Product Description
Nikolai Berdyaev describes this book as "a philosophical autobiography or a history of spirit and self-knowledge." This book is not only autobiographical; it is also a work of critical self-inquiry: Berdyaev subjects his ideas and his life to philosophical scrutiny, in order to discover his "own image and ultimate destiny." In passing, he elucidates the most important elements of his personalistic philosophy: freedom, creativeness, and divine-humanity.By plumbing the depths of his soul, Berdyaev felt that he could help formulate and resolve certain crucial problems concerning human destiny and contribute to the understanding of our era.The Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) was one of the greatest religious thinkers of the twentieth century. His philosophy goes beyond mere thinking, mere rational conceptualization, and tries to attain authentic life itself: the profound layers of existence that are in contact with God's world. Berdyaev directed all of his efforts, philosophical as well as in his personal and public life, at replacing the kingdom of this world with the kingdom of God. According to him, we can all attempt to do this by tapping the divine creative powers which constitute our true nature. Our mission is to be collaborators with God in His continuing creation of the world. This is what Berdyaev said about himself: "Man, personality, freedom, creativeness, the eschatological-messianic resolution of the dualism of two worlds - these are my basic themes." ... Read more

Product Description
Personality, Spirit, and Ethics presents an existential personalist approach to the ethics of Nicholas Berdyaev, using expositions of his basic views and ethical extentions relative to his general philosophy and pro-religious outlook. This book presents a dialectical perspective of cardinal issues in understanding Berdyaev's ethical principles in relation to personal and social life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good intentions, too bad not getting there
I acquired with great hopes the book of Professor Emeritus Slaatte, because part of my own ongoing work covers Berdiaev, beside a few other important thinker figures. However, I must say that Prof. Slaatte's book turned out to be a disappointment. Despite the evidently good intentions of the author, he does not really get "there". This is to be regretted all the more, because the Index of the book is promising and consists of very relevant Berdiaevian entries, and because Prof. Slaatte's reading approach involves a multitude of detailed references to pages in Berdiaev's books.

For this or that reason, Prof. Slaatte's book does not really go into the thought of Berdiaev but somehow stays gliding in the surface. I see it as possible that Prof. Slaatte's own frame of reference is too different to allow ascent or descent into Berdiaev's sphere. The part of Berdiaev's ample production that Prof. Slaatte goes through is also limited. I find the best book on Berdiaev to be the one by Olivier Clement's, but it is only available in French, albeit in an edition that is not sold out by far. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wow Daddy-o
Yea man,this book is hot.Man, James McLachlan is one hip cat. Its like deep dady-o.When I'm playing my kongas I have my wife read me this book and its like jiving, man.Well I'm out man.Peace Daddy-o ... Read more

Product Description
In the moral and spiritual vacuum left in Russia by the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989-91, some of the thinkers who first opposed the Leninist revolution of 1917 have come to a new prominence. Important among them is the religious philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) who is now frequently cited as a source of inspiration in the attempt to overcome the disastrous legacy of the Soviet experiment and in the search for a new national identity. This book focuses particularly on his early post-revolutionary works, which express a passionate protest against the revolution. His was clearly the most comprehensive contemporary critique of the revolutionary project from a Christian perspective.Essential themes of Christian theology and social thought are brought out in a radical way suitable to a radical situation. From his consistently religious perspective he foresaw with precision much of the inhuman and tyrannical potential of the revolutionary project - later to be abundantly confirmed by the development of the Soviet regime.The dilemmas discerned in his response particularly relate to his call for spiritual resistance and to his expectation of a Christian alternative - an illustrative instance of the confrontation of Christianity with the modern world. The theological and philosophical investigation conducted in this book provides a new interpretation of Berdyaev's response in the light of its historical setting and with a view to its contemporary significance in the post-Soviet situation. ... Read more

Product Description
Publisher: London, James ClarkeSubjects: Berdiaev, Nikolai, 1874-1948Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be numerous typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or indexes.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A look at bold religious views quite unfamiliar to me
Sometimes I pick up a book for no apparent reason.I had never heard of Nicholas Berdyaev in my life, but the identification of his ideas with Freedom in God led me to give this little book a look.Berdyaev was a Russian who embraced Marxism in his youth before turning to the values of Orthodox Christianity; he rejected Russian Communism in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, and he was in fact exiled in 1922, eventually settling to live and teach in Paris.This discussion of his ideas helps elucidate some of the differences between eastern and western Christianity, serves up an interesting take on Russian Communism in its post-World War II incarnation, and proposes the interesting idea of a New Middle Ages as being a good thing.

Berdyaev practiced a somewhat mystical sort of Christianity, entrenched in the conception of the God-man.Religion was merely a social phenomenon telling believers what to believe; Berdyaev disliked the hierarchical structure of the Church and concentrated on the unity of Christ and man, believing that man should in fact work toward the end times when he would in fact become God.He criticized western Christianity for its obsession with sin and the need for salvation, and he yearned for the return of man to a life centered around nature and communion with God.A Christian Humanist, he looked back on the Renaissance, Reformation, and Industrial Revolution with disdain, tracing the origins of the detachment of humanism from Christianity to those times.He criticized modern society for its compartmentalization of religion, arguing that God should be at the center of all things.He criticized capitalism for its emphasis on the accumulation of wealth and power, but he actually saw Russian Communism as the culmination of the bourgeois and capitalist mentality, describing it as a system of government in which the individual was subsumed by the society as a whole.

Berdyaev longed for a New Middle Ages, a time when men would once again return to God to find true freedom and meaning free of the corrupting influences of money and power and the unhelpful symbolism of the Church hierarchy and thus establish a society truly built on love and genuine communion on a wholly spiritual scale.Author E.L. Allen criticizes Berdyaev for failing to recognize the potential of democracy to provide the kinds of personal freedoms he felt were crucial to establishing a personal communion with God.

This is a short little book, but it contains some very interesting ideas on both capitalism and Communism, an unusual criticism of Communism from a former Marxist, and a bold take on the future society Berdyaev longed for.His mystical take on Christianity is interesting, and I found his insights into the breakup of Christianity into its western and eastern Orthodox forms surprisingly informative. ... Read more