Russian Religious Thinkers and the Temptation of Traditionalism

Abstract

The paper recapitulates one chapter of the Russian debate on tradition, lasting at least since 17 th century and always very intense. After grasping the main features of Russian traditionalism (Slavophilism was the first example of it although it shouldn’t be identified with the Slavophile stance) the author describes the most typical attitudes towards traditionalistic paradigm among Russian religious thinkers of the late 19 th and the first half of 20 th century, the relation between the presence of traditionalistic paradigm in their thinking (or its lack) and their views on tradition and creativity. He discerns three main stances: paradigmatic traditionalism without rejecting cultural heritage (Florensky), rejection of traditionalism with affirmation of creativity and cultural heritage (Berdyaev, V. Ivanov), and reduced traditionalism combined with an almost total rejection of cultural tradition (Tolstoy, Fyodorov, Rozanov).