History, Sophia and the Russian Nation

In this study, the work of the philosopher, publicist, poet, mystic and activist Vladimir Solov'ev (1853-1900) is addressed from a new, interdisciplinary perspective. The author explores the connections between Solov'ev's views on history and his attempts to change the course of affairs in Russia. Firstly, the theological and philosophical aspects of Solov'ev's conception of history are unravelled. Most importantly, the central role of Sophia (Divine Wisdom) in his self-perception as the guiding prophet of Russian society is highlighted. Then, the author examines how Solov'ev's views on history prompted him to intervene in the following affairs: the crisis following the murder of tsar Alexander II in 1881, the famine of 1891-1892, and the condition of three religious minorities in Russia, namely the Old Believers, the Jews and the Catholic Poles. This two-fold analysis shows that Solov'ev departed from the ambition to cast Christian tradition in a modern mould by various means, speculative as well as practical. Characteristic for his attitude toward history is a tension between his professing an eternal truth and responding to a crisis in Russia. He emerges as a prodigiously erudite thinker, capable of synthesising various intellectual traditions ranging from Jewish mysticism to German idealism, and as a committed and independent intellectual in late tsarist Russia.