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A Bulgakov anthology
Lev Zander has written of Sergius Bulgakov: 'His thought is like a ray of light proceeding from a single point but extending to every domain of life. It shows a true path to the reinstatement in mankind of "the mind of Christ".'
Bulgakov was born in 1871, the son of a Russian priest. Disillusioned after the abortive 1905 revolution, he slowly retraced his steps to the Church, first as layman, subsequently as priest. After expulsion from Russia in 1923, he became Dean of the Orthodox Theological Academy in Paris. He was a warm but critical supporter of the Ecumenical Movement, through which his personality and intellectual power became widely known in Western Europe and America. He died in 1944. This anthology has been compiled by James Pain and Nicolas Zernov from Bulgakov's many books and articles. It is the first time such a comprehensive selection of his writings has been made avaliable in English.
Bulgakov was born in 1871, the son of a Russian priest. Disillusioned after the abortive 1905 revolution, he slowly retraced his steps to the Church, first as layman, subsequently as priest. After expulsion from Russia in 1923, he became Dean of the Orthodox Theological Academy in Paris. He was a warm but critical supporter of the Ecumenical Movement, through which his personality and intellectual power became widely known in Western Europe and America. He died in 1944. This anthology has been compiled by James Pain and Nicolas Zernov from Bulgakov's many books and articles. It is the first time such a comprehensive selection of his writings has been made avaliable in English.
191 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2012
About the author
Sergius Bulgakov
54 books69 followersSergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (/bʊlˈɡɑːkəf/;[1] Russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Булга́ков; 28 July [O.S. 16 July] 1871 – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox Christian theologian, philosopher, and economist.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 9, 2026
Each selection is brief and accessible; the criteria for their selection are largely absent, yet all serve to illustrate Bulgakov as selfless, solicitous, and methodical. The anthology is made up of a few loose sections: first are moving autobiographical pieces, including his return to Orthodoxy; then there is a set of essays ranging from his Marxist period to considerations of Mariology, ecclesiology, and Sophiology (the latter two come off as a little muddled at this shortened length and seem due for deeper exploration). The work wraps up with five abridged sermons. But choicest of all is his account, titled “Dying Before Death,” relating his throat cancer surgery—moribund in the hospital, swallowed by despair, finding in our very pain a nearness to Christ and His crucifixion:
Reflections, both complimentary and critical, on figures like Dostoevsky, Ruskin, Solovyov, Hans Holbein, and Picasso are only a bonus.
"I knew Christ in my dying, I felt His nearness to me, an almost bodily nearness... This nearness to God, this standing face to face with Him made me tremble... it was a holy and terrible nearness. That was my dying with Christ and in Christ. I was dying in Christ, and Christ was dying with me and in me... He could only help me in my suffering and dying by suffering and dying with me."
Reflections, both complimentary and critical, on figures like Dostoevsky, Ruskin, Solovyov, Hans Holbein, and Picasso are only a bonus.
August 6, 2022
For the past several years I've been intrigued by Orthodox theology, especially the works of people like the Cappadocians, Gregory Palamas, and Vladimir Lossky. Eastern theologians offer a trajectory different from the western one dominated by Augustine. The way they speak of the Trinity and salvation, for example, offers a different perspective that I've found helpful at points. Now, I'm not interested in converting, but rather looking to the East for theological enrichment. I've found much of value in this engagement. One figure who has interested me but has proven less accessible than Lossky and Alexander Schmemann is Sergius Bulgakov.
Like Lossky and Schmemann, Bulgakov was a Russian expatriate who ended up in Paris, where he served as the head of the Russian Orthodox seminary. At a time when the Russian Orthodox Church and those related to it are caught up in active or perhaps passive support of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, questions have been raised about Russian theologians and their vision of the church and theology. Of course, Bulgakov died in the 1940s, so he's not part of that conversation.
Bulgakov is known for embracing the concept of "Sophiology." Sophia is the Greek term for wisdom, and is an important theological piece, for speaking of the wisdom of God. It's also proven to be a key component in feminist theology, for Sophia is seen as a feminine term, giving voice to the concerns of those who, rightfully so, believe that theology is couched too often in masculine imagery. One would not call Bulgakov a feminist and that is not the focus of his use of Sophia. In reading some of Bulgakov's works I've struggled to make sense of his vision. Fortunately, I encountered this anthology republished by Wipf and Stock.
I must confess I requested a review copy because I read the date wrong. Thinking this was a new edition of Bulgakov's work, I asked for a copy. When I opened the book I noticed two things. First, it was originally published by S.P.C.K. in 1976, and secondly, the date of the Wipf and Stock reprint was dated 2012 (you can see the reason for my mistake?). That being said, I'm grateful that I found the anthology because it provides a selection of his work, ranging from excerpts from major works to sermons as published over the years.
Bulgakov is an interesting figure due to his biography, which is provided in brief in James Pain's introduction to Bulgakov and Lev Zander's memoir. Bulgakov was the son of a Russian Orthodox priest, with a heritage of priests going back six generations. Though sent to seminary, he lost his faith as a youth, ultimately becoming a Marxist. He became a political economist and taught at several institutions in Russia and Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire). At the end of the 19th century, now in his mid-20s, he began to have spiritual stirrings that eventually led to his rejection of Marxism and a reembrace of the church. In time he would be ordained to the priesthood and begin writing on theological subjects as early as the late 19th century. After the Revolution, he would first be sent from Moscow to teach in Crimea, and thin in the mid-1920s he was forced to flee Russia for the west, landing in Paris where he joined the faculty and became dean of the St. Sergius Seminary, still one of the preeminent Orthodox schools.
As this is an anthology, we're provided with a selection of readings from his works, beginning with a set of autobiographical notes, that leads from conversion to the approach of death from throat cancer. Part 2 provides three readings, the first from one of his economic works written early in his career. There is a reflection on Ivan Karamozov as a philosophical type, and a brief study of the 19th-century Russian philosopher Vladimir Solvyov, who provided the foundation for what became Bulgakov's Sophiology. All were published around 1903. The piece I found most fascinating from the autobiographical section was the reflection on the Episcopate, as he challenged the institutionalism of the church. He doesn't reject episcopacy, but he emphasizes his belief that tradition needs to remain vital. It is the foundation, but it's not the final word. Thus, there is a place for apocalypse, a movement into the future. From there we move to a piece from 1909 on heroism and otherworldliness. In 1911 he published a piece on Marx as a religious type and a piece titled "Two Cities." This is a reflection on the city of God and cities of the earth, which is similar in nature to Augustine's work, except he brings Marx into the picture.
From the period around 1918, the time of the aftermath of the Revolution he speaks of the corpse of beauty and a professorial religion. Part 6 offers excerpts from his more mature theological works, most of which have now been translated into English. These excerpts give us insight into his Christology, soteriology, and pneumatology. Some are longer than others, but together they provide us with a sense of Bulgakov's emerging theology. One of those excerpts titled here "The Wisdom of God," and found now in an English translation titled Sophia: The Wisdom of God: An Outline of Sophiology, provides a nice basic definition of Sophiology, Bulgakov's greatest contribution to modern Orthodoxy.
Finally, sections 7 and 8 offer us six of Bulgakov's sermons, the first found in section 7 speaks of "Social Teaching in Modern Russian Orthodox Theology" and was preached in the United States in English. In this sermon he calls for the development of a Christian humanism as an alternative to a secular version, thus he speaks of the Christian life in terms of a common
and social dimension as opposed to an individualistic one, though this is to be done without "violating the principle of Christian freedom. It must be unity in freedom and love." (p. 166).
I read these pieces from Bulgakov, most of which appeared originally in Russian and only later translated into English after his death in 1944, with an eye to the present. I see in Bulgakov a forward thinker who embraces tradition but in the service of an emerging future. This is important because we're seeing the United States' significant conversion to Orthodoxy from conservative Protestantism. Many are moving to orthodoxy because it's believed to be static. The truth is established and we can hang our faith on that stable message. But that doesn't seem to reflect what I read from Bulgakov, and really many of his compatriots, even if they might differ over his Sophiology. I've come to believe that the eastern churches have much to offer the west, not as a static repository but as resources for moving forward into the future when Christ will be all in all.
Like Lossky and Schmemann, Bulgakov was a Russian expatriate who ended up in Paris, where he served as the head of the Russian Orthodox seminary. At a time when the Russian Orthodox Church and those related to it are caught up in active or perhaps passive support of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, questions have been raised about Russian theologians and their vision of the church and theology. Of course, Bulgakov died in the 1940s, so he's not part of that conversation.
Bulgakov is known for embracing the concept of "Sophiology." Sophia is the Greek term for wisdom, and is an important theological piece, for speaking of the wisdom of God. It's also proven to be a key component in feminist theology, for Sophia is seen as a feminine term, giving voice to the concerns of those who, rightfully so, believe that theology is couched too often in masculine imagery. One would not call Bulgakov a feminist and that is not the focus of his use of Sophia. In reading some of Bulgakov's works I've struggled to make sense of his vision. Fortunately, I encountered this anthology republished by Wipf and Stock.
I must confess I requested a review copy because I read the date wrong. Thinking this was a new edition of Bulgakov's work, I asked for a copy. When I opened the book I noticed two things. First, it was originally published by S.P.C.K. in 1976, and secondly, the date of the Wipf and Stock reprint was dated 2012 (you can see the reason for my mistake?). That being said, I'm grateful that I found the anthology because it provides a selection of his work, ranging from excerpts from major works to sermons as published over the years.
Bulgakov is an interesting figure due to his biography, which is provided in brief in James Pain's introduction to Bulgakov and Lev Zander's memoir. Bulgakov was the son of a Russian Orthodox priest, with a heritage of priests going back six generations. Though sent to seminary, he lost his faith as a youth, ultimately becoming a Marxist. He became a political economist and taught at several institutions in Russia and Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire). At the end of the 19th century, now in his mid-20s, he began to have spiritual stirrings that eventually led to his rejection of Marxism and a reembrace of the church. In time he would be ordained to the priesthood and begin writing on theological subjects as early as the late 19th century. After the Revolution, he would first be sent from Moscow to teach in Crimea, and thin in the mid-1920s he was forced to flee Russia for the west, landing in Paris where he joined the faculty and became dean of the St. Sergius Seminary, still one of the preeminent Orthodox schools.
As this is an anthology, we're provided with a selection of readings from his works, beginning with a set of autobiographical notes, that leads from conversion to the approach of death from throat cancer. Part 2 provides three readings, the first from one of his economic works written early in his career. There is a reflection on Ivan Karamozov as a philosophical type, and a brief study of the 19th-century Russian philosopher Vladimir Solvyov, who provided the foundation for what became Bulgakov's Sophiology. All were published around 1903. The piece I found most fascinating from the autobiographical section was the reflection on the Episcopate, as he challenged the institutionalism of the church. He doesn't reject episcopacy, but he emphasizes his belief that tradition needs to remain vital. It is the foundation, but it's not the final word. Thus, there is a place for apocalypse, a movement into the future. From there we move to a piece from 1909 on heroism and otherworldliness. In 1911 he published a piece on Marx as a religious type and a piece titled "Two Cities." This is a reflection on the city of God and cities of the earth, which is similar in nature to Augustine's work, except he brings Marx into the picture.
From the period around 1918, the time of the aftermath of the Revolution he speaks of the corpse of beauty and a professorial religion. Part 6 offers excerpts from his more mature theological works, most of which have now been translated into English. These excerpts give us insight into his Christology, soteriology, and pneumatology. Some are longer than others, but together they provide us with a sense of Bulgakov's emerging theology. One of those excerpts titled here "The Wisdom of God," and found now in an English translation titled Sophia: The Wisdom of God: An Outline of Sophiology, provides a nice basic definition of Sophiology, Bulgakov's greatest contribution to modern Orthodoxy.
Finally, sections 7 and 8 offer us six of Bulgakov's sermons, the first found in section 7 speaks of "Social Teaching in Modern Russian Orthodox Theology" and was preached in the United States in English. In this sermon he calls for the development of a Christian humanism as an alternative to a secular version, thus he speaks of the Christian life in terms of a common
and social dimension as opposed to an individualistic one, though this is to be done without "violating the principle of Christian freedom. It must be unity in freedom and love." (p. 166).
I read these pieces from Bulgakov, most of which appeared originally in Russian and only later translated into English after his death in 1944, with an eye to the present. I see in Bulgakov a forward thinker who embraces tradition but in the service of an emerging future. This is important because we're seeing the United States' significant conversion to Orthodoxy from conservative Protestantism. Many are moving to orthodoxy because it's believed to be static. The truth is established and we can hang our faith on that stable message. But that doesn't seem to reflect what I read from Bulgakov, and really many of his compatriots, even if they might differ over his Sophiology. I've come to believe that the eastern churches have much to offer the west, not as a static repository but as resources for moving forward into the future when Christ will be all in all.
April 10, 2024
The distinguishing trait of Orthodox culture - perhaps of Russian culture -seems to be freedom from doubt. That is certainly what is most striking about these writings - there are no apologies, or attempts to explain or justify the panoply of church tradition, he simply embraces the lot. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing - only, I'm not sure that we in the West are capable of doing it. Certainly all the Anglicans who lean towards Orthodoxy, as re-connecting them with Christian heritage without obliging them to go through the Pope, are really the furthest away from it; because Anglicans are more doubtful and apologetic than anybody.
In a sense, then, this is very, very simple, free of all the complexities of Western theology, largely just a straightforward re-statement of the Christian heritage; an intellectual rejection of intellectualism. Doubt no longer, Bulgakov says, but believe. I'd have more trust in him if he wasn't so certain that Orthodoxy alone is the one, true church, other churches having value only in so far as they approach to it. 'The world will not become Catholic', he says. Well - is it going to become Orthodox? Bulgakov admits that, if the Catholic church has been guilty of aspiring to worldly power, Orthodoxy has been guilty of Caesaro-Papism; and indeed it continues to be guilty of this today. Bulgakov doesn't seem to think this is so serious, where in fact it can be far more pernicious for a church to give succour to worldly powers - like that of Putin - than to seek power on its own account.
But any Christian, comparing other denominations with his own, tends to take their faults as typical and endemic, his own church's (if he admits any faults in it) as unfortunate, ephemeral lapses. In my view the Catholic and Orthodox churches, in spite of (almost absurdly abstract) differences of doctrine, of government and of emphasis, remain essentially one and the same. The church is catholic because it is orthodox - orthodox because it is catholic.
In a sense, then, this is very, very simple, free of all the complexities of Western theology, largely just a straightforward re-statement of the Christian heritage; an intellectual rejection of intellectualism. Doubt no longer, Bulgakov says, but believe. I'd have more trust in him if he wasn't so certain that Orthodoxy alone is the one, true church, other churches having value only in so far as they approach to it. 'The world will not become Catholic', he says. Well - is it going to become Orthodox? Bulgakov admits that, if the Catholic church has been guilty of aspiring to worldly power, Orthodoxy has been guilty of Caesaro-Papism; and indeed it continues to be guilty of this today. Bulgakov doesn't seem to think this is so serious, where in fact it can be far more pernicious for a church to give succour to worldly powers - like that of Putin - than to seek power on its own account.
But any Christian, comparing other denominations with his own, tends to take their faults as typical and endemic, his own church's (if he admits any faults in it) as unfortunate, ephemeral lapses. In my view the Catholic and Orthodox churches, in spite of (almost absurdly abstract) differences of doctrine, of government and of emphasis, remain essentially one and the same. The church is catholic because it is orthodox - orthodox because it is catholic.
December 14, 2021
I have been digging and poking at the readings in this book for a long time. Since the Bulgakov conference in Fribourg in early September, which I watched on Zoom, I've read a number of the essays in the book more than once as well as other conference materials. The keynote from Rowan Williams (also a conference patron) was helpful in understanding both Bulgakov and his place in theological writing.
Certainly, I will not presume to try to make his writing or position clearer; however, I understand better major thoughts in Orthodox and western theology. His writing on the roll of humans in God's plan, with a broad relationship in an expanded 'trinity' in which humans have a godly, although a limited, roll, are elucidating. He expands on the thought of God becoming Man, so Man could become God.
Bulgakov's autobiography, of which there is a short section in this volume, is the story of a Marxist economist who moves through faith to trying to reconcile both the economic and the spiritual. Wealth as high walls which can either contain a temple or house of ill-repute, as part of the section on economics, are well done.
I encourage anyone interested in the complex theology of the relationship between humans and the Trinity, even as part of the trinity, so to speak as well as the relationship of man to the spiritual demands of faith and the world, to read Bulgakov. He is hard-nosed, sober, and brilliant.
Certainly, I will not presume to try to make his writing or position clearer; however, I understand better major thoughts in Orthodox and western theology. His writing on the roll of humans in God's plan, with a broad relationship in an expanded 'trinity' in which humans have a godly, although a limited, roll, are elucidating. He expands on the thought of God becoming Man, so Man could become God.
Bulgakov's autobiography, of which there is a short section in this volume, is the story of a Marxist economist who moves through faith to trying to reconcile both the economic and the spiritual. Wealth as high walls which can either contain a temple or house of ill-repute, as part of the section on economics, are well done.
I encourage anyone interested in the complex theology of the relationship between humans and the Trinity, even as part of the trinity, so to speak as well as the relationship of man to the spiritual demands of faith and the world, to read Bulgakov. He is hard-nosed, sober, and brilliant.
May 27, 2014
I read this merely in curiosity. Sergei Bulgakov was an economist turned philosopher/Russian Orthodox priest who was expelled from Russia in the 20' on one of the so-called philosophers' ships. The book is a collection of short articles, lectures, and sermons on a wide variety of topics--Dostoevsky, Vladimir Solovyov (who has been mentioned in the news recently as a favorite of Vladimir Putin for his fatalistic visions of a pan-Slavic Third Rome), the origins of the great schism (the filioque), his hopes for the reunification of the eastern and western churches based on the Russian concept of sobornost (altogetherness), his universalist leanings (apokatastasis), and the basic outline of his philosophy of Sophia (divine wisdom). All in all, it satisfied my curiosity, but I am not sure that it would be of general interest.
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