Inspired by the writings of Russian Orthodox priest, theologian, and philosopher of religion Sergei Bulgakov, as well as Italian Catholic philosopher of history Augusto Del Noce’s theory of the history of the twentieth century as the realization of the atheistic conclusions of nineteenth-century philosophy, Teokratia offers a study in the collapse, followed then by the apparently spontaneous regeneration, of the so-called “theocratic principle in Russian culture.” This is the key both to what the author alleges is the primary ideational causation and fundamental religious meaning of the Russian Revolution, and to the nature and underlying rationale of the authoritarian regime that exists today in “Putin’s Russia.”
The book serves simultaneously as a spiritual biography of Russia’s last (now sainted) tsar, Nicholas II (1894–1917),exploring the theological sources of Nicholas’s unwillingness, even inability, to grant Russia a constitution as a matter of faith and conscience—questioning as it does so the tensions in not only Bulgakov’s political theology but also the meaning of the place of the basileus/emperor/tsar in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Concluding that politics is, as it were, “always already” an act of sacred representation, Teokratiaargues that at stake in the Russian Revolution—and, indeed, in Russia’s present—is not only different accounts of politics, but also, more fundamentally, different accounts of Christianity.
Praise
“Part travelogue, part history, and part theological reflection, Matthew Dal Santo’s new book not only tells a gripping story, but makes a bold and profound argument that demands attention from anyone moved to ponder the big-picture political questions. Dal Santo brilliantly connects themes of contemporary relevance with ‘old Russia’ by unfolding a journey in which he explores the rise and fall of the Romanov family, who were brutally executed a century ago, and investigates how the family is perceived now, in light of their recent canonization. At the heart of his reflections stand two figures, Nicholas II and the theologian Sergei Bulgakov: the tsar represents the fate of Teokratia in Russia, the idea that political rule is a sacred office, and the theologian provides the occasion to grapple with the theological significance of authority and the question whether theocracy in some form can still have meaning today. Dal Santo makes a convincing case that the notion of a ‘theology of history,’ far from being an arcane remnant from the long-gone middle ages, is desperately needed today to make sense of our current global-political condition.”—DAVID C. SCHINDLER, Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology at The John Paul II Institute in Washington DC, author of The Politics of the Real
“This extraordinary book is several things at once. It is a scholarly life of Nicholas II set against its background in the history of imperial Russia. It is a journalist’s investigation of attitudes to the martyrs of the Romanov family among ordinary Russians today. It is a travelogue of descriptions, often astonishingly beautiful, of the scenes where the final drama of the dynasty unfolded. It is also—and this will not easily be found among other accounts of the coming of the revolutions of 1917—a plea to re-examine the significance of ‘sacral’ monarchy, understood as the symbolization of a Christ-centered cosmic order in which ultimate norms and values are raised above the simple adjudication, whether democratic or bureaucratic, of practical affairs. And finally, it is a retrieval of the thinking in this regard of that audacious Orthodox intellectual, Sergei Bulgakov, for whom the political transformations of the modern era issue ineluctably from the collapse of the metaphysical tradition of the West. Hence the fragility, bordering potentially on nihilism, of shared meaning in our public space. Readers are invited to draw from the author’s fast-moving yet deeply reflective narrative their own ‘theo-political’ conclusions.”—AIDAN NICHOLS OP, author of The Thought of Pope Benedict XVI and The Shape of Catholic Theology
“In the pages of Teokratia, Matthew Dal Santo masterfully blends political theology and historiography to offer a unique account of the Russian Revolution as a paradigm of modern secularism. Dal Santo’s genius for reading history in light of theology, and theology in light of history, recalls Christopher Dawson and Reinhold Schneider; it has no equal on the contemporary scene. Anyone wishing to understand the Russian experience from within, to plumb the meaning of modernity, or to grasp the cosmo-political implications of Christianity should carefully study this book.”—ADRIAN WALKER, Professor of Philosophy and Dogmatics, Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University
“Inspired by the writings of Russian polymath Fr. Sergei Bulgakov, Dal Santo has written an engaging, provocative, and highly original interpretation of the meaning of Russian history which takes as its premise Bulgakov’s view that all authority, including all political authority, derives from God. Writing at the beginning of the 20th century, Bulgakov argued that this connection had been lost, ‘condemned by history’ as he put it—but a hundred years later Dal Santo traces its re-emergence in Russian culture. In so doing he opens up for Western readers a modern Byzantine view of politics, in which true political authority does not emerge from self-anointed masses, but is received as a gift from above. Much of our mutual antagonism, he argues, can be traced back to this profound difference between the Russian and Western political imaginations.”—NICOLAI N. PETRO, Professor of Political Science, University of Rhode Island
“In Teokratia: The Theocratic Principle in Russia, 1917 and Today, Matthew Dal Santo skillfully brings forward and updates—and I would add deepens—the analysis of Russia’s political order first brought to our attention by the Italian philosopher Augusto Del Noce. He does so by means of a sustained meditation on the political-philosophical and theological writings of Fr. Sergei Bulgakov, Russia’s greatest 20th-century theologian, coupled with a sympathetic and yet realistic and never romanticized close observation of Russian realities. The result is one of the most important works yet in existence on Russia. Teokratia is absolutely essential reading for all those who want to understand Russia—as opposed to wanting to impose onto it the West’s own self-image.”—PAUL GRENIER, president of the Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy
About the Author
MATTHEW DAL SANTO is Professor of Dogmatics (Church History) at St Patrick’s Seminary and University, Menlo Park, California. Educated at the Universities of Sydney and Cambridge, he is a former Lightfoot Scholar in Ecclesiastical History and former Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He has held research fellowships in Russian history, politics, and religious culture at the Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen; the Center for the Study of Statesmanship, Catholic University of America; and the Kennan Institute for Russian and Eastern European Studies at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.
