Problematizing the Idea of Eternal Hell Torments in Nikolai Berdyaev’s Philosophical Eschatology

Abstract

In the article based on the following works of N.A. Berdyaev: “The Destiny of Man. An Essay in Paradoxical Ethics”, “Creativity and Objectification. An Essay in Eschatological Metaphysics”, “Truth and Revelation. Prolegomena to the Criticism of Revelation”, and “Self-Knowledge: An Essay in Autobiography” the author analyzes the philosopher’s attitude to the idea of ‘eternal hell torments’. The author addresses the problems related to a rational reconstruction of Berdyaev’s thought, and argues for the possibility and necessity of philosophical discussion of theological problems. The relevant context for the development of Berdyaev’s thought on the topic is explicated, namely, the discourse on the problem of hell in Russian philosophy of the 19th and the early 20th centuries. It is demonstrated that if in “The Destiny of Man” Berdyaev points to the antinomian nature of the idea of hell and reproduces ‘the soul’s inner dialogue about hell’, distinguishing between the objective and subjective phrasing of the question, in the later works he gives a straightforward and systematic criticism of this concept, which includes several lines of argumentation: apologetic, psychological, historical-religious (that included speaking on the status of evangelical testimonies), sociological, ethical, and ontological. The author reconstructs the arguments proposed by Berdyaev along all of these lines and comes to the conclusion that, while completely rejecting the objective-ontological formulation of the issue of eternal hell torments, Berdyaev points to the reality of the existential experience of hell inherent in every person. The author concludes by summarizing the forms and aspects of the idea of hell, as considered in Berdyaev’s works, these are contrasted with the provisional results of modern discussions, and the need for theological understanding of Berdyaev’s interpretation of the idea of hell is indicated.

Acknowledgements:

This article was prepared with the financial support of RFBR grant“Thinking of Being and Faith of Revelation: Ways of Correlation in German-speakingProtestant Theology and Russian Religious Thought of the 20th Century”, project num-ber21-011-44030.