Philosophical foundations of S. M. Solovyov?s professorial ministry
Abstract
Sergey Mikhailovich Solovyov, professor of Russian history and rector of Moscow University, was one of the few University teachers of the mid-19th century who openly declared their commitment to the values of the Christian worldview in the University milieu. In many ways, this view was the result of his refl ections on the role of religion in modern society. He argued that under the infl uence of, for example, the revolution in France, the values of faith are pushed to the periphery of public consciousness, which has created the illusion that the old faith and the new social order oppose each other. However, Solovyov associated this situation not with the values of the faith itself, but with the inability of its missionaries to reach the hearts of their fellow citizens, with broadcasting the truths of school theology in public discourse, and with the lack of cordiality and warmth in sermons of Christian missionaries. Solovyov believed that in the new conditions, the truths of faith should be taught not only by the people of the Church, but also by the University professors who infl uence the formation of public morals, at least during the training of young people at the University. As a result, Professor Solovyov demanded monastic asceticism in his professional work in the quiet of the study room as well as sacrifi cial service and eff orts aimed at harmonising relations between representatives of diff erent generations of society during lectures. A certain challenge to Solovyov was the lack of consensus on this issue among professors and Westerners in the mid-1840s. However, neither the radical spiritual experience of the Russian intelligentsia, nor the spread of materialistic ideas by the generation of the 1860s forced Solovyov to reconsider his attitude to the matters of faith. Under the infl uence of his own religious experience in his later essays, Solovyov refuses to interpret progress as an eternal process of positive changes, which was characteristic of the liberal doctrine and, in fact, raised the question of the dependence of progress in public relations on the eternal truths of the faith.
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