Vladimir Solovyov's Divine Sophia

In the upcoming spring issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, we will have a review by Robert Slesinski of

Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, Divine Sophia: The Wisdom Writings of Vladimir Solovyov, with annotated translations by Boris Jakim, JD Kornblatt, and Laury Magnus (Ithaca/London: Cornell U Press, 2009), xviii+297pp.

Slesinski, a scholar of Russian philosophy and theology, notes that this book is "striking for its manifest erudition" as well as its "utter handiness" for many reasons he articulates in his critically thoughtful review. He calls this a "highly recommended" book, especially to any and all interested in the Slavophiles in general, and the very influential thought and work of Solovyov in particular.

Look for the long review of Slesinski in the upcoming issue of the journal, to which you will want to subscribe here.

Sophia and Slavophilia

The so-called Slavophiles continue to attract attention, and not merely among Eastern Christians or Russian historians. Anglicans like the influential John Milbank have been grappling with the Slavophiles for some time now. Two new books continue this exploration of their thought and its wide implications for church and society alike:

Laura Engelstein, Slavophile Empire: Imperial Russia's Illiberal Path (Cornell U Press, 2009), 256pp.

Three of Engelstein's seven chapters focus on the religious implications of the Slavophiles.



A second book has also come out from the same publisher:

Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, Divine Sophia: the Wisdom Writings of Vladimir Solovyov.Annotated Translations by Boris Jakim, Judith Kornblatt, and Laury Magnus (Cornell UP, 2009), 320pp.

Sex and Spirituality in Russia

As I've noted before, questions of sex and gender are all the rage in religious studies today--though such studies for the Christian East still lag behind the many such studies on Western Christianity. Now Brill brings out a new book remedying this in part:

Anna Lisa Crone,  Eros and Creativity in Russian Religious Renewal: the Philosophers and the Freudians (Brill, 2010), xiv+266pp.

Crone's volume focuses on the work of Vladimir Solovyov, Vasily Rozanov, Nikolai Berdyaev, and Boris Vysheslavtsev, arguing that in the aftermath of Freud, these four work to re-emphasize Christianity as a religion of flesh and spirit. I've asked Judith Deutsch Kornblatt of the U. of Wisconsin's Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literature to review this in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies in 2012.