Talk:Nikolai Berdyaev

This article needs work

It really doesn't do Berdyaev justice as a philosopher.--Levalley (talk) 00:53, 2 April 2009 (UTC)LeValley

So improve it instead of offering empty critique. That's how Wikipedia works.Dogface (talk) 04:03, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

• Dogface, not going to get much out of him/her, a wasted gesture...they've been inactive for two years.--ColonelHenry (talk) 05:12, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

I agree, there are a lot of imprecisions as to Berdyev's family background, his mother was Princess Alexandra Sergeevna Kudasheff, she had a French mother, Countess Mathilde Choiseul Gouffier whose family had taken refuge to Russia after the French revolution. The Princes Kudasheff were old Tartar nobility, descending from the Murza Kudasheff who converted at the end of the 16th century, and were admitted by Tsar Boris Godunov into Russian nobility.His grandfather had been Vice-governor of Kiev. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.215.164.213 (talk) 13:51, 21 October 2015 (UTC)

Church

According to this page, A fiery 1913 article, criticising the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, caused him to be charged with the crime of blasphemy, the punishment for which was exile to Siberia for life. He is mostly known as a philosopher. See also how he was described in the lead on ruwiki. Making this link to Russian Orthodox Church in the lead is like calling someone who was an anti-communist (or rather an independent thinker) a communist. My very best wishes (talk) 13:13, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

@My very best wishes: I want to apologize for just reverting again; I probably should have brought my perspective to this talk page. In any case, I hope my recent edits clarify my position. Let me know if you still aren't satisfied. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 14:29, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

Please check here. He is correctly listed as a Christian philosopher, not as an Orthodox theologian. My very best wishes (talk) 21:40, 28 September 2017 (UTC)

@My very best wishes: Have you read the new section of the article I wrote on this issue? Wikipedia is not a WP:RS, so I am unconcerned with how he is classified there. In any case, the lead does not call him a theologian but a Russian Orthodox philosopher. If you disagree and want to change the lead on this point, find reliable sources and edit the article body first. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 00:52, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

What are you talking about? What is orthodox philosopher? In any case, nothing on the page tells he must be linked to Orthodox Church in a such way that implies he supported this organization . In fact, it tells the opposite. He criticized it. My very best wishes (talk) 03:50, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

@My very best wishes: It seems readily apparent to me from reading The Truth of Orthodoxy that Berdyaev did, in fact, support the Orthodox Church. In another work, Berdyaev said "I hope I am nearer to Orthodoxy than either Catholicism or Protestantism. I never severed my link with the Orthodox Church", qtd. in Witte & Alexander, p.112 which I cited in the article. Exploring Berdyaev's alleged anti-clericalism is an interesting idea, but there's currently nothing in the article about it. If you want to improve the article, you will need to find sources.

I think it's important to describe him as a Russian Orthodox philosopher because scholars mostly seem to agree that the Orthodox tradition permeated his thought, and that his thought reflects a development within Russian Orthodox tradition. The article supports this, and I would like to keep it in the lead. Sondra.kinsey (talk) 21:44, 29 September 2017 (UTC)

How come? Very first phrase in this thread (it was taken from the page) tells about his anticlerical position. OK. Let's check the sources. According to Berdyaev himself (I am reading Russian original of his "Self-knowledge" [1]), he was always an "anticlerical" and his anticlericalism came from his experience of communicating with people who represented Russian Orthodox Church. He was an Orthodox believer, but he harshly criticized Russian Orthodox Church as an institution/organization, for example in this book. But you linked him in the lead to Russian Orthodox Church in such way that implies he supported this organization. This is wrong. My very best wishes (talk) 03:33, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Even though I welcome certain improvements of the article, please avoid original research, and only make changes supported by reliable sources. Especially changes to the lead, withnout providing references in the body of the article, corrupt the article. Thanks, WikiHannibal (talk) 15:28, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes, sure, I included an academic reference to support the statement. My very best wishes (talk) 16:53, 30 September 2017 (UTC)

• Everything was explained above. But OK, let me explain this differently. Telling in the lead that person X "was a Russian Orthodox Church political and religious philosopher" implies two things. (1) It tells that person X somehow represented this religious organization. (2) It implies that he was not just a "political and religious philosopher", but such philosopher who is mostly known as a representative of this organization. No, not only he never was a member of the clergy, but he described himself as someone with strongly anticlerical views, specifically with regard to Russian Orthodox Church. My very best wishes (talk) 13:44, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

Hi, the lead does not say he "was a Russian Orthodox Church political and religious philosopher"; it says he was "was a Russian Orthodox political and religious philosopher". Both points of your argumentation seem to be focused on the "organisational" part ("represented this religious organization"; "mostly known as represenatative"), but the organization, the church, enters the picture only after the reader wants to know more about Russian Orthodoxy, and follows the link. As I tried to explain, if you feel there is a problem with the redirect from "Russian Orthodox" to "Russian Orthodox Church", please raise the question there. Also it seems you try to circumvent the well-sourced statemens that "Berdyaev was a practising member of the Russian Orthodox Church" and "Berdyaev is frequently presented as one of the major Russian Orthodox thinkers of the 20th century." This has to be part of the lead in some form. Perhaps the best thing would be to copy the latter sentence into the lead? WikiHannibal (talk) 15:33, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

By making wikilink from "Russian Orthodox" to "Russian Orthodox Church" you are effectively telling "Russian Orthodox Church". That might be fixed by simply removing the link ("[[ ]]"), however the actual meaning of "Russian Orthodox" is indeed "Russian Orthodox Church" (this is a correct redirect). This must be fixed and I hope will be fixed. Yes, one might tell in the lead that he was "one of the major Russian Orthodox thinkers of the 20th century.", however there are two problems. 1. What does it mean "Orthodox thinker"? This is not at all clear. 2. This is something not really supported by majority of sources. Even segment inserted by Sondra.kinsey to support this point includes the following: ...Florovsky have questioned whether his philosophy is essentially Orthodox in character, and emphasize his western influences. Yes, certainly, that is something most of the sources tell. Come on. He was persecuted by the Holy Synod and harshly criticized Russian Orthodox Church. What "Orthodox thinker"? My very best wishes (talk) 17:19, 1 October 2017 (UTC)

"Orthodox thinker"

I am checking a paragraph that starts from "Berdyaev was a practising member..." Two problems. (1) The statements are not supported by references. For example, ref 12: "I can not call myself a typical Orthodox of any kind" (Berdyaev) (it tells exactly the opposite!), this ref - no, it calls him a "religious philosopher"/thinker, not an "Orthodox thinker", this ref - no, it does not call himn "the greatest", it simply tells he was one of five significant philosophers in this area, and so on. (2) Orthodox thinker is not a standard terminology. One must explain on the page what it means or remove the statement. My very best wishes (talk) 14:59, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

Hi, the first two references you are "checking" are to support the statement "Berdyaev was a practising member of the Russian Orthodox Church."

(1) In the first, what is important is the quote from a secondary source "the doctrines and practice of the Russian Orthodox Church are in the background ... of all that he wrote.... Berdyaev was [always] a son of Orthodoxy." You deliberately chose to ignore this, and presented only partial information from the source to make it look it suits your position. Moreover, the quote you used ("I can not call myself a typical Orthodox of any kind"), of which you claim "it tells exactly the opposite!", is incomplete. Again, you withhold the rest of the quote, which goes as follows: "I can not call myself a typical Orthodox of any kind; but Orthodoxy was neare to me (and I hope I am nearer to Orthodoxy) than either Catholicism or Protestantism. I never severed my link with the Orthodox Church, although confessional self-satisfaction and exclusiveness are alien to me." So no, it does not tell the exact oppostie, as you claim. It supports the statement. Are you trolling? Because you are wasting the time of other editors by your misrepresentation of facts.

(2) The second ref is there to support the same sentence about him being member of the Russian Orthodox Church. So the fact that it calls him "religious philosopher"/thinker, not an "Orthodox thinker", is irrelevant in this context. What is important is that it calls him "a devout member of the Russian Orthodox Church". Again, info which you have withhold. Please use critical thinking - it is important when reading (on) Berdyaev as well as when editing articles.

(3) I could go on, for example by questioning where your quote "the greatest" comes from (it is not in the article) but I have already spent too much time arguing with you, and it seems you are here to promote your vesion of "truth" and not to improve the article, regardless of what I write and what the sources say. Please, let it be. Thank you. WikiHannibal (talk) 15:54, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

Please remain civil. In the first link above, only page 111 (but not the next page) was available on Google. I therefore quoted only what was visible on page 111. OK, I agree that these refs can justify first phrase in the paragraph ("Berdyaev was a practising member of the Russian Orthodox Church". In addition, Orthodox thinker is not standard terminology. That must be explained. My very best wishes (talk) 18:28, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

Hi, the ref clearly stated pages 111-112, so I really see no point in trying to correct the sentence without being able to check the whole ref. Anyway, I hope that this is water under the bridge now. As you seem to agree that the refs "can justify first phrase in the paragraph", I reintroduced that phrase. As for the lead, perhaps the best thing would be to leave Russian Orthodox Church out of it at least for for the time being since it caused such controversy, and wait for other opinions. As for the term "Orthodox thinker", it is quite common even though it is not very precise. From my experince of how it is used in scientific articles on philosophy and religion, the term is frequently used as an umbrella term for "Orthodox thelogian and philosopher" - the particular type of "Orthodoxy", "philosophy", and "theology" being understood from the context or even the discipline in question. Howewver, that is just my personal opinion and I may be wrong. As for the connection to Berdyaev, see for example the easily available book "Modern Orthodox Thinkers: From the Philokalia to the Present". WikiHannibal (talk) 12:27, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

BTW, for the record, I still believe that "Russian Orthodoxy" should be mentioned in the lead, using some info from the paragraph we discussed (e.g "Berdyaev is frequently presented as one of the important/major Russian Orthodox thinkers of the 20th century.") but I will not press the issue further. WikiHannibal (talk) 12:37, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

Thank you! Speaking about the terminology, yes, it was used in sources, but there is no explanation on the page what it means. Yes, there are some well known differences between Orthodox and Protestantism teachings and organizations, for example, but how exactly this is relevant to Berdyaev? This is not clear from the page. My very best wishes (talk) 17:06, 5 October 2017 (UTC)