Byzantine Political and Religious Orthodoxy as a Constituent of Isaac Newton's Civilisation Theory
The article is devoted to a historiographic theory of Byzantine C®saropapism developed by Sir Isaac Newton. The aim of the work is to determine the structure and characteristics of his theory and describe its most important elements. The research is highly relevant because, in Russian historiography, it is the first study of Newton's thoughts on Byzantine history. In the foreign academic community, works of Newton as a historian began to be thoroughly studied only during the past twenty years. However, even in the foreign research literature, there are almost no studies of Newton's civilisation theory dedicated to the Byzantine Empire. Therefore, this work can be considered a pioneer one. The methods and principles of archival research, as well as system and structural methods, the method of analysis and synthesis, were applied. The manuscripts of Cambridge, Jerusalem, Switzerland, US libraries are studied. The first lifetime edition of the book Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John (London, 1733) is also taken into account. A number of Newton's unpublished manuscripts concerning the history of Byzantine politics, society, culture and religion to some or other extent are studied in the article. Newton's point of view is subjected to a critical analysis, and the potential vulnerability of his theory from the historical and theological perspectives is demonstrated. It is shown that, according to Newton, the history of Byzantine society, culture and politics may be understood only by understanding the history of the development of Eastern Christianity, mainly the history of the Ecumenical Councils. At the same time, Newton puts forward an idea that the major characteristic feature of Byzantine C®sarepapism was not only managing the Church, but also modelling "artificial" politicised Christianity by the state power. According to Newton, this version of Christianity had little in common with the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Apostles. By the time of the Komnenos dynasty, this politicised Christianity gave rise to the "political Orthodoxy" in the collective consciousness of the inhabitants of the empire. In this "political Orthodoxy", the Byzantine emperor was perceived by his subjects as a divine figure, standing above the bishops in the church hierarchy, as well as a source of political power, absolutely legitimate and requiring an absolute loyalty. It is concluded that Isaac Newton Byzantine believed political and religious Orthodoxy to be an artificial construction. Newton may be also regarded as one of the Protestant New European thinkers who developed the concept of Caesaropapism.
Keywords
Byzantine Empire,
Isaac Newton,
civilisation theory,
Ecumenical (Ecumenical) Councils,
C®saropapism,
Christian Church history,
heresies,
Church fathersAuthors
| Sharov Konstantin S. | Lomonosov Moscow State University | const.sharov@mail.ru |
Всего: 1
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