Cosmological Aspect in the Contemporary Ukrainian Theological Discourse: the Controversy of the Phenomenological-poetic and Analytical-philosophical School

Abstract

There is a confrontation between phenomenological-poetic and analytical-philosophical ways of understanding the relations of “man-universe” in modern Ukrainian theology. The predominance of the first is related to the Orthodox theological culture, which is still a kind of idealism, albeit in post-metaphysical clothing. For Oleksandr Filonenko, the universe is a context for the development of the theoretical anthropological reality. Serhii Sannikov criticizes such a theology, believing that the universe already exists in God’s Logos. Understanding the universe as created for God-man’s synthesis points to the decisive influence of Russian religious philosophy on the theory of these Ukrainian theologians. However, the influence of the modern Protestant theologian Thomas F. Torrence is important. Ukrainian analytical natural theology of Baptist Fedir Stryzhachuk and Catholic Andrii Baumeyster creatively develops the Plantinga and Swinburne’s theory. This theology makes possible to reject critically such idealistic theories, pointing out the possible consequences for the society of theological utopianism. In this respect, Ukrainian theologians re-actualize of Karl Barth’s criticism for the natural theology; however, show that analytical natural theology can avoid Barth’s arguments. The construction of post-metaphysical natural theology in Ukraine opens up new opportunities for the dialogue between science and religion, philosophy and theology.