Spirituality Studies (Apr 2023)
The Mystical Experience of Sophia in the Life and Work of Vladimir Sergeevich Soloviev
Abstract
The life and work of the prominent Russian religious philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Soloviev was deeply influenced by his mysterious experience of Sophia – the mystical vision of the personified divine wisdom. This study seeks to shed light on this mystical experience, and thus to illumine the work and personality of this intriguing Russian thinker. Methodologically, it attempts to do so, firstly, by offering a historical and textual analysis of Soloviev’s personal description of his mystical experience in the poem Tri svidaniia (En. Three meetings). Secondly, the study sketches the hermeneutical context of Soloviev’s vision of Sophia in connection with precedent instances of sophiological thinking in the biblical and Christian tradition. Thirdly and most importantly, the study offers an interpretation of Soloviev’s mystical experience in the light of his biographical information and his philosophical work, especially in the context of one of the most important conception of Soloviev’s religious thinking, which is the idea of all-unity (Ru. vseedinstvo).
