The Corpus in English

A working bibliography. Nearly the whole of Bulgakov’s mature theological corpus is now available in English — the major trilogy translated by Boris Jakim for Eerdmans, the minor trilogy by Thomas Allan Smith, the economic work by Catherine Evtuhov for Yale, and a steady stream of shorter texts since. This file lists what exists, notes what does not, and proposes a reading order for readers approaching him for the first time.

Tradition: Russian Orthodox (emigration)

The Major Trilogy — On Godmanhood

All three volumes translated by Boris Jakim and published by Eerdmans, Grand Rapids:

  • The Lamb of God. Trans. Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008. (Original Agnets Bozhii, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1933.) Christology and the kenosis.
  • The Comforter. Trans. Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004. (Original Uteshitel’, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1936.) Pneumatology, including the long treatment of the Filioque.
  • The Bride of the Lamb. Trans. Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. (Original Nevesta Agntsa, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1945, posthumous.) Creation, the Church, history, and the last things.

Note that they appeared in English in reverse order of composition, which has affected their reception: the eschatological volume was in circulation for six years before the Christological one.

The Minor Trilogy

All three translated by Thomas Allan Smith, Eerdmans:

  • The Burning Bush: On the Orthodox Veneration of the Mother of God. Trans. Thomas Allan Smith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009. (Original Kupina Neopalimaya, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1927.)
  • The Friend of the Bridegroom: On the Orthodox Veneration of the Forerunner. Trans. Thomas Allan Smith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003. (Original Drug Zhenikha, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1927.)
  • Jacob’s Ladder: On Angels. Trans. Thomas Allan Smith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010. (Original Lestvitsa Iakovlya, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1929.)

The Pre-Emigration and Philosophical Works

  • Philosophy of Economy: The World as Household. Trans. and with an introduction by Catherine Evtuhov. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. (Original Filosofiya khozyaystva, Moscow, 1912; his doctoral dissertation, 1913.)
  • Unfading Light: Contemplations and Speculations. Trans. Thomas Allan Smith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012. (Original Svet Nevecherniy, Moscow: Put’, 1917 — the first extended statement of the sophiology, and the book the polemical literature most often quotes.)
  • Sergii Bulgakov: Towards a Russian Political Theology. Ed. Rowan Williams. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999. (Translated selections from the early political and economic essays, including “Karl Marx as a Religious Type,” with introduction and commentary.)
  • Icons and the Name of God. Trans. Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012; and The Icon and Its Veneration, trans. Boris Jakim, Eerdmans, 2012. (From Ikona i ikonopochitanie, Paris: YMCA-Press, 1931, and the imiaslavie — name-glorifying — material.) [Disputed: the Eerdmans 2012 volume of the icon material has circulated under more than one title; readers should verify against the publisher’s catalogue which text they have.]

The Sophiological Summaries and the Controversy Documents

  • Sophia, the Wisdom of God: An Outline of Sophiology. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1993. (First published as The Wisdom of God: A Brief Summary of Sophiology, trans. Patrick Thompson, O. Fielding Clarke, and Xenia Braikevitc. New York: Paisley Press; London: Williams & Norgate, 1937.) The single best starting point for the doctrine in Bulgakov’s own words, written for an English readership after the condemnations and deliberately compact.
  • O Sofii Premudrosti Bozhiei. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1935. Not translated in full into English. Contains the text of Moscow Ukaz No. 1651 and Bulgakov’s dokladnye zapiski in reply; portions and summaries are available in the scholarly literature (Alexis Klimoff, “Georges Florovsky and the Sophiological Controversy,” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 49, nos. 1–2 [2005]: 67–100).
  • Nikolai Berdyaev, “The Spirit of the Grand Inquisitor: On the Ukaz of Metropolitan Sergius Condemning the Theological Views of Father Sergius Bulgakov” (1935). English translation in The Wheel (wheeljournal.com).

The Later and Posthumous Works

  • The Orthodox Church. Rev. trans. Lydia Kesich. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1988. (First published in the 1930s.) His most widely read and most accessible book.
  • The Apocalypse of John: An Essay in Dogmatic Interpretation. (Written in his last years; Russian Apokalipsis Ioanna, Paris, 1948. A modern critical edition and English-language scholarly apparatus have been produced in the Fribourg Bulgakov series.)
  • Apocatastasis and Transfiguration. Trans., ed., and with an introduction by Boris Jakim; with a memoir by Sister Joanna Reitlinger. New Haven: Variable Press, 1995. (Excerpts the eschatological material of The Bride of the Lamb and prints Reitlinger’s account of his last days.)
  • The Sophiology of Death: Essays on Eschatology: Personal, Political, Universal. Trans. and ed. Roberto J. De La Noval; foreword by David Bentley Hart. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021. (Includes the 1939 essay “The Sophiology of Death,” written after his cancer operations.)
  • Avtobiograficheskie zametki [Autobiographical Notes]. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1946. Not fully translated into English; extensively quoted in the biographical literature.

What Remains Untranslated or Partially Translated

Readers should be aware of the gaps, which affect the shape of the English-language debate:

  • O Sofii Premudrosti Bozhiei (1935) — the primary documents of the controversy from Bulgakov’s side.
  • Avtobiograficheskie zametki (1946) — the autobiography.
  • Filosofiya imeni (Philosophy of the Name, written c. 1920, published Paris 1953) and Tragediya filosofii (The Tragedy of Philosophy, written c. 1920, published in German 1927).
  • Archbishop Seraphim (Sobolev)’s Novoe uchenie o Sofii (1935) and Zashchita sofianskoi eresi (1937) — the principal indictment — and Vladimir Lossky’s Spor o Sofii (1936), are likewise not available in full English translation, which means that the English-speaking reader is in the odd position of having easier access to Bulgakov than to his most substantial critics. This asymmetry should be borne in mind when weighing the English-language reappraisal (see The Reappraisal: Williams, Valliere, Gallaher).

The Sergij Bulgakov Research Centre (Forschungsstelle Sergij Bulgakov) at the University of Fribourg, directed by Barbara Hallensleben and Regula M. Zwahlen, maintains critical editions, translations, and the standard bibliography of the corpus, and has been the principal engine of publication since the 2000s.

A Reading Order

For the doctrine, briefly: Sophia, the Wisdom of God (1937/1993) — around a hundred pages, by Bulgakov, for beginners, and written after the condemnations so that it addresses them.

For the man, warmly: The Burning Bush (1927/2009) or The Friend of the Bridegroom (1927/2003).

For Orthodoxy plainly: The Orthodox Church (1988) — which is not sophiological and is a good catechetical book.

For the system: The Lamb of God (1933/2008), then The Comforter (1936/2004), then The Bride of the Lamb (1945/2002), in that order — about two thousand pages.

For the controversy: Klimoff’s 2005 article first, then this collection’s Section 05 and Section 06, then Valliere’s ch. 12 and, if available to you, Lossky’s Spor o Sofii.

For the secondary literature: Nichols, Wisdom from Above (2005) for exposition; Valliere, Modern Russian Theology (2000) for the historical frame; Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers (2015), ch. 3, for a short and reliable orientation; Gallaher, Freedom and Necessity (2016), ch. 3, for the hardest technical question.

See Also

References

  • Bulgakov, Sergius. The Lamb of God; The Comforter; The Bride of the Lamb. Trans. Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008, 2004, 2002.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. The Burning Bush; The Friend of the Bridegroom; Jacob’s Ladder. Trans. Thomas Allan Smith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009, 2003, 2010.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. Unfading Light: Contemplations and Speculations. Trans. Thomas Allan Smith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. Philosophy of Economy: The World as Household. Trans. Catherine Evtuhov. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. Sophia, the Wisdom of God: An Outline of Sophiology. Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1993.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. The Orthodox Church. Rev. trans. Lydia Kesich. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1988.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. Apocatastasis and Transfiguration. Trans. Boris Jakim. New Haven: Variable Press, 1995.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. The Sophiology of Death: Essays on Eschatology. Trans. Roberto J. De La Noval. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021.
  • Bulgakov, Sergius. The Icon and Its Veneration and Icons and the Name of God. Trans. Boris Jakim. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
  • Williams, Rowan, ed. Sergii Bulgakov: Towards a Russian Political Theology. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1999.
  • Nichols, Aidan. Wisdom from Above. Leominster: Gracewing, 2005.
  • Valliere, Paul. Modern Russian Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
  • Louth, Andrew. Modern Orthodox Thinkers. London: SPCK, 2015.
  • Gallaher, Brandon. Freedom and Necessity in Modern Trinitarian Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.
  • Klimoff, Alexis. “Georges Florovsky and the Sophiological Controversy.” St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 49, nos. 1–2 (2005): 67–100.
  • Sergij Bulgakov Research Centre (Forschungsstelle Sergij Bulgakov), University of Fribourg.