Buch: Building the House of Wisdom

Sergij Bulgakov and Contemporary Theology: New Approaches and Interpretations
Barbara Hallensleben, Regula M. Zwahlen, Aristotle Papanikolaou, Pantelis Kalaitzidis (eds.)
Münster: Aschendorff Verlag 2024, 536 S.
ISBN 978-3-402-12061-3. € 75.–; CHF 101.–; open access

Sergii Bulgakov (1871–1944) is one of the preeminent theologians of the 20th century whose work is still being discovered and explored in and for the 21st. A famous rival of Lenin in the field of economics, and, according to Wassily Kandinsky, “one of the deepest experts on religious life” in early twentieth-century Russian art and culture, Bulgakov, economist, publicist, politician, and later Orthodox theologian and priest, became a significant “global player” in both the Orthodox diaspora and the Ecumenical movement in the interwar period.

This anthology gathers a collection of papers given at the international conference on the occasion of Bulgakov’s 150th birthday at the University of Fribourg in September 2021. The chapters, written by established Bulgakov specialists, not least the keynote speaker Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury (2002–2012), as well as young researchers from different theological disciplines and ecclesiastical traditions, explore Bulgakov’s contribution to meeting the challenges of the modern world and to building bridges between East and West. The authors bring forth a wide range of new creative ways to critically engage with Bulgakov’s theological worldview and cover topics such as personhood, ecology, political theology and trinitarian ontology.

Authors

Barbara Hallensleben, Professor of Dogmatic Theology and Theology of Ecumenism at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. She is coeditor of the German edition of the Russian theologian Sergii Bulgakov’s work.
Regula M. Zwahlen, Dr. phil., Scientific Director of the Sergii Bulgakov Research Center at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She is coeditor of the German edition of the Russian theologian Sergii Bulgakov’s work.
Aristotle Papanikolaou, Professor of Theology, Archbishop Demetrios Chair in Orthodox Theology and Culture, and Co-Founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Fordham University (New York, USA).
Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director, Volos Academy for Theological Studies (Greece), Member of the Executive Committee of the European Academy of Religion.