Vladimir Solov'ëv in the Rising Public Sphere. A Reconstruction and Analysis of the Concept of Christian Politics in the Publitsistika of Vladimir Solov'ëv

This interdisciplinary study examines the publitsistika of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Solov'ëv (1853-1900), arguing that Solov'ëv's publitsistika shows much more unity and continuity than is commonly assumed, once it is read as a multiform statement of Christian Politics. Between 1881 and 1898, Solov'ëv published approximately 100 articles on a variety of current affairs in which he called upon his readers to practice the Christian principles of love and self-renunciation, thereby hoping to bring about a transformation of society along Christian principles. These writings often provoked controversy between Solov'ëv and the state and church authorities as well as between Solov'ëv and his contemporaries. The study's focus on publitsistika allows one to see a less utopian, more realistic Solov'ëv and offers a refreshing revision of the stereotypical, enigmatic picture of the philosopher in scholarly and popular sources, reflected by the caricature here reproduced. According to the author, the key to understanding Solov'ëv's discourse on Christian politics is to conceive of it as a call for a religious fundamental attitude (Grundhaltung) based on love, which is characterized by openness and solidarity, and expressed in free, conscious and autonomous commitment and service. Solov'ëv's debate about ecumenism in the early 1880s and his polemical writings on nationalism in the late 1880s and beginning of the 1890s illustrate this: they form two outstanding and significant examples of his publitsistika or current affairs writing in which he applies his idea of 'Christian politics' to actual problems of his time. By demonstrating the remarkable continuities in Solov'ëv's thought, the author provides powerful evidence in support of her rejection of the long-standing tradition of dividing the philosopher's career into sharply distinct periods involving a utopian-theocratic period which breaks down in disillusionment or apocalyptic pessimism