The problem of personhood in the philosophy of archpriest Sergey Bulgakov and the issue of theological personhood in the 20th century

In this article, the author examines the statement of the problem of personhood the in philosophical and theological works of Fr. Sergey Bulgakov in the context of issue of theological personhood in the 20th century. Te first part of Bulgakov's “Chapters on the Trinity”, which were published at the end of 1920's, are considered as a basic text, where the views on personhood of the Russian thinker are stated most clearly. In connection with this statement, questions about the origins of Bulgakov's personalism and its correlation with such elements of his thinking that give a reason for him to be criticized for impersonalism (primarily, his sophiology) are reviewed. In the search for answers to these questions, the author analyses the texts of the pre- revolutionary period of Bulgakov's work: From Marxism to Idealism (1903), Two Cities (1911), Philosophy of Economy (1912) and Unfading Light (1917). Tis analysis makes possible exposing those tendencies of modern thought that determined the growth of personalism as a style of philosophical and theological thinking and to discover some immanent problems of personalistic theology