Sergei Bulgakov, the Fall, and the Problem of a Violent Creation

The traditional view of creation depicts an original Edenic state, free from death and predation, but contemporary evolutionary theory challenges this perspective. The existence of death, predation, and extinction long before humanity raises questions about the character of God and the origins of these phenomena. To reconcile the disparaging antimony between evolution’s violent history and a doctrine of the Fall, Sergei Bulgakov proposed a meta-historical Fall that transcends empirical history, involves both angelic and Edenic realms, and stands beyond the confines of scientific analysis. By incorporating evolutionary science into his sophiology, Bulgakov can situate both the Fall and evolutionary history in a wider cosmic scope in which evolution is perceived as the manifestation of a divine inner plan within the midst of fallen conditions. This paper concludes with a proposal for overcoming Bulgakov’s strong anthropocentric tendencies by emphasizing a stronger understanding of the world-soul with an appeal to contemporary panpsychism.