Fundamental Theology of Sergey Sergeevich Glagolev (1865–1937), Professor of Moscow Theological Academy

The article presents the study of the legacy of Sergey Sergeevich Glagolev (1865–1937), the last professor of fundamental theology at Moscow Theological Academy of the Synodal period. Since there is no special edition of S. S. Glagolev’s full academic lecture course of fundamental theology, the study focused on reconstruction of its thematic structure based on the annual teaching reports. It was found out that his rather long creative search for a balance between apologetic and religious problematics within the framework of his teaching of fundamental theology had resulted in fixing both philosophy and history of religion as special parts of his lecture course. At the same time, they remained under the charge of fulfilling the common apologetic task of proving the truth of the Christian faith. Also analyzed are the introductory lectures carefully developed by S. S. Glagolev, in which he discussed methodological issues of fundamental theology. S. S. Glagolev’s new formulation of the cosmological proof of God’s existence, being a kind of response to I. Kant’s criticism, is considered separately. It is shown that S. S. Glagolev’s many years of scientific and teaching activities resulted in creation of his own system of fundamental theology, structurally (not thematically) somewhat different from the traditional scheme of this discipline. Advantages and disadvantages of S. S. Glagolev’s fundamental theology heritage in the context of its assessment by contemporaries are also presented. A general conclusion is that Professor S. S. Glagolev is one of the most prominent and representative figures of Russian fundamental theology of the Synodal period.