THE APOLOGETIC CONCERN IN THE WORK OF BIBLICAL THEOLOGIANS OF THE KIEV THEOLOGICAL ACADEMY FROM THE END OF THE NINETEENTH TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (THE PROBLEM OF FINDING COMMON GROUND FOR THEOLOGICAL AND SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT)

Abstract

The author examines the relationship between scientific and theological components in a selection of the works of well-known Biblical scholars active at the Kiev Theological Academy around the turn of the nineteenth century and the begin ning of the twentieth. Among them figure the names of F. J. Pokrovsky, V. P. Rybinsky, D. I. Bogdashevsky, and Father A. A. Glagolev. The work of these experts has been little studied until today. The spiritual, intellectual, and ideological context of the time has been taken into account by the author. The author of this article pays special attention to the ideological background surrounding the polemic between Russian Orthodox biblical scholars and those proponents of the negative school of biblical exegesis. The focus is on several key elements of understanding the Bible, the research and exposition of biblical history, as well as points of dogmatic and moral import stemming from an interpretation of the scriptures. The author demonstrates that the position of the Kievan biblical scholars was apologetic, contrasting the theological and scientific schools against the background of a more than positivistic understanding of history and the Bible seen as the sacred scripture of the Church. In this way, they contributed to academic research, and the way of teaching the scriptures of the schools, as well as the exposition of the scriptures for the purpose of dogmatic and moral enlightenment. At the same time, they began the process of working towards a synthesis as an approach for further scientific and theological research. Important for the continuing development of Russian Orthodox biblical studies during the twentieth century was finding a balance between Orthodox biblical apologetics and scientific thought . This attempt at re-discovering and reconstructing the apologetic atmosphere of the Kievan biblical scholars was made possible through a combination of several factors — one of the most important being the handing down of their methods by teachers to their students. Thus we can have an idea of the importance which these teachers assigned above all to their own personal faith, as well as to their methodological and hermeneutic concerns. The author has attempted to elucidate the work of these biblical apologists against the general cultural and religious background of the Russian Empire of the time as well as the specific atmosphere particular to Kiev. Through a thorough analysis of their work, we are able today to make use of their experience in biblical apologetics to solve contemporary problems of teaching and explaining to students the Sacred Scriptures

Keywords

• Biblical Studies
• Kiev Theological Academy
• Theology and Science
• Biblical History
• Biblical Religion
• Biblical Apologetics