This article continues the work on the problem of possibility of religious (theistic) philosophy as a combination of rational-logical thinking and intuitive-mystical experience. The investigation of this problem started in the article «S.L. Frank on the nature and essence of the “dogmas of faith”», where the philosopher's position on the question of the limits of freedom was analyzed in the philosophical interpretation of religious dogmas. The issue of the correlation between the philosophical and religious understanding of God, presented in the title of the article, is a natural extension of the investigation of this problem. In the article, Frank's evolution, that began along the path of philosophy with the enthusiasm of Marxism, towards metaphysical transcendentalism first, and then to theism, is traced. It demonstrates how starting with the experience of the reality of the spirit, turning to the concept of “absolute being” Frank made an attempt to understand personal religious experience. Philosophical understanding of God manifested itself in the emergence of the concept of “Deity”, which is not dogmatic, and which Frank operates with the concept of “God”. This idea provides detailed discussions about the personality of God for the first time. However, the inherent religious experience as an experience of personal communication with God leads him to the realization of the need to logically and consistently combine the Absolute (the “god of philosophers”) with “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. Attempts to organically combine the religious experience of personal communication with God with a philosophical reflection of God as an absolute being were made in his works “Incomprehensible”, “With Us God”, “Reality and Man”, etc. Although at the end of life Frank came to the conclusion that it is impossible to unite the religious and philosophical understanding of God uncontradictingly, this did not prevent the philosopher from creating such a philosophical system that bears the imprint of the religious experience of God.
Key words: S.L. Frank, religious consciousness, religious experience, rational thinking, philosophical theism, absolute being, God the Absolute, “living God”.
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662.2018.2.94-100
About the author
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Irina Y. Kulyaskina – Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Sociology of the Amur State University; of. 316, build 1, 21 Ignatievskoe shosse, Blagoveshchensk, Amur region, Russia, 675027; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |