TRADITIONS AND MODERNITY

 interdisciplinary program with the support

of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Bogdan Lubardić (Belgrade University, Faculty of Orthodox Theology)

TOPIC:

Faith, Science and the Question of Death:

Retrieving the Philosophical Vision of Nikolai F. Fyodorov

Tuesday January 23 2018, 8pm

Vlatades Monastery

Thessaloniki 

Miltiadis Konstantinou, Professor of Biblical Studies, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Argyris Nicolaidis, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Faith, Science and the Question of Death:

Retrieving the Philosophical Vision of Nikolai F. Fyodorov (Thessaloniki 23 January 2018)

This paper offers a critical overview of the religious philosophy of Nikolai F. Fyodorov. The thought of Fyodorov may serve helpfully as a model for case study work in regard to two crucial questions: (1) What is the relation between the past and the future? and (2) What is the relation between faith and science? These questions receive their spiritual, theological and philosophical answers through Fyodorov’s idiosyncratic reflection on death. In offering his answers Fyodorov taps into the innermost depths of (‘Orthodox’) Christianity spirituality. Moreover, on one hand he offers a vision which prophetically anticipates the “resurrection of all forefathers by their sons” (viz. Philosophy of the Common Task): this in itself calls for a radical revision of humanity’s guiding ethical principles (viz. Supramoralism). On the other hand, he expounds visionary proposals for the role science has to play precisely within the project of resurrecting the deceased and restoring free conscious life to all being (viz. Regulation). Fyodorov is rightly acclaimed as one of the pioneering anticipators of climatology, rocket and space astronautics, cryonics, genetic engineering (body re-design); also, he is endorsed as the forerunner of immortalism and transhumanism. His thought is radical, maximalist and limital. As well, it is informed by the purity of sainthood. Inasmuch his astounding philosophical vision may help us re-examine our own understanding of the relation of the past to the future, as well as the relation of faith to science, and, to re-address the predicament of dying. For the same reason it allows us to re-examine and criticize some neuralgic points of Fyodorov’s proposals.

Keywords: God, mankind, image and likeness, personhood, primordial sin, death, faith, science, resurrection, the Common Task, supramoralism, regulation

Curriculum vitae (academically conceptualized)

Bogdan Lubardić (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 1964) is assistant professor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Belgrade University. His academic research interests include reflection on the relation of religious philosophy and Christian theology, as well as the relation of both of these towards self-referential naturalistically conceived philosophy; reflection on the reception process of philosophical concepts in theology; reflection on the epistemological status of religious propositions; case study work in the history of ideas in religious philosophy and theology (with special interest in Byzantine, Russian and Serbian religious philosophy and theology); thematization of ideas and models of thought in Church doctrine. His work also explores the ways in which theological texts or statements can be re-problematized, heremenutically and critically, as well as the ways in which they are received, functionalized ecclesially, and grounded. His publications include Philosophy of Faith: Lev Shestov and the Apophatic Deconstruction of Reason (2010); Justin of Ćelije and Russia: The Ways of Reception of Russian Philosophy and Theology (2009); and Nikolai Berdyaev: Between the Ungrund and the Father (2003). He is member of the International Commission for Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue (ICAOTD). In this capacity he is one of the co-authors of the latest Commission’s publication: In the Image and Likeness of God: A Hope–Filled Anthropology (The Buffalo Statement Agreed by the ICAOTD), London 2015. He is also a regular member of the Executive Board of the Serbian Philosophical Society (SFD). He has given papers and addresses at the Lateran University (Rome 2003), Yale Divinity School Institute of Sacred Music (New Haven 2007), Christ Church (Oxford 2010) and the University of California, Berkeley (S. Francisco 2013). He holds B.A. Phil., M.Th. and D.Phil. degrees.

Address: Univerzitet u Beogradu, Pravoslavni bogoslovski fakultet, Mije Kovačevića 11b, 11060 Beograd SERBIA

Within the program “Traditions and Modernity”, professor Bogdan Lubardic (Belgrade University) gave a talk on “Faith, Science and the Question of Death”. The pictures show the speaker surrounded by the event organizers, Argyris Nicolaidis, professor of Theoretical Physics, AUTh, and professor Miltiadis Konstantinou, Dean of the Faculty of Theology, AUTh and professor of Biblical Studies.