Nikolai Berdyaev Quotes on God
Nikolai Berdyaev, the Russian religious existentialist, made freedom the centre of his philosophy, and the quotes gathered here show how that conviction shaped his understanding of God. For Berdyaev God is never an object among objects: God is spirit because he is not object but subject, which is why, he argued, the reality of spirit is so easily denied by an objectifying age. He drew a radical political conclusion from his theology, holding that power of one human being over another is bound up with sin, and that the Kingdom of God is freedom, indeed, in his striking phrase, that the Kingdom of God is anarchy. Berdyaev also refused easy optimism, insisting that Christianity requires no rosy view of the future but a clear confrontation with reality. Drawn from Slavery and Freedom and his other works, these passages present God as spirit, subject, and the ground of human freedom.
Quotes
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Attributed to Nikolai Berdyaev:
“Personality is created by God and is itself creative.”
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Attributed to Nikolai Berdyaev:
“Creativity is the response of human freedom to the divine call.”
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Attributed to Nikolai Berdyaev:
“The end is the meaning of history.”
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“Nihilism On A Religious Soil" (6 May 1907); it should be noted here that Berdyaev is here defining " theocracy " not in the sense as it is often used, of people ruling over other people, in claims of doing so by the commands of God, but rather defining it in terms of Christian anarchism — as a vigorous assertion of the right of no-one to rule over humans, save God .”
The new religious consciousness rises up against the nihilistic attitude towards the world and mankind . If a religious rebirth be possible, only then on this soil will there be the revealing of the religious meaning of secular culture and earthly liberation, the revealing of the truth about mankind. For the new religious consciousness the declaration of the will of God is together with this a dec -
“There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism . … The religious truth of anarchism consists in this, that power over man is bound up with sin and evil , that a state of perfection is a state where there is no power of man over man, that is to say, anarchy. The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power... the Kingdom of God is anarchy.”
Slavery and Freedom (1939), p. 147 -
“Nobody is bound to have an optimistic outlook on the future: that is not a precept of the Christian religion. ... It is a matter of immense importance that illusions should be dispelled and man come face to face with positive realities.”
The End of Our Time(1919) | p. 131 -
“Spirit is never an object; nor a spiritual reality an objective one. In the so-called objective world there's no such nature , thing, or objective reality as spirit. Hence it is easy to deny the reality of spirit. God is spirit because he is not object, because he is subject.”
Spirit and Reality(1946) | p. 10