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Negative theology and science in the thought of Semyon Frank

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Abstract

Semën Frank (1877–1950) considered the Universe as the “all-unity.” According to him, everything is a part of the all-unity, which has a divine character. God is present in the world, but his nature is incomprehensible. In this article I analyze two consequences of Frank’s panentheistic view of the relation between science and theology. Firstly, the limits of scientific knowledge allow recognition of the mystery of the world and the transcendence of God. Secondly, Frank claimed that nature is a “trace” of God and the manifestation of the absolute reality, i.e. the all-unity. As a result, both science and theology lead to the knowledge of God, although we cannot understand His essence.

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Notes

  1. In this context Nicolas of Cusa used the similar expressions unus et omnia or omnia uniter. See Nicolai de Cusa (1932), p. 48.

  2. Frank (1983), p. 68.

  3. Frank (1995), p. 221; cf. Zenkovsky (1953), p. 868.

  4. Frank (1995), p. 221.

  5. Frank (1995); cf. Frank (1928), 195; Frank (1929), 239–240.

  6. Shein (1968), 16.

  7. Frank (1996a), pp. 88–90.

  8. Frank (1965), p. 44.

  9. Frank noticed that his conception correspond to the doctrine of St. Gregory of Palama about the real distinction in God an unknowable essence (ousia) and energies (energeiai) by which God manifests himself in the created world.

  10. Frank (1996b), p. 71.

  11. Frank (1925), p. 4, 6; cf. Frank (1926), 146.

  12. Frank (1925), p. 10–11.

  13. Frank (1925), p. 12.

  14. Pascal (1910), p. 97.

  15. Cf. Aristotle, Metaphisics, 982b, trans. by W.D. Ross: “For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize” (T.O.).

  16. W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 1, scene 5 (T.O.).

  17. Frank (1925), pp. 19–20.

  18. Cf. Frank (1983), p. 221.

  19. Drozdek (2006), 119.

  20. Drozdek (2006), 118.

  21. Frank (1925), pp. 18–19.

  22. Shmaliy (2005), 540.

  23. See Obolevitch (2006), pp. 269–273, 283–288.

  24. Frank (1996c), p. 581.

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Correspondence to Teresa Obolevitch.

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Obolevitch, T. Negative theology and science in the thought of Semyon Frank. Stud East Eur Thought 62, 93–99 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-010-9104-0

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