The meaning of Nikolai Berdyaev

Nikolai Berdyaev was a Russian philosopher who was expelled by the Bolshevik regime in 1922. "The Meaning of History", his most well-known work, was published in Germany in 1923. Later, Berdyaev moved to Paris, where he died in 1948.

Berdyaev was a Russian Orthodox Christian, and I actually bought the Swedish translation of his book in the Orthodox bookstore in Stockholm. However, it's safe to say that Berdyaev's philosophy is very far removed from main-line Russian Orthodoxy. Even Bulgakov was more traditionally Orthodox. "The Meaning of History" acknowledges Böhme, Schelling and Baader as influences. Spengler might be another influence, and Berdyaev often sounds "Hegelian" as well. He also talks in terms of gnosis, esoteric knowledge and theosophy, presumably under the influence of some Hermetic current. Or is it just Böhme all over again? Finally, there is an existentialist streak in his philosophy.

"The Meaning of History" is thus a highly eclectic work, and a causal reader like myself often feels that there are numerous contradictions as the various elements don't always fit neatly together. Perhaps this is inevitable, since the book is based on a series of lectures, presumably delivered in Berlin. What's conspicuous by its absence are references to the Church Fathers and the Bible. Clearly, Berdyaev was an innovative philosopher, or theologian if you like.

Doing Berdyaev justice in a short review is impossible, so here only a few central themes can be pinpointed. To Berdyaev, human freedom is central, by which he seems to mean individual freedom from both ecclesiastical and governmental constrains. God created humans free, since he wants them to love him freely. Indeed, God somehow *needed* to create humanity, to satisfy a longing, an incompleteness within his own nature. Since humans are free, evil and failure are real possibilities. Human history is therefore a tragedy, a tragedy about humanity's attempt to find God, and God's attempt to find man, through a process that involves both evil and suffering.

When Berdyaev describes this process, it sounds like thesis-antithesis-synthesis á la Hegel, and even the present period of secularization is seen as necessary to teach humanity some lessons. In contrast to Hegel, Berdyaev doesn't believe that history can be consummated within earthly limits. Ultimately, humanity will always fail in it's endavours. History is cyclical, rather than progressive. The solution is a solution in "time", since time is part of God's nature, but heavenly time is very different from our negative, fragmented time, where the future cannibalizes the present and the past. Although Berdyaev talks about the Apocalypse, it's unclear how he believes the heavenly solution should come about. A literal second coming of Christ? Individual immortality? Or is the whole thing some kind of metaphor? At one point, Berdyaev says that everyone who waits for Christ, really waits for the Anti-Christ, which seems to rule out a millennium. But does it also rule out an amillenarian second coming? No idea.

Socialism is simply a secularized form of Jewish millennialism, and Berdyaev believes that socialism will never reach its stated goal, anymore than the French revolution did. He also criticizes industrialization and "the machine age". The high point of human endeavour seems to have been the "Christian humanist renaissance" of the 14th century (Giotto, Dante etc). However, Berdyaev also criticizes the Middle Ages for their authoritarian attempts to create the kingdom of God on Earth. His emphasis on freedom leaves him ambivalent towards the medieval period, just as his emphasis on Christianity leaves him ambivalent towards the High Renaissance, which he interprets as a large step towards secularization.

"The Meaning of History" also discusses the role of the Greek and Jewish cultures, Hindu monism, Anthroposophy, evolution, the relationship between myth and fact, the meaning of the incarnation, and the difference between "culture" and "civilization". Indeed, it discusses pretty much everything...except Russia and the Orthodox Church, which are mentioned mostly in passing.

Berdyaev is difficult to classify philosophically, but he seems to stand somewhere in-between traditional Christianity, emerging existentialism, and the German romantics.