Philosophical theism as an alternative to “religious philosophy”

The main drawback of the doctrines known as “Russian religious philosophy” is the absence of a common concept for them about God, which would be free from gnostic, theosophical, pantheistic and other distortions. In view of this, the direction of philosophical theism deserves close attention, the flowering of which in Russian philosophy falls on the last decades of the 19th century. The article shows that the theistic concept of God as an all-perfect Person is fully consistent with Christian doctrine, in contrast to the far-fetched idea of “Superpersonality”. The most important elements of the views of the leading Russian theists are considered, and first of all, the connection between a person’s self-consciousness and his God-consciousness. Various aspects of the concept of the human person are touched upon - as a spiritual person, as a free-reasoning person, and in particular a person as an “existing truth” that cannot be eliminated from the existential order. The article compares the antinomianism of religious philosophy (“hovering” over opposites) and the theistic principle of the internal hierarchy of opposites (priority of good over evil, life over death, person over thing). The significance of a strict discipline of thought (critical rationalism) at the intersection of philosophical and theological problems is emphasized. The general conclusion of the article is the relevance of philosophical theism as an alternative way for the development of Russian philosophy.