Russian philosophy and theology in Italy

Abstract

This is a critical assessment of two book-length studies of the two major figures in the history of Russian philosophy, written by prominent Italian scholars Piero Coda and Natalino Valentini and now appearing in Russian translation in the “Religious thinkers” series published by St. Andrew's Biblical Theological Institute. Both monographs adopt the theologically tinged approach typical of the Italian scholarship on Russian philosophy, with its characteristic avowal of inseparability of reason from faith and demand for ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic and Orthodox religious thinking. The works here reviewed bear ample evidence of the way Russian Philosophy gets perceived within Italian historiographical school, one of the most advanced in Europe. The publication of the books by Coda and Valentini in Russian is all the more important given the fact that Italian writing on the subject still gets relatively little attention from the Russian academic community.