The nature of the kingdom of God in the philosophy of Nikolay Berdyaev

Abstract

This paper investigates the nature of the kingdom of God, by analyzing the thoughts of Nikolai Berdyaev. Berdyaev mentions and refers to The Kingdom of God when considering the problems of history, time, the relationship between person and society, creativity, and especially when he specifically writes about the topics entitled Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar and The Kingdom of the Spirit and the kingdom of Caesar. According to Berdyaev, the kingdom of Caesar and the kingdom of God stand as oppos ing realities - Caesar as a symbol of materiality, power and the world and the kingdom of God, as the kingdom of another, spiritual and material order. This second kingdom, as Berdyaev established when he wrote about the metaphys ics of history, imposes itself on the kingdom of Caesar’s materiality and trans forms Caesar’s kingdom into the kingdom of God and creates a new Heaven and a new Earth within it. The nature of the kingdom of God is in transfigu ration, in the God-man and the persona-fication of reality what reflects that which Berdyaev classified as existential time. In existential time man acts in a way that transforms reality, transcending the cyclical laws of cosmic time and the linearity of historical destiny. According to Berdyaev: “The Kingdom of God cannot be conceived of by human activity alone, but it also cannot be conceived of without human activity.”, therefore, the nature of the Kingdom of God must reflect human creativity and freedom, which can in return surprise even the Creator.