E. N. Trubetskoy's ‘Augustiniana' in the Mirror of his Contemporaries

Abstract

The article examines to Evgeny Nikolaevich Trubetskoy — the famous philosopher and jurist of the late 19^th — early 20^th century, and more specifically to his scientific research in the field of church history in the 1890s, associated mainly with the figure of one of the great early Christian thinkers and teachers of the Western Church — Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. The article briefly describes the most notable features of Evgeny Trubetskoy master's thesis “The Worldview of St. Augustine” (1892), in particular, the domestic author's criticism of the attitudes of Western Protestant and Catholic historians to the assessment of the heritage of the Christian thinker. The article notes that the historical and philosophical study by the scientist of the personality and teachings of the St. Augustine was not left without attention in the academic scientific environment, while many of the judgments expressed by representatives of the Russian secular and theological science of the late 19^th — early 20^th centuries have not lost their scientific value to the present. The article analyzes reviews and opinions on Trubetskoy master's thesis, highlighting the main critical and positive comments of his contemporaries. Separately, the article reviews Trubetskoy's doctoral thesis “The Idea of the Divine Kingdom in the works of Gregory VII and the publicists — his contemporaries” (1897), which directly continued the philosopher's study of the genesis of medieval theocracy. The author points out that Augustine acts for Trubetskoy as an important connecting figure between his two works. The author examines in detail the journal polemic of Trubetskoy with historian V. I. Guerrier in 1898-99s, followed after the jurist's doctoral dispute, one of the central issues of which concerned how fair it was to attribute Augustinian ideas to the supporters of the papal party in the confrontation of the 11^th century with the German emperors. Lastly, the author actualizes the philosopher's epistolary legacy in the context of the analysis of the contemporaries' assessments of Trubetskoy's “Au-gustiniana” — his correspondence with his brother S. N. Trubetskoy and historian A. S. Vyazigin.