Смисълът на историята

by Nikolai Berdyaev

In her brilliant new opening essay, Banerjee says of Berdyaev "he was never more than a curious but unwelcome guest in history. He fearlessly engaged it on the level of ideas while remaining alien to its means and ends, gifted with an incurable longing for transcendence." Witness to two world wars, Berdyaev observed the destruction of established cultures in the traumatic birth of new systems. Arrested on political suspicion--by Czarist and then by Bolshevik police--he died in exile in France in 1948, carrying forth his intellectual work until the end. Berdyaev considered the philosophy of history as a field that laid the foundations of the Russian national consciousness. Its disputes were centered on distinctions between slavophiles and Westerners, East and West. The Meaning of History was an early effort, following World War I, that attempted to revive this perspective. With the removal of Communism as a ruling system in Russia, that nation returned to an elaboration of a religious philosophy of history as the specific mission of Russian thought. This volume thus has contemporary significance. Its sense of the apocalypse, which distinguishes Russian from Western thought, gives the book its specifically religious character. In order to grasp and oppose the complex phenomenon of social and cultural disintegration, Berdyaev shows that human beings must rely upon some internal dialectic. After the debacle of the war, the moment arrived to integrate Russian historical experiences into those of a Europe, which, although torn by schism, still claimed to be the descendant of Christendom. The book is remarkable for its powerful stylistic grace, and astonishingly contemporary feeling.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Religion, Nonfiction

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev was born at Kyiv in 1874 of an aristocratic family. He commenced his education in a military school and subsequently entered the University of Kiev. There he accepted Marxism and took part in political agitation, for which he was expelled. At twenty-five he was exiled from Kiev to the north of Russia and narrowly escaped a second period of exile shortly before the Revolution. Before this, however, he had broken with Marxism in company with Sergius Bulgakov, and in 1909 he contributed to a symposium which reaffirmed the values of Orthodox Christianity. After the October Revolution he was appointed by the Bolshevists to a chair of philosophy in the University of Moscow, but soon fell into disfavour for his independent political opinions. He was twice imprisoned and in 1922 was expelled from the country. He settled first in Berlin, where he opened a Russian Academy of Philosophy and Religion. Thence he moved to Clamart near Paris, where he lectured in a similar institution. In 1939 he was invited to lecture at the Sorbonne. He lived through the German occupation unmolested. After the liberation, he announced his adhesion to the Soviet government, but later an article by him published in a Paris (Russian) newspaper, criticising the return to a policy of repression, was tantamount to a withdrawal of this. He died at Clamart March 24, 1948.

Reviews

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book; it's philosophy of history at its best. Berdyaev is one of the most underrated philosophers today, but that makes it all the more enjoyable to read because it's like I'm reading secret truths about the world that only few people know today

[Steve Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a typical Berdyaev hot little number if one can be so bold - a rave about history that manages to turn the subject inside out, so that what most people would ordinary consider to be "history" isn't, and that what "really" is history is what most people would scoff at if it was suggested. A fun read of a book by a great, inspired and sometimes too effusive mind.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with aspects of Berdyaev’s historicism (chaps 1, 2, 10). But I see no reason to fuse it with Christianity and his suspect historiography.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really helped having gone through a few other Berdyaev books before this one so that I was better able to comprehend what he was talking about. Still a little more esoteric/abstract than I am comfortable with, but had a lot to say that is still of value to the world we currently occupy.

[Mz · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://www.fractalart.gr/o-christian...

[Андрей Березин · Rating 5 out of 5]

Смысл истории (Николай Бердяев, 1923)

Формат
Киндл, 280 страниц.
10 примерно равных глав.

Содержание
Теософский трактат про сущее человечество и про суть того что называется “История”.
По бокам исследуются вязи между явлениями “Запад-Восток”, “Ренессанс-Средние века”, “Линия и Цикл”, “Бог и Человек”, “Язычество и Христианство” etc. Короче обо всем, полноценная философия.

Впечатление
Текст плотный и требует определенной эрудиции-концентрации, но не сверх чего-то среднего. Когда ловишь волну, то читается очень плавно, значительно и с хорошим натягом, за фактуру текста большой лайк.

Много про бога, божественное, бого-человечество, Христоса, еврейство и всяких других библейских отсылок, примерно 30-40% текста. Большую часть этого пропускал, тк чето не моё.

Но в остальном - вах. Очень нажористо для простого человека, а если ты еще и христианин, то это может стать опорным текстом.
За последние лет 5 не встречал книги с таким высоким потенциалом изменения. В полной мере магический и первый теологический текст, который в меня попал и совпал.

Советую любителям философии и всем латентным христианам.

Прикрепляю цитаты для красочности.

- Движение, не имеющее логического конца в конце концов срывается на круговое движение.
- Гуманизм истребил христианство, поставив на первое место природное, а не не божественное.
- Под конец новой истории человек чувствует свою оставленность, атомизированность, отсюда такое влечение к коллективизму, желанию объединиться и почувствовать покой.
- После нового времени должно наступить новое средневековье. Человек снова должен связать себя, дисциплинировать, соотнести с чем-то высшим, только так можно спасти суть человека, сохраниться.
- Люди должны порвать с делением времени на прошлое-настоящее-будущее и жить «в вечности».
- Организованность убивает органичность.
- Выход из движения влево-вправо может быть найден только в движении вглубь и ввысь (про политику).

[laurentiu]

0

[Karolis Butkevičius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tasty and rich.

[Public_enemy · Rating 5 out of 5]

View on the history which is opposite to Marxist dialectics. It don't need to be considered as negation but as supplement of it. The book is rich with many excellent metaphysic insights, and I think the core theme especially is confrontation between Hellenism, Judaism and Christianity. Of course, keep in mind there are some idealistic nonsenses which you need to take with a caution, but overall this book has greatly enriched my understanding of history because this is its only concept that can critically parry Marxism.