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- Abstract:
The study analyzes the doctrinal content of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s paper “The Meaning of the Word ‘Earth’ in the Gospels”, as well as the network of contexts (textual, ideological, biographical) in which it was created. It is noted that Ivanov’s paper is not in the strict sense a philological or theological study of the meaning of the lexeme “earth” in the Gospels, and Ivanov’s thesis concerning the centrality of the “question of earth” for Christianity find no support in Christian dogmatics. Presuppositions from which Ivanov’s reasoning starts are discussed: he postulates the existence of different degrees of initiation into mystical mysteries and recognizes esoteric revelations unknown to the “outer” church. It is demonstrated how the concepts of Merezhkovsky and his mysticism of sex are combined in Ivanov’s paper with the interpretation of the Gospel of John. It is shown that among the sources of Ivanov’s exegetical schemes there are occult mythologems and interpretations of the Gospel of John, borrowed from R. Steiner. The contrast between the doctrinally heterogeneous content of the paper and the deliberately traditional form of its presentation is pointed out. It is demonstrated that certain mythologems created by Ivanov are plot invariants externalized in different forms in his other texts. To clarify the concepts underlying Ivanov’s exegetical reasoning, the topics discussed are analyzed in the context of his other writings, drawing on evidence from correspondence, memoirs, records of oral conversations.
- Keywords: Vyacheslav Ivanov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Gospel of John, Rudolf Steiner, Eugenia Gertsyk, Anna R. Mintsloff, exegesis, esotericism, mysticism of sex, anthroposophy
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