The Quarterly Journal of St. Philaret’s Institute

The article is dedicated to the study of the possibility of a kenotic interpretation of one strand of contemporary naturalistic philosophy, namely the memetic naturalistic theory developed in the works of D. Dennett, R. Dawkins, and S. Blackmore. The article demonstrates the all-encompassing (claiming to offer a complete description of reality) pathos of naturalism, which is grounded in anti-theistic and anti-subject philosophical premises. The author applies, in the analysis of the philosophical presuppositions of this current, on the one hand the position of the American theist philosopher Alvin Plantinga regarding the threefold character of the contemporary philosophical situation, and on the other hand the position of the Italian postmodern philosopher Gianni Vattimo concerning the kenotic impulse that lies at the foundation of the history of Western philosophy as such. In conclusion, the author comes to the view that, contrary to Alvin Plantinga’s conviction, naturalism does not, by its very nature, constitute one of the “most implacable enemies” of theism. Considered kenotically (on the basis of kenotic methodology), naturalism opens the prospect of a theology of divine self-limitation (kenosis) in the process of the world’s creation, the development of which is not predetermined — that is, in a certain sense autonomous — and encompasses the unfolding of both physical and mental events. Of course, this interpretation is possible only on the basis of critical rethinking of the philosophical foundations of naturalism. However, the religious-philosophical and specifically theological novelty of the kenotic approach to the study of contemporary, at first glance anti-theistic philosophical tendencies consists in elaborating and recognizing diverse forms of theological discourse “outside” and “beyond” the classical metaphysical narrative.