Authors

Maksim Demin¹;  ¹ Ruhr University Bochum, Germany

Discussion

Since 1836, psychology has been a mandatory subject in the curriculum of theological academies across the Russian Empire. This discipline presumably served two purposes: to provide students with practical knowledge of human behavior and to offer a coherent theological perspective on the nature of humanity.

My presentation is dedicated to the question of how this subject has responded to the challenges brought about by the rapid development of the natural sciences. Theologists employed by academies are often portrayed as old-fashioned and irrelevant to the public discourse of the time. I will present an opposing viewpoint, showing that some professors of these academies not only tried to interpret new scientific findings from a theological perspective but also endorsed some psychological experiments.

During the talk, I will present works by Vitaly Serebrennikov (1862-1942) as a representative example of this tendency. After studying at the St Petersburg Theological Academy and further training in Leipzig under Wilhelm Wundt, he became a professor at his alma mater and founded a psychological laboratory. 

In conclusion, I will show the dilemma theologians have faced in the attempt to reconcile modern knowledge with a confessional religious belief.