Humanities and social sciences

Each tradition that had manifested in theology has its own doctrinal core, axiomatics that goes beyond science, as well as dogmatic teaching and a wider range of doctrines, disciplines, etc., that rationally expound and reveal the tradition. The Russian Foundation for Basic Research, which, along with the Russian Science Foundation, carried out work in 2019–2020 to include theology in the list of scientific areas supported through competitions, has initiated the first and (at the time of publication of the article) the only profile competition in theology in the Russian practice of state support for scientific research. This competition is “Theology in the Context of Interdisciplinary Scientific Research” (2021–2022), and this issue is dedicated to its results. The article examines the competition in the context of the development of theology as a branch of knowledge in modern Russia.

An important area of the policy of the Russian Federation on relations between the state and confessions is coordinating different religious traditions exercised in the country throughoutits centuries-long history, and ensuring full participation of religious organizations in the life of society and the state. One of the coordinating bodies is the advisory body established under the Presidential Administration – Council for Coordination with Religious Organizations under the President of the Russian Federation. The article examines the work of this body, which in recent years has served as a forum for developing important decisions related to the value-ideological aspect of the strategic planning documents of the Russian Federation; these include the Decree of the Russian President dated November 9, 2022 No. 809 "On Approval of Fundamentals of State Policy for Preservation and Fostering Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values". At the Council’s recommendation, theology was listed on the scientific classifier of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research at the end of 2019, which then provided an opportunity to hold a profile competition at the RFBR.

The project “Theology and Religious Studies in Russia: Between Media and Expert Dialogue: Experience and Prospects” describes a number of aspects of the problem of cooperation between experts in the fields of theology and religious studies. This issue is extremely relevant today, since it develops the domestic academic tradition of dialogue between the so-called believers and the so-called non-believers in the study of typological models of symbolic descriptions and interpretations of the “highest order of nature” (Cicero), which take on a variety of forms from radical conflict to sincere dialogue in domestic theological and religious studies discourses, going back to the works of Plato, Aristotle and Cicero. The analysis is from the standpoint of modern Russian philosophical religious studies and social philosophy, distancing from the expert and media positions. The significance of these studies is explained by a comprehensive analysis of the prospects for overcoming the stereotypes of “Eurocentrism” and “confessional centrism” in the philosophical and religious studies discourse, including illustrative factual materials from the sociology of religion data obtained during a pilot survey of students in Arkhangelsk and Vladimir. The survey demonstrates secular and rational priorities among young people. During the project implementation, two articles were published (Q1 Scopus, Q2 Scopus, WebofScience, RSCI); 12 articles in journals on the HAC list and 25 articles in publications on the RSCI list, including the collections “Svecha-2021”, “Svecha-2022” and the monograph “Theology and Religious Studies in Russia: Media and Expert Dialogue” (2023). All of them are posted on the website of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of VLSU “Academic Religious Studies” (http://religion.vpti.vladimir.ru/).

The project is dedicated to the development of a new concept of the history of science, that would account for the role of theological knowledge in the development of scientific knowledge. The development of natural sciences in the High Middle Ages and in following eras contrasted the metaphorical image of the "Book of Nature" and the Bible as a book of Revelation. However, this pair of concepts emerged in late Antiquity; but at that time it was not contradicting, but complementing each other. The 3 rd–4 th centuries AD deserve special attention, as the notions of “theology” and “physics” in a form close to the modern understanding first occurred. Until this time, the “theological” discourse was mainly limited to the metaphysical model of one or ano ther philosophical school, and the “physical” one – to the corresponding model of cosmology, whereas now the search begins for the basis for the synthesis of the entire diversity of mythological and natural scientific experience collected over the period of the thousand-year develo pment of Hellenic culture. One of the bases of synthesis is rethinking of the role of matter and material objects in their relationship with the intelligible world, which, in turn, brings out the notion of “symbol”. The article demonstrates how the symbolic method allows to integrate the cumulative natural scientific knowledge into the worldview model of theurgic Neoplatonism and into the Christian philosophy of the Alexandrian school.

The article studies manuscripts that demonstrate changes in monastic cell service in Ancient Rus. Sources, i.e. books of hours, psalters and other liturgical manuscripts of the 11th–14th centuries, allow to review ancient Russian liturgical tradition of the pre-Mongol period and its transformation at the end of the 13th century in North-Eastern Rus'. The research focuses on a wellknown ancient Russian manuscript from the second half of the 13 th century, kept in the Yaroslavl Museum-Reserve – the so-called Yaroslavl Book of Hours, which contains rare prayers and hymnographic works. Structurally, this manuscript has no analogues in Slavic writing; it is the final part of a 12-hour book of hours, which nevertheless has parallels in the Byzantine liturgy of the 11 th–12 th centuries. The comparison of services in this manuscript with Old Russian and South Slavic sources, as well as with their Greek originals, allows to understand how this collection was compiled and what goals guided its author – a certain scribe Theodosius, who worked in the Rostov Bishop's Library.

The reviewed project “Latin Church Tradition of the 4th-7th Centuries in the Modern Scientific and Theological Context” is aimed at updating the church heritage of the Latin West of the late antique and early medieval period in the context of modern Orthodox theology. The authors study features of ecclesiological thought and the development of the system of church organization in the Latin West in the 4th–7th centuries, the specifics of the early Latin ascetic, mystical and eschatological tradition and the reception of the Latin church heritage in Russian theology in the 19th–20th centuries. Research on a theological project carried out by ten scholars from Saint Tikhon's Orthodox University of the Humanities (Archpriest P. Khondzinsky (leader), priest A. Posternak, G.E. Zakharov, M.V. Gratsiansky, A.G. Nebolsin, A.V. Anashkin, M.Yu. Birkin, N.A. Kulkova, E.V. Materova, I.S. Redkova) has highlighted the importance of the ancient Christian heritage of the Latin West for the development of pan-European heritage and culture, and in particular, Russian theological thought.

The article discusses the understudied issue of the reformist-modernist reception of falsafa, the main philosophical theology school of classical Islam. Falsafa greatest representatives in-clude the peripatetics al-Farabi (d. 950), Ibn Sina (Avicenna; d. 1037), and Ibn Rushd (Averroes; d. 1198). The revival of their ideas, many of which were ahead of their time and were traditionally considered heterodox (sometimes even heretical), is exemplified by the work of the founders of modernist theology of the 19th–20thcenturies, primarily Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1838/1839–1897) and Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905). They focused on developing a discourse more open to confessional and religious diversity (both within Islam and on a global scale), scientific rationality, and spiritual and cultural progress. In addition to the re-actualization of the universalist-pluralist attitude as the basis of the inclusivist concept of dialogue, the continuity with Falsafi theology can be traced below along lines related to the theses on eternalist creationism, natural prophetism, andsoteriological presentism.

The article provides a historical and philological commentary and analysis of the story describing God's creation of the world (Genesis 1:1–2:3). The story of Creation, or hexaemeron, sets the perspective for the entire narrative of the Genesis, from the prehistory of mankind to the cycle of the patriarchs. This story is distinguished by its precise composition and elevated style. The text, which is usually associated with the so-called priestly source, serves to express the most important theological ideas and can be called a liturgical hymn to the one God, His creative design and care for the world and man. The article, in particular, includes arguments in favor of understanding the first verse as a temporary subordinate clause. This interpretation conforms with the most ancient understanding of the first lines of Genesis and is well-aligned with other parallel texts not only in the book of Genesis, but also in the Mesopotamian cosmogony Enuma Elish. In studying the history of creation, the article examines ancient textual evidence, primarily the Greek translation of the Bible – the Septuagint, which reflects the reception of biblical history in the Hellenistic era.