Can a Christian Be a Nationalist? Vladimir Solov'ev's Critique of Nationalism

Abstract

If my entire argument could fit under this rubric: Russia is a Christian nation andthereforeshould always act in a Christian way, my opponents’ argument can be expressed in the following formula: The Russian nation…is the only truly Christian nation, butnevertheless,it should act in a pagan way in all of its affairs.—Vladimir Solov'ev, Preface toThe National Question in Russia, Part II(1891)In the 1880s and 1890s, Vladimir Solov'ev worked out a Christian approach to nations and nationality, and a moral critique of nationalism, while waging a polemical battle against the Russian conservative nationalists of his day. His ideas emerged primarily from his own social gospel theology, but they were marked by both the Slavophile romanticism of his early career and the western liberalism of his later years. Solov'ev is most often treated as a philosopher, a mystic, or a literary figure, and as a result, his journalistic writings on nationalism and other topics have often been overlooked by scholars, even though they constitute at least a third of his published output.

6. Russian Political Theology in an Age of Revolution

“…36 Solov' ev even coined the term "Christian politics" to champion the consistent application of Christian moral principles to all spheres of human life (public as well as private) in the project of building of the Kingdom of God on earth. 37…”

Эмпиричность Науки И Философии О Культуре В Связи С Рациональностью

“…Исследовав теологические системы и влияния на различные об-щества конкретных религиозных вероучений, В.С. Соловьев выработал философские и культурно-исторические критерии оценивания, характеризующие мировоззрение мыслителя [1].…”