The logic of antinomy in religious discourse: Pavel Florensky’s meta-language of theology, science and art

Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky is a towering figure of the 20th century. He is recognised among many significant thinkers of the world’s cultural and philosophical panorama of the previous century. In the face of cultural repression and religious persecution of the Soviet regime, he preferred martyrdom to exile and not to deny his faith. The legacy of Florensky is incredibly multifaceted. His works span across the most varied fields of science and knowledge with clear competence. Florensky was the first scholar who attempted to combine Orthodox theology with modern logic. He argued that religious truth transcends known categories and Christianity tends to be antinomical. This article argues that a paradoxical notion would be more appropriate than antinomy in his thinking.Contribution: The authors introduce Pavel Alexandrovich Florensky to Western theology and share some thoughts of this much-neglected scholar. The focus is mainly on the spiritual vision of this Orthodox priest-scientist about Nature, exploring his legacy in the theology and science debate. Florensky taught us that there is a distinctive trait of the Christian faith’s attitude to Nature and that there always lies a surplus of meaning that remains inaccessible to reason alone and, therefore, Nature should be approached fundamentally with a contemplative approach and regarding a theology and science resonance, a creative mutual interaction could materialise.

Divine Revelation and Digital Religion

This chapter considers the relationship between divine revelation and digital religion by exploring how revelation of divine or religious truth is presented and negotiated on the internet and within digital culture. Revelation is a fundamental component of religious practice and experience and has long been studied in its relation to mediation. Digital culture offers unique resources that allow individuals to receive, engage, and share in divine revelation in digital contexts. The multiplicity of digital contexts and their blended ties to offline practices in worship practices have become known as digital religion (Campbell 2013), which can be likened to a bridge which connects and extends religious practice online into offline religious spaces and contexts. This chapter will consider how revelation is understood and enacted in different spaces of digital religion by providing an overview of Digital Religion Studies and looking at Campbell and DeLashmutt’s (2014) research on multi-site churches to offer insights into how churches structure and negotiate their digital worship practices to assist people in engaging with divine revelation. In particular, we emphasize questions of presence and authority that churches ought to consider in regard to how their use of digital technology may impact views on divine revelation in digital contexts.

The Bible as Cultural Translation

This chapter explores three aims of Mendelssohn’s Bible translation project: (1) strengthening Jewish national sentiment and halakhic practice, (2) invigorating German nationhood; and (3) fostering love and tolerance between German Jews and Christians. Mendelssohn aimed to strengthen Jewish national sentiment by revealing the beauty and rationality of the Bible. He sought to bolster halakhic practice by defending the Masoretic Text of the Bible and rabbinic interpretation. He aimed to invigorate German nationhood by using Bible translation to enrich the German language and contribute to a cosmopolitan vision of Germanness. By translating the Hebrew Bible into German, he sought to illustrate the translatability of religious truth thereby fostering tolerance and love between German Jews and Christians. Mendelssohn translated two main biblical texts-- the Pentateuch and the Psalms. His aims and exegetical methods in the two works are compared. The aims and methods of Mendelssohn’s Bible translations are also compared with two German Protestant translations with which he was familiar: Luther’s 1545 translation and the 1735 Radical Enlightenment Wertheim Bible of Johann Lorenz Schmidt. The claim that Luther’s translation is closer to the Hebrew original than Mendelssohn’s is refuted. Comparing Mendelssohn’s translation with Schmidt’s Wertheim Bible illustrates similarities and differences between Mendelssohn’s moderate religious rationalism and Schmidt’s radical religious rationalism.

Sebastian Castellio’s Liberal Challenge

Sebastian Castellio presented to French-speaking Protestants a vision of Christianity fundamentally different from that of Calvin. His vision was based on a belief in the opacity of Scripture and thus the temporary, provisional nature of any claims to religious truth. This need for doubt in Christianity led Castellio to his famous opposition to religious persecution and to his praise of reason as the ultimate arbiter in questions of religious truth. Castellio’s opposition to religious persecution emerged most strongly in his criticism of the execution of Michael Servetus, but he continued for the rest of his career to fight with Calvin and Theodore Beza over that issue, as well as others, such as biblical interpretation, predestination, and justification. Unlike recent studies that have downplayed Castellio’s role as a forerunner of liberal Protestantism, this book argues that he should, in fact, be viewed as such.

Book Review

PIHLSTROM, Sami. Pragmatic realism, religious truth, and antitheodicy: on viewing the world by acknowledging the other. Helsinki: Helsinki University, 2020. 195 p.

Claiming History in Religious Conflicts

In what way did or does the past lend credence to religion and how did or does the formation of and departure from tradition affect claims to religious truth? How does historical reasoning contribute towards the unravelling of religious conflicts and what role does history play in concrete peace building processes? The contributions to this volume tackle these questions. Collectively, they take a decidedly multidisciplinary and diachronic perspective, throwing light upon an important subject with significant contemporary reverberations.