Bulgakov's account of creation: Neglected aspects, critics and contemporary relevance

Abstract

The article focuses on a central, yet neglected dimension of the 'Sophia Debate' in twentieth-century Russian Orthodox theology: Bulgakov's panentheistic account of creation and its critique by Nikolai Lossky. Bulgakov understood the doctrine of creation to be negatively defined as creatio ex nihilo and positively defined as creatio ex Deo. Bulgakov's sophiology seeks to relate God and the world through the intermediate concept of Sophia, balancing an account of God's being in the world with an account of the world's eternal foundation in God. Lossky objected that Bulgakov's account underemphasizes novelty, contingency and the free character of creation. Lossky's objections notwithstanding, Bulgakov's version of panentheism - especially its trinitarian, antinomian and kenotic dimensions - finds significant points of contact with contemporary accounts of creation.