Conceptualization of methods of knowing reality: to the problems of theological methods

The article actualizes the questions of the methodology of Orthodox theology in the context of the phenomenology of methodology. Based on the broad interpretation of the concept of “three worlds” by K. Popper, a theological approach to the representation of the fullness of reality that a person can comprehend is proposed. The fundamental areas of knowledge include the knowledge of the material world, the knowledge of oneself, the comprehension of culture as a reality, and the knowledge of God. Taking into account the dependence of the method of cognition on the nature of the world being comprehended, a methodology structure is proposed that explains the applicability of logical, dialectical and antinomying methods of cognition to the comprehension of reality. The application of certain types of methodology is associated with the postulation of certain methods of comprehension of reality, on the basis of which the corresponding picture of the world is built (scientific, culturological, theological). Antinomying as one of the methods allows one to comprehend the unity of incompatible realities, but remains an insufficiently studied branch of methodology. The paradigms of applying the method of antinomying in the dogmas and teachings of the Orthodox Church are considered in the perspective of the formation of the modern methodology of theology