are all exciting stages of formulating the cognitively specific existential theory of the Western heritage, which established a new model (Ihsanoglu, 2000, 122).

In this paper, we critically examine the scriptural images of heaven as captured in the Abrahamic religions from the existentialist perspective. The three dominant Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam opine that there is life beyond this earthly existence for all human beings and that God (their object of worship) has prepared a special place of eternal happiness for those who obey His commands on earth. This place is frequently referred to as the Kingdom of God, Heaven or Paradise. We argue that the above construct of heaven throws up a lot of problems, especially from the existentialist perspective. Some of these problems include the fact that these constructs of heaven eliminate all the challenges that stimulate human existentiality, throw into oblivion the scourging evils of boredom arising from the eternal passivity of existence in heaven and fail to lay down exactly the political structure and the legal status of the earthlings in heaven since a Kingdom presupposes a feudalist structure where there are kings, lords and serfs. We conclude by showing that the scriptures‘ constructs of heaven appear self-contradictory and fail to strike a chord with the contemporary image of the ideal society when perused from the existentialist perspective and should, therefore, be discarded.

The problem of evil is of universal concern to humankind. Various attempts have been made to account for it in Western philosophy as well as in world religions such as Christianity, Islam and African traditional religion. This article examines the Yoruba existentialist attitude to the problem of evil. Using the Yoruba oral tradition, it posits that for the Yoruba evil is the creation of each individual, so that God cannot be blamed for its existence. I conclude the article with my own personal view that given the individual as a carrier of evil seed, the best existential outlook is to be ready to face, with stoic courage, whatever life brings one’s way. Key Words Ibi, Yoruba, Traditional-Existentialist, Evil

AbstractIn Jewish philosophy, be it medieval or modern, a comprehensive Jewish theological discourse about Christianity is conspicuously absent. There are, however, two prominent exceptions to this rule in modern Jewish philosophy: The Italian Sephardic Orthodox Rabbi Eliah Benamozegh (1823–1900) and the German-Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929). In both men's thought, Christianity plays a pivotal (and largely positive) role, so much so that their Jewish philosophies would not be the same without Christianity, which has no precedent in Jewish thought. Though Rosenzweig was not aware of his Sephardic predecessor, there are some striking parallels in the two thinker's Jewish theologies of Christianity that have far-reaching interreligious implications. These parallels concern as well the basic paradigm for a positive evaluation of Christianity—the paradigm of the fire (particularist Judaism) and its rays (universal Christianity)—as well as the central flaw both of them attribute to Christianity: a built-in disequilibrium that threatens the success of its legitimate mission. These parallels are all the more striking as two thinkers arrived at their conclusions independently and by different paths: the one (Benamozegh) took recourse to Kabbalah, the other (Rosenzweig) to proto-existentialist philosophy. A comparative study of these two protagonists’ Jewish theologies of Christianity seems thus imperative.An “interreligious epilogue” at the end of the article exposes the contemporary need for a reassessment of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity from a Jewish perspective—especially in light of the deep theological revision that characterizes the approach of the Catholic Church towards Jews and Judaism following “Nostra Aetate”—but at the same time delineates the theological limits of the current Christian-Jewish interreligious endeavor. In this light, the pioneering theology of Christianity in the works of Rosenzweig and Benamozegh might yield some relevant insights.

AbstractRaimon Panikkar (b. 1918), a Catalan-born Hindu-Christian, is a prominent theorist of interreligious dialogue. This article provides an analysis of his theology of religions. On the basis of the most recent sources available, it appears that even his 'radical pluralism' cannot eschew the inherent problems characteristic of pluralistic theologies of religions.Unlike other pluralists, Panikkar does not subscribe to the Enlightenment tradition. Instead, his plea for the transformation of religions is based on an idiosyncratic 'Cosmotheandrism', which draws on both primordial religious traditions and existentialist philosophy. The prerequisites of interreligious dialogue, as outlined in his work, thus entail commitment to a particular cosmology and mode of consciousness.

Religious teachings are closely related to the ecological dimension which, after being reinterpreted, eventually led to the term ecotheology. Through previous studies, it was found that one of the religions that contain these values ​​is Islam and Christianity. This study aims to answer the formulation of the problem in the form of how the concept of ecotheology exists in Islam and Christianity and how to compare the concept of ecotheology in the two religions in the study of Soren Kierkegaard's existentialist philosophy. This research is a literature study with a comparative approach. The findings of this study conclude that in both religions there is a strong emphasis on the role of humans as guardians of the environment, the concept of environmental justice, the position of God as giver of responsibility, the existence of collectivity, and spiritual values. in the ecological role of humans. In Islam itself, through the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah organizations, the collectivity is very visible. The main difference between the two lies in the doctrinal footing and organization of the movement.

"This paper analyzes the notions of despair and selfhood in The Waste Land through the prism of Soren Kierkegaard’s Sickness unto Death (1849). It contends that despite the sense of loss and meaninglessness of existence, The Waste Land traces the journey of the self from ignorance and suffering, from being bound to temporality and sensual thirst, through “the dark night of the soul” to a vantage point from where it can see into “the heart of light.” Furthermore, it claims that Eliot is a twentieth century Dante who goes beyond European frontiers and attempts to reconcile Christianity, Buddhism and the Vedanta with an existentialist discourse."

Abstract Throughout much of his career, Geoffrey Hill has been pilloried for his alleged conservativism as well as his positive treatment of Christianity in his poetry. A careful reading of his works, however, reveals a complex thinker who was attentive to the moral fallout of the Holocaust and the Second World War as he was a lover of England and European culture. Moreover, Hill’s writings reflect the apparent influence of a host of personalist, existentialist and what could also be called “humanist” twentieth century Jewish thinkers such as Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas. Throughout his poetry—especially his later work—Hill attempts (whether successfully or not) to fuse together this Jewish humanism with his own Christian and English voice.

Abstract The first round of the discussion is on Paul Tillich’s famous method of correlation. This method implies that the theological answers are connected with the philosophically-existentialist questions humans ask (rather than being unconnected as in Barthianism). Wessel Stoker worries that this method may privilege Christianity and a particular concept of God over other (quasi-)religions and other concepts in unwarranted ways. Dirk-Martin Grube considers those worries unfounded, given the function Tillich ascribes to this method. In the second round, Stoker insists that the method of correlation is ontologically more heavily loaded than Grube suggests and connects this method with the (religious) a priori. In his response, Grube suggests that Tillich’s a priori has different functions than Stoker assumes.

Existential-humanistic psychology has started the tradition of the creative transformation of classical-existentialist ideas in the practice of their involvement and application in psychology and psychotherapy. The source of these qualitative changes in the psychology of the twentieth and early XXI centuries was, in particular, the multifaceted creativity and ideas of S. Kierkegaard. His religious anthropology was rooted not only in Christology, but also in psychology. But psychology does not become a means of indulgence for a little foolish person, but a way to show her what she had not known about herself before. Contrary to the natural sciences of the time, his method did not set human boundaries, because it proceeded from the fact that the horizons of her hopes are, in principle, endless and the purpose of each person is to become equal with him. "WITH. Kierkegorov's main idea is, "writes M. Biergoso," that a person should be understood as a relationship: a constant attitude towards himself, his environment, and God. This is the most successful definition of the inseparable triad of the basic existential problem ..., which defines Kierkegaard's thinking as a whole "

AbstractIn Chapter 2 of the Philosophical Fragments, Søren Kierkegaard’s pseudonym Johannes Climacus poetises about a “king who loved a maiden.” Climacus concludes this venture with a bold claim: what he has just described is “so different from any human poem” that it should not be regarded as a poem at all, but as “the wonder” [Vidunderet] which leads one to exclaim in adoration that “[t]his thought did not arise in my own heart!” In the subsequent chapter of Philosophical Fragments, Climacus proceeds to offer a number of arguments against demonstrations of God’s existence, leading many scholars to conclude that he represents an unequivocally anti-rationalist perspective. Against such interpretations, this paper will seek to highlight how Climacus’ claims track those of the seventeenth century Dutch lens-grinder and rationalist philosopher, Baruch Spinoza. From this, it will be argued that “the wonder” in Climacus’ thought takes the form of an indirect, ethico-existentialist argument for the truth of Christianity’s incarnate God.

Purpose – Even though there is much information available with regard to the development of the therapeutic community (TC) for addictions in Europe, little is known about the particular situation in Denmark.The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – In order to address this dearth, the methodology of the following historical account is largely based on an interview and personal contacts with Hanne Holm Hage-Ali, current director of TC Opbygningsgården and star witness of the development of TC in Denmark. Findings – In 1971, the Freetown “Christiania”, Copenhagen, where TC Opbygningsgården started up, was based on communal, anarchic and hippie ideas and values. In the beginning, TC Opbygningsgården was not well accepted by TC pioneers promoting the classic hierarchical TC, as it was seen as a social experiment with anti-authoritarian roots. Later, in its turn, it became influenced by TCs Veksthuset and Phoenix House Haga, Norway, which were part of the common European TC movement. At this moment, TC Opbygningsgården functions as a well-accepted member of the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities. Research limitations/implications – The interview revealed information that it is line with current trends in and challenges for TC throughout Europe, as outlined in a recent EMCDDA study: TC in Europe can be considered as “children of the late sixties”; TCs are embedded in the anti-psychiatric movement, existentialism and the promotion of alternative community living; European TC leaders had different origins and professional background; and the TC never belonged to one religion or ideology. The common human value system always transcended the different visions. Originality/value – This paper aims at addressing the dearth in knowledge on the development of TCs in Denmark.

»At tale med de døde ...« Om sækularisering og hermeneutik i Kaj Thanings forfatterskab. Bibliografi over Kaj Thanings forfatterskab[»Talking with the dead« - On secularisation and hermeneutics in the writings of Kaj Thaning]By Mikkel Crone NielsenKaj Thaning’s thesis that Gr.’s visits to England 1829-31 led to his »conversion to life« and emergence as advocate of ‘secularisation’ has proved both influential and controversial, as has his methodological approach to the interpretation of Gr.’s writings with its underpinning thesis that Gr.’s entire literary production is determined by the one basic problem: how the relationship between human life and Christianity is to be understood.Raised in a Grundtvigian and clerical family, Thaning overtly personalized the theological issues that involved him. From 1922 onwards he was an activist in the Danish student-Christian association (Danmarks kristelige Studenterforbund), which was to voice through the periodical Tidehvery a radical criticism of the inward-turned and exclusive character of contemporary Danish congregational life, which judgmentally isolated itself from those powerful secular movements going on within national life as a whole. He held that it was not the true nature of the gospel, and therefore not the proper business of the Church, to exercise a judgmental power over the secular world.Rather, the congregation instead of clinging to ‘churchliness’ should provide an open place among the people where the gospel, which is for all the people, was proclaimed. The Church must be willing to risk a weakening of Christianity’s spiritual influence in this desirable process of ‘secularisation’.Believing that such ‘secularisation’ was entirely within the spirit of Gr. himself, contrary to the received ‘myth’ of Gr., Thaning proposes (1941) to »work with Gr. in his workshop« - to follow Gr. through his successive writings, as he hammered out his beliefs. Thus he analyses Gr.’s confrontation with himself (opgør med sig selv) in the wake of the England-visits, the outcome of which was Gr.’s rejection of German idealism in favour of an antiidealistic, common-sense thinking which Thaning calls ‘realism’. In the introduction to his Nordic Mythology (1832), Gr. moves towards prioritizing the human experiencing of existence in this world, here and now, over the cultivation of an empowered Christian religion, and towards seeing Christianity as endorsing rather than opposing this existential engagement with the life given in creation and with the moment.Charged by his critics with applying modem existentialist theological concepts alien to Gr., Thaning defends the concept ‘secularisation’ which he has adopted from Friedrich Gogarten - though he can be shown to have trodden his own independent path, especially in that, where Gogarten derives his justification from the Christian faith itself, Thaning derives his from a recognition of the innate worth of created human life without necessary reference to the Christian religion. The Christian gospel disavows any apologetic intention or any imposition of authority over its adherents, and God’s word must wander the world homeless. Redemption is to be understood in terms of the freeing of created human life from its shackles - the very shackles which gnosticism would lay upon human beings, namely utter disavowal and rejection of the world and the human experiencing of it. The critique of religion informing Thaning’s writings is primarily directed against such gnosticism - which he calls ‘pilgrim-Christianity’ (pilgrimskristendom) - as it thrives in latter-day Lutherdom. Gr. is himself aware of his role as a father of such ‘secularisation’ and Thaning, following him, is prepared to find the starting-point for his own ‘secularisation-theology’ even in ‘heathen’, non-Christian human life, because this is what life demands.Central to Thaning’s interpretative method is the assumption that historical distance between an author and a commentator can be bridged when the issue is one of common human existential experiencing. With Rudolf Bultmann (and behind him, Heidegger), Thaning accepts that the neutrality of a systematic, objective analysis is thus relinquished in favour of an existential interest in the shared situation addressed. The exegete meets the text with his own premises in mind, expecting that the text will then cast new light upon them. Thus a dialogue is validated; but subjective arbitrariness in the exegete is constrained by adherence to »a formal anthropology and an existential analysis«.Thaning’s understanding of that life given to human beings in creation is greatly indebted to the religious-historical writings of Vilhelm Grønbech, who in particular rejects the distinctively European concept of human life as a pilgrimage through an imperfect world to the perfection of the heavenly homeland, along with its resultant dualistic perception of a true, spiritual self engaged in a struggle with the natural self. Herein, Thaning perceives not just a European but a universal and historical conflict between religion and human life, which stance furnishes him, in practice, with a theological hermeneutic.Thus Thaning engaged in a generational confrontation with a certain traditional Grundtvigian conceptualisation of the Christian congregation. Though he made little overt declaration of his hermeneutical method, he worked with discernible controlling concepts and brought to the task an enormous knowledge of Gr.’s writings. Accordingly he made an unparalleled impact upon Gr. studies and his work stands as an indispensable reference-point in Gr. research.

JACQUES ELLUL: A Companion to His Major Works by Jacob E. Van Vleet and Jacob Marques Rollison. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2020. 187 pages. Paperback; $25.00. ISBN: 9781625649140. *Jacques Ellul stands as a towering figure in this discourse on theology, politics, violence, and technology. Ellul was a professor of history and sociology of institutions at the University of Bordeaux in France, but he is most known in the English-speaking world as a technological critic and lay theologian. Over the course of his life, he wrote over fifty books and over one thousand essays on topics ranging from cultural critique to biblical exegesis. In his early life, Ellul was influenced by the French personalist movement, especially by his friend Bernard Charbonneau, and played a role in the French Resistance during World War II. As an academic, thinker, and commentator he considered his three main intellectual influences to be--perhaps a strange mixture--Karl Marx, Søren Kierkegaard, and Karl Barth. Throughout his life, he was a committed member of the Reformed Church in France although, in significant ways, his thought diverged from both historic Calvinism and varieties of modern, liberal Protestantism. *In Jacques Ellul: A Companion to His Major Works, Jacob E. Van Vleet and Jacob Marques Rollison take readers through succinct, well-ordered summaries of eleven of Ellul's most important works, including a one-chapter summary of his theological ethics. Both scholars are well versed in Ellul's corpus. Van Vleet, a professor of philosophy at Diablo Valley College in California, has already published at least two books on Ellul. Rollison, an independent scholar in Strasbourg, France, has published on Ellul and edited some of his work. The authors divide their book into two main sections: the first, reviewing Ellul's theological works; and the second, his sociological works. They borrow from Ellul the image of train tracks, "separate but parallel, moving toward the same goal," to describe the relationship between theology and sociology in his body of work (p. 2). The two disciplines have different frameworks and methodologies, but the authors argue that examining both in a "dialectical" way is necessary to understanding the heart of Ellul's thought. *In the first five chapters, the authors review what they consider to be Ellul's most important theological works. Chapter 1 reviews the book Presence in the Modern World, published originally in French in 1948; in English in 1951. That book introduces the main concerns of Ellul's project: a critical analysis of society and an approach to Christian engagement with society through the category of "presence." Cautious, for theological reasons, about creating explicit ethical systems, Ellul instead gives readers a general commentary on how to "live in the world, but not of the world"--a world marked by an idolatrous concern for efficiency, quantification, and bureaucratic control. Chapter 2 does a good job summarizing the book Violence: Reflections from a Christian Perspective, first published in 1969. Critiquing both uncritical acceptance of violence and traditional just-war theory, Ellul outlines instead his own defense of Christian nonviolence. In chapter 3, the authors review Ellul's masterful work The Meaning of the City. This book is an extended meditation on the theme of the city in the Bible as both a symbol of human sin and hubris, and a symbol of hope. Jerusalem, in particular, becomes a sign of God's willingness to meet humanity on our own terrain. *Chapter 4 deals with the book that Ellul considered to be his greatest theological work, Hope in Time of Abandonment. The book puts forward the thesis that, while God "perhaps ... still speaks to the heart of [an individual]," he no longer speaks or is present at the level of society's institutions or its history (p. 47). In the context of God's marked absence, Christians are called to a peculiar practice of hope marked by perseverance, prayer, and a disciplined, fearless realism. Chapter 5 explores Ellul's commentary on the book of Revelation published in English as Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in 1978. The book follows some sort of personal religious transformation for Ellul, and in it, he boldly proclaims his hope for universal salvation. Against interpretations of Revelation that see the book as a promise that evil people will be judged and defeated, he sees in it instead a promise that God will be victorious over evil powers--the spiritual systems and sociological forces that rule our lives. *Chapter 6 ends the theological section of the book. Unlike the chapters before and after, this chapter does not look at a single book but instead looks at Ellul's theological ethics. The authors admit that, while Ellul wrote both theology and biblical commentaries, none of these were his specialty. "It is most correct," they argue, "to view Ellul as a theological ethicist (rather) than a theologian" (p. 70). His theological ethics are marked by a refusal (most explicitly in his book The Ethics of Freedom) to set up any kind of moral system, universal solutions, or rules for Christians. He writes, "We can only put the problems as clearly as possible and then, having given the believer all the weapons that theology and piety can offer, say to him: ‘Now it is up to you'" (p. 69). Van Vleet and Rollison do not explore the historical or theological circumstances that led Ellul to such a unique approach to Christian ethics. If I were to hazard a guess, it seems that this particular approach was influenced by Kierkegaard's existentialism and Barth's theology of revelation. Such an atypical vision for Christian ethics, to my mind, deserves more contextual explanation than Van Vleet and Rollison afford it. *The next six chapters deal with Ellul's sociological writings, in particular, on the topics of technology, politics, and communications. Chapter 7 deals with the book The Technological Society, arguably his most famous work. Van Vleet and Rollison argue that in this book Ellul does for twentieth-century technology what Karl Marx did for nineteenth-century capitalism--namely, identify the key systemic forces that shape our lives. While much of The Technological Society deals with Ellul's analysis of "technique" as an all-encompassing cultural phenomenon, a more intriguing dimension of his analysis is his application of "the sacred" as a sociological concept to our relationship with technology. Humans cannot live without the sacred and, in our supposedly post-religious world, we have transferred religious feelings and behaviors onto technology itself. Chapter eight deals with one particular facet of the technological society, mass media. Ellul's book Propaganda: The Formation of Man's Attitudes was first published in 1965 and looks at how the powers-that-be use mass media to fashion public opinion and manipulate human behavior. After analyzing the social and psychological effects of mass media and propaganda, Ellul suggests that it is imperative for human beings to "wake up" to this reality as the first and most important step in resisting it. *In chapter 9, the authors review the book The Political Illusion, also published in 1965. In that book, Ellul condemns the expansion of the state, the increased politicization of everyday life, and society's self-defeating political illusions. Once again, he counsels a kind of existentialist resistance, encouraging individuals to "question clichés" and (implicitly) suggesting the impossibility of any kind of collective, systemic reform. Chapter 10 builds on this political critique with a review of the book Autopsy of Revolution. In Autopsy, Ellul questions the continued hope among some for a revolution that will solve our political and economic problems. Tracing the history of the concept of revolution from before and after 1789, he specifically critiques the Marxist conception of revolution as no longer viable, particularly pointing out how modern hopes for revolution tend to "absorb all the religious emotions" that have nowhere else to go in a secular society. In chapter 11, Ellul's critical analysis of both technology and politics is brought together in the book The New Demons. Once again drawing upon the concept of "the sacred," Ellul argues that our collective religious inclinations have not disappeared but have focused themselves instead on science, technology, and politics. While none of these things are bad in themselves, they have become idols in need of spiritual dethroning. The final chapter in this volume deals with the book The Humiliation of the Word. That book begins with a discussion about the different functions of both hearing and seeing in human perception. An ideal society would balance hearing and seeing, the word and image, but, in our society, the image dominates. Cataloguing the negative effects of this imbalance, Ellul urges us to revive an appreciation for the word. The word, he argues, brings qualities of discussion, paradox, and mystery--qualities we desperately need as individuals and as a society. *Overall Jacques Ellul: A Companion to His Major Works fulfills its promise of providing short, readable summaries of Ellul's most important works. Van Vleet and Rollison are to be commended for their discerning choice of eleven books that represent well both the sociological and theological dimensions of his corpus. Furthermore, they competently identify and trace core themes that appear book after book so that readers gain an impression of Ellul's overall thought and how his discrete ideas form parts of a coherent whole. The only book that seemed conspicuously absent from the volume is the book Anarchy and Christianity (although it is referenced on occasion). This seemed a regrettable omission given the importance of Ellul's anarchism for both his faith and his politics. *When introducing a major thinker and their body of thought, the choice of framework is critical. In this volume, Van Vleet and Rollison chose to present Ellul's work as a collection of sociological and theological writings, with each book contextualized (for the most part) in reference to his other writings. For some readers, this might make an excellent choice, but others may find it unsatisfying for their purposes. For example, I came to the book as someone widely read in political theology, strategic nonviolence, and the appropriate technology tradition (Schumacher, Illich, and others). With every chapter I was left with an unsatisfied desire to understand Ellul in reference to these larger traditions. How do Ellul's thoughts on violence connect to other Christian reflections on violence (Niebuhr, Yoder, etc.) or broader conceptions of strategic nonviolence (Gandhi, Sharp, Chenoweth, etc.)? How does his critique of the technological society compare and contrast to Ivan Illich's vision in Tools for Conviviality or E. F. Schumacher's work on appropriate technology? *On the whole, I found this book to be an accessible, useful introduction to the work of Jacques Ellul. That being said, an introductory chapter situating Ellul's thoughts within the larger intellectual traditions would have been helpful. *Reviewed by Isaiah Ritzmann, Community Educator, The Working Centre in Kitchener, ON N2G 1V6.

The article analyzes the forms of rationalism and fideism proposed by Ukrainian Protestant theologians at the beginning of the XXI century. It turns out that these forms of rationalism and fideism were made possible by overcoming the anti-intellectualism that was characteristic of Protestantism in Soviet times. The opposition of tendencies to rationalism and fideism is connected with the positioning of Ukrainian Protestants in the postmodern times. Proponents of de facto rationalism propose to reconstruct the modern religious worldview, re-synthesizing elements of liberal and fundamentalist concepts. The study shows that hopes for the restoration of the modern worldview in the face of the challenges of the early XXI century contain elements of utopianism. Proponents of Fideism suggest taking full account of the real state of affairs in the postmodern era and recognizing the impossibility for Christians to use modern rationalism in all its forms. At the same time, faith acquires special significance as an expression of the personal relations of the holy people with God. Ukrainian Protestant rationalism in the article is analyzed on the example of the work of Sergei Golovin as the most consistent expression of this worldview. It has been proven that his ideas depend on the concepts of Norman Geisler, a prominent Protestant theologian. Golovin, imitating Geisler, believes that the Christian worldview should be the final superstructure over the foundation of classical logical rationalism and the ontology of being. This logic comes from classical Thomism. Golovin's rationalism is the rationalism of formal logic. Golovin's first controversial proposal is to reduce the paradoxes and contradictions contained in the Bible. Such a reduction contradicts the biblical studies of the beginning of the 21st century, and therefore can no longer be convincing for professional theologians. For ordinary believers, this reduction is an obscure rationalization of the image of God they have in reading the Scriptures. The second controversial proposition is to convert people first to logical rationality as the ideological foundation of humanity, and then to their conversion to Christianity. Such a proposal is largely outdated, because in the twentieth century it became clear that rationality in itself can be an instrument of any worldview and does not ensure the preservation or rehabilitation of humanity. By comparing it with theological practices of restoring humanity through the ethics of accepting another, the author argues that the restoration of humanity is possible through recourse to the potential of existentialist spirituality, theology of interpersonal communication, and other practical strategies of Christian theology. The biggest shortcoming of Sergei Golovin's rationalism is the proposal to build his own "scientific creationism", which denies the basic scientific theories of today. The most successful element of Golovin's system was social ethics, which offers the idea of ​​a modern state governed by the rule of law as one that can be deduced from the spirit and letter of the biblical commandments. The fideism of Ukrainian Protestant theology is born from the understanding that the ethical acceptance of others and love for them is possible only on the basis of personal faith. The challenges of the beginning of the 21st century require the acceptance of another, but individuals and communities lack the natural strength to accept such. And only faith and faith-generated love help to be open to others. Also, the post-capitalist economy of mutual gift, proposed by theologians and Christian communities, is based only on personal faith. It has been proven that the fideism of Ukrainian Protestant theology is closer to the ideas of postconservatism than the concepts of postliberalism. It has been found that radical protection of individual rights and humane treatment of others is common to the rationalism and fideism of modern Ukrainian Protestant theology. It is these ideas that are important for understanding what humanity is, which should be a prerequisite for being a true Christian.

“This article/research that I translated from Hasan Hanefi examines, in terms of Spanish philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, the ancient Christianity throughout the history. While Hasan Hanefi, here, researched Christianity beliefs in the presence of Ancient Christians, on the one hand, he criticizes of it, on the other hand, from own viewpoint, aims for explanation of it. Hasan Hanefi, also here, compares the Christianity beliefs established by the institution of papacy with philosophies of his age in which includes schools like communism, socialism and existentialism. According to what Hasan Hanef said, Unamuno follow such a conclusion: the contemporary Christianity has lost that noble ore and effect arising from jesus son of mary, who is prominent with/stamped with the life, the dynamism and regeneration and the spritual ressurrection; whether individually or socially, it has become such a thing that loses it’s effect and power on spirits. We also may said: Our author Hasan Hanefi, in terms of essence and nature of Christianity, make comparisons between the philosophies and trends of his age and philosophies that will come later and have an impact on humanity, especially on Europeans… After all this, definitely, he concludes such a result: Some philosophies is closer to, in it’s essence and nature, the Christianity religion and the message of jesus, than the Christianity religion institutionalized throughout the history! and he maintains his explanations: that Christianity religion has lost, especially throughout scholastic ages, it’s nature and divine character and, no matter where and when one lives, except a blind devotion, has become a mechanic belief ineffective on human sprit!.”

The article contains brief information оп philosophical approaches towards existentialism starting from its roots ир to the modern reality with an incline to conceptual characteristics of social joint existence in the contemporary and allegedly perfected world. Much importance is attached not only to a dialogue between people of different cultures and confessions but also to the culture of a dialogue itself – an issue that every human being should feel it incumbent upon himself to see to it. The article also outlines various views and opinions on the part of some scholars and researchers as to the matter of existence and survival. Apart from that there have been ascribed some current nowadays approaches toward the relations between the two world wide cultures (Islam and Christianity) to seek a more balanced and secure world order.

Søren Kierkegaard rejects the Kantian argument that the universal demand of ethics is the highest claim upon the individual. Whilst his Christian existentialism focuses on existence as ethical existence, within his existential framework the highest level of existence is the religious. Kierkegaard makes a distinction on this level between Religiousness A, or the last stage before faith; and Religiousness B, true Christianity. This essay explores the movement from religiousness A to B, and questions the location of the actual transition point, the boundary zone of humour. Since, for Kierkegaard, the divine is both immanent and transcendent, the fluidity of this boundary zone opens up the possibility that religious transition entails a double transcendence. This essay suggests that the highest point of Religiousness A is a movement to a certain form of the divine, whilst the absolute movement to Religiousness B is the reclamation of true faith.

Assen Ignatov: The Theomachist and the God-SeekerThis article aims to trace the evolution of Assen Ignatov’s attitude towards religion and to outline the main features of this change – from an intellectual whose worldview was initially Marxist to being a dissident philosopher known also for his respect for Christianity. The first part of the study is devoted to the early professional stages of Assen Ignatov’s life (as a lecturer at Sofia University), when he attacked the “Bourgeois” philosophy for its affinity to religion. Gradually, these initial attitudes were seriously shaken, partly because he was one of the very few erudite thinkers in Bulgaria during the “socialist” period who witnessed the dogmatism and narrow interests of the Party philosophers. In addition, his escape to Western Europe was a radical break with the past, specifically with regard to religion. Assen Ignatov interpreted communism as a pseudo-religion from the viewpoint of Christian personalism and existentialism. The author concludes that the radical change of Ignatov’s attitude towards religion shows the measure of his general change of worldview. Asen Ignatow – w walce przeciw Bogu i w poszukiwaniu BogaCelem artykułu jest prześledzenie ewolucji stosunku do religii Asena Ignatowa: od intelektualisty, którego światopogląd był początkowo marksistowski, do filozofa-dysydenta, znanego również z jego szacunku dla chrześcijaństwa. W pierwszej części zaprezentowane są początkowe etapy w jego życiu zawodowym, kiedy jako wykładowca na Uniwersytecie w Sofii atakował filozofię burżuazyjną z powodu jej pokrewieństwa z religią. Stopniowo postawy te uległy poważnemu zachwianiu (również dlatego, że był on jednym z niewielu bardzo dobrze wykształconych myślicieli w Bułgarii okresu „socjalistycznego”, który obserwował dogmatyzm i wąskie interesy partyjnych filozofów), a jego ucieczka do Europy Zachodniej oznaczała zerwanie z przeszłością, szczególnie w odniesieniu do religii. Asen Ignatow interpretował komunizm jako pseudoreligię z punktu widzenia chrześcijańskiego personalizmu i egzystencjalizmu. Autorka konkluduje, że radykalny zwrot w postawie Ignatowa wobec religii jest wyrazem głębszych zmian o charakterze światopoglądowym.

A filosofia na Pedagogia do Oprimido Resumo: O artigo pretende realizar uma aproximação introdutória da filosofia presente na obra Pedagogia do Oprimido (1968) de Paulo Freire. Seguindo o fluxo original da obra em quatro seções, analisa-se como conceitos criados ou utilizados por Freire correspondem a ou dialogam com conceitos de algumas correntes filosóficas, sobretudo, a fenomenologia, o existencialismo, a dialética hegeliana e o pensamento marxiano e marxista em geral. Entre outros temas, também são abordados o cristianismo crítico de Freire, a legitimidade da violência do oprimido, a aderência do oprimido ao opressor (passando rapidamente por alguns conceitos psicanalíticos), a catarse da metodologia. Destaca-se ainda a forte influência sobre Freire exercida pelo filósofo brasileiro Álvaro Vieira Pinto. Palavras-chave: pedagogia do oprimido; dialética; fenomenologia; marxismo. Philosophy in Pedagogy of the Opressed Abstract: The article intends to carry out an introductory approach to the philosophy present in the work Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1968) by Paulo Freire. Following its original flow in four sections, it is analyzed how concepts created or used by Freire correspond to or dialogue with concepts from several philosophical currents such as phenomenology, existentialism, Hegelian dialectics and Marxian and Marxist thought in general. Freire's critical Christianity, the legitimacy of the violence of the oppressed, the adherence of the oppressed to the oppressor (quickly passing through some psychoanalytic concepts) and the catharsis of methodology are also addressed topics. The strong influence of the Brazilian philosopher Álvaro Vieira Pinto on Freire is highlighted as well. Key-words: pedagogy of the oppressed; dialectics; phenomenology; marxism. La philosophie en Pédagogie des Opprimés Résumé: L'article vise à réalizer une approche introductive à la philosophie présente dans l'ouvrage Pédagogie des opprimés (1968) de Paulo Freire. Suivant sa flux original en quatre sections, il est analysé comment les concepts créés ou utilisés par Freire correspondent ou dialoguent avec des concepts de certains courants philosophiques, surtout la phénoménologie, l'existentialisme, la dialectique hégélienne et la pensée marxienne et marxiste en général. Le christianisme critique de Freire, la légitimité de la violence de l'opprimé, l'adhésion de l'opprimé à l'oppresseur (en passant rapidement par quelques concepts psychanalytiques) et la catharsis de la méthodologie sont themes également abordés. Il est remarqué aussi la forte influence du philosophe brésilien Álvaro Vieira Pinto sur Freire. Mots-clés: pédagogie des opprimés ; dialectique ; phénoménologie ; marxisme. Data de registro: 25/09/2021 Data de aceite: 01/12/2021

This article addresses Camus’s response to Christianity and the problem of suffering in the context of the early twentieth century. Owing to his association with the existentialist movement, it is often assumed that Camus, like many other French intellectuals of the period, rejected Christianity altogether. For this reason, his sympathy with Christian thought is overlooked, and it seems altogether bizarre that some theologians even claimed Camus to be a convert. Among these wildly conflicting claims, Camus’s philosophical response to Christianity has become somewhat muddied; in this article I attempt to rectify this. I argue that Camus’s entire philosophy is underpinned by his response to Christianity, and that he wanted to re-establish the position of morality in the face of the problem of suffering. I thus demonstrate how his writings manifest this struggle to achieve this goal, in what I refer to as Camus’s ‘poetics of secular faith’. Camus once claimed, ‘I do not believe in God and I am not an atheist’. This article aims to elucidate just what is meant by a statement like this, as well as to catalogue and analyse Camus’s innovative attempts at reconciling spirituality and suffering through philosophical literature.

Аннотация. Статья посвящена исследованию философского наследия Михаила Михайловича Тареева – русского богослова и религиозного философа. Оригинальность его мыслей вызывала недоумение у его современников, его критиковали, а мыслители конца XX – начала XXI века усматривают в философских концепциях М. М. Тареева тенденции религиозного экзистенциализма и диалектической теологии. Современные философы и молодые ученые перешли от критики к изучению его идей. Обращение к традиционным ценностям в современном обществе, беспокойство об утрате культурного кода дает повод раскрыть недостаточно исследованные страницы русской мысли. Цель статьи состоит в актуализации идей М. М. Тареева, выяснении преемственности его концепций с предшествующей и последующей философией. Основой методологии выбран принцип историзма, проведен семиотический и герменевтический анализ критических текстов о М. М. Тарееве. В статье перечислены основные работы и философские идеи мыслителя, критика со стороны его современников и немногочисленные труды его сторонников. Современные ученые с интересом возвращаются к дореволюционным страницам русской религиозной мысли, в 90-е годы пишется ряд диссертаций, так или иначе затрагивающих творчество философа. В качестве вывода необходимо отметить наличие некоторых исследований антропологических взглядов М. М. Тареева, его «трансцендентной аксиологии», религиозно-философской системы ценностей, есть исследования идей М. М. Тареева по реформе академических школ, в частности, в области методологии. Интересным представляется его субъективный метод в изучении нравственной философии христианства, но еще ждет своих исследователей гносеология и социальная философия М. М. Тареева. Вместе с тем анализ критических текстов о М. М. Тарееве в истории показал расширение горизонтов интерпретации его идей, начиная с позиции богословской, заканчивая выходом из религиозной парадигмы. Материалы статьи применимы в процессе преподавания курса русской философии или религиозной философии. Abstract. The article is devoted to the study of the philosophical heritage of Mikhail Tareev – a Russian theologian and religious philosopher. The originality of his thoughts caused confusion among his contemporaries, he was criticized, and thinkers of the late XX – early XXI century see in the philosophical concepts of M. M. Tareev trends of religious existentialism and dialectical theology. Modern philosophers and young scientists have moved from criticism to the study of his ideas. The appeal to traditional values in modern society, the concern about the loss of the cultural code gives an occasion to reveal insufficiently researched pages of Russian thought. The purpose of the article is to update the ideas of M. M. Tareev, to clarify the continuity of his concepts with the previous and subsequent philosophy. The methodology is based on the principle of historicism, semiotic and hermeneutic analysis of critical texts about M. M. Tareev. The article lists the main works and philosophical ideas of the thinker, criticism from his contemporaries and a few works of his supporters. Modern scientists return with interest to the pre-revolutionary pages of Russian religious thought. In the 90s, a number of dissertations written that in one way or another affected the work of the philosopher. As a conclusion, it should be noted that there are some studies of M. M. Tareev's anthropological views, his "transcendent axiology", religious and philosophical system of values, there are studies of M. M. Tareev's ideas on the reform of academic schools, in particular, in the field of methodology. His subjective method of studying the moral philosophy of Christianity is interesting, but M. M. Tareev's epistemology and social philosophy is still waiting for its researchers. At the same time, the analysis of critical texts about M. M. Tareev in history has shown the expansion of horizons of interpretation of his ideas, starting from the theological position, ending with the exit from the religious paradigm. The materials of the article are applicable in the course of teaching a course of Russian philosophy or religious philosophy.

Soren Kierkegaard, the mystic existentialist, questions the role of despairing human life in his celebrated text, <em><span style="font-family: mceinline;">The <span style="font-family: mceinline;">Sickness Unto Death</span></span></em>. In a disquitision both persuasive and troubling, he insists that despair, far from being a state of consciousness which should be avoided, is in fact a spiritual mood that brings the individual dialectically closer to the divine. But how can we accept the paradoxes of faith that cause such terrible despair? Our inability to come to terms with the elements of Christianity that Kierkegaard himself calls offensive, such as original sin and God's total authority over man, lead to a pervasive loss of self-consciousness that Kierkegaard sees as the epidemic of modern civilization. Like a physician, Kierkegaard diagnoses our sickness, and his prescription for recovery is paradoxical and provoking.

The concept of "despair" of S. Kierkegaard in the rationalist and postmodern reflection is considered. It is noted that consideration of the reflection on Kierkegaard’s writing heritage demonstrates the contemporality of the ideas of Kierkegaard and representatives of the philosophical trends of the twentieth century. This is due to the relevance of the comparative "re-reading". In conditions of the crisis of Christianity S. Kierkegaard, combining in one person the philosopher, theologian and writer, deliberately violated the classical demand for purity of the genre in the name of the creation of a-system anthropology of change, which involves the movement-formation of an existential subject to faith. Care for the reader, to which S. Kierkegaard ultimately refers, involves the use of an indirect form of communication as the only means of attracting the reader to the aporias of existence. To the same aims serve such concepts — existentials in its negative (pathetic, lyrical) dialectics as fear, despair, repetition, which differ from any formal-logical structures due to rhetorics of the image and character specificity. Representatives of rationalist philosophy, Theunissen and Habermas, categorizing despair in the discourse of negative theology, considered it as a condition for the possibility of intersubjectivity, by asking and solving the problem of the Other, which has become ultramodern one again. The category of despair, which is thoroughly considered by Kierkegaard, becomes a subject of the religious-philosophical description. Increased attention to the very form of the work and the context of its appearance (in the particular case - "Concluding Unscientific Postscript") distinguishes Kierkegaard from contemporaries and synchronously leads him into a deconstructionist camp, that allows some thinkers to mark him as a Christian postmodernist. For Derrida, the aforementioned work is a model of a "high-quality" simulacrum that produces an over-textual excess of meanings. But for Kierkegaard as a Christian, this is another form of despair.

In order to be spoken, a tragic monologue which is the quintessence of any great tragedy, always required quite a special moment amidst action, approximately described as ‘stop-time’, ‘falling-out-of-time’ or ‘time-within-time’. This abruption of natural time-durance, formation of some strange lacuna in its usually monolith and constant flow, along with the strengthening of the emotional effect of such dramatic meditation by portraying it against the most depressing, uncomfortable or disastrous convulsions in the world around which seems to literally fall apart and leave the man to his own — was rarely regarded from the outside of dramatic art as a serious philosophical conception, a keystone event to present human self-awareness. Indeed, Plato already compared thinking (as a process) to the inner speech of soul communicating with itself (and thus knowing, noticing itself), and again, the same Plato suggested that to reach the real essence of things (which is the inborn aim of thinking), a human being must find itself on the breaking edge of existence where the material world is cast aside and the other world of godly truths starts to shine through — as it happens to the soldier Er in one of myths quoted in ‘Republic’, who seemingly fell in battle but as he lay neither dead nor alive his soul went to other planes to witness the divine order and then bring the knowledge of it back to people as Er resurrected. But the connection between the matrix of central elements in such enlightening tales (‘catastrophe of usual being’ — ‘transgression to some medium plane’ — ‘learning some all-changing truth there’ — ‘coming back to the world and oneself to speak the learnt to the people’), was never considered akin to that of the core elements of tragic climax. After Plato, Aristotle developed the idea that to think seriously we need a special time free of all else that storms our everyday lives — yet designing the laws of tragedy in ‘Poetics’, he didn’t ever let this intellectual transcendence counter the dramatic strives of actions and passions of its heroes (as well as the forth movement) although it was only one step away to admit their likelihood. The latter Christianity defiled tragedy as the way only to despair, and more to that, a theatrical illusion leading conscience astray. Only modern European thinkers from Pascal to Nietzsche and existentialists (with the significant help from outstanding authors like Shakespeare) brought back the notion of tragic to philosophical bloom again and re-presented the tragedy as one of the highest and most complicated arts devoted to human self-cognizance.