Theological Journal – September 19 More from Berdyaev

 

Could he be more spot on for 2020 America?

N. Berdyaev in 1939: 

"The 'rightist' Orthodox all await a 'Caesar,' who will defend them and become their protector, wielding the sword upon their enemies. This expectation is to the ruination of Orthodoxy. They await not the kingdom of God but 'Caesar,' to whom long since already they have bestowed their worship in place of God. Let them take comfort: the wished-for 'Caesar' can appear—if the Christian spiritual powers do not oppose this. But he will be the fore-runner of the Anti-Christ."

"It is time to stop talking about words and start talking about realities. The 'right' and the 'left'—these are conventional standards and these words in our epoch are bereft of real meaning. It is important to determine what sort of reality is hidden behind the words and the slogans...

"What is it that is practically and really hidden behind this? In reality, behind the ‘rightists' is hidden political amoralism, the denial of the dignity and freedom of man, a grubby cult of power, the practice of coercive violence in the relationships between people and nations, and the making of a mockery of the Gospel morality in social life.

“I do not see in the 'rightists' any noble stirrings of soul; they are always defending despotic might, national hostility and war; the capitalists and the bankers against the workers; the injustices of privilege; fierceness of punishment; violation of conscience and the suffocating of free thought. The 'rightists' readily render themselves traitors to their native land and their people... The 'left' likewise often is phony, greedy and declamatory with mere words."

 

 

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