Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov

Vladimir Sergeyevich Solovyov (1853-1900), Russian philosopher, who attempted to synthesize religion, scientific knowledge, and mystical experience in a system based on the idea of “Godmanhood.” The son of a well-known historian, Solovyov was born in Moscow and attended the university there. He taught philosophy at the University of Saint Petersburg until 1881, when his lectures were suspended because of his appeals for clemency for the assassins of Tsar Alexander II. He was also the editor of an influential philosophical and psychological journal. Greatly influenced by the 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Solovyov emphasized the gradual integration of the human spirit with God through historical process. He also believed in the incarnation of the “divine wisdom” (Greek Sophia), a concept that is described in his mystical poems, Three Meetings (1899). In Russia and the Universal Church (1889; translated 1948), Solovyov appealed for the establishment of a universal Christian theocracy, implying a union of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches and the joint world leadership of the pope and the tsar. Other writings, such as Three Conversations on War, Progress, and the End of History (1899; translated 1915; 1990), suggest that theocracy was for him more of an apocalyptic vision than a practical program. Some of Solovyov's followers were known as sophiologists because they were inspired by his idea of the Divine Wisdom as the common metaphysical ground of both divine and created existence.