Babkin V.S. “Death of God” in Postsecular Context: Modern Philosophical Interpretation of Gabriel Vahanian
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2026.1.10
Vyacheslav S. Babkin
Postgraduate Student, Department of Philosophy and Theory of Law, Volgograd State University, Prosp. Universitetsky, 100, 400062 Volgograd, Russian Federation
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https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3205-1263
Abstract. Gabriel Vahanian (1927–2012) – radical Christian theologian, one of the "death of God theology" proponents. In Russia he is lesser known than Thomas Altizer, another member of the same movement. Nonetheless, G. Vahanian's original thought constructs provide a non-trivial point of view on the "death of God" meaning in the philosophy of culture context. Although not all of G. Vahanian's ideas are relevant to the modern cultural situation and none of his predictions have proven to be true, the general characterization of his times as post-Christian deserves attention. While thinking of "death of God" as a secularization process metaphor, G. Vahanian, unlike other death of God theologians, critically assesses its consequences. According to G. Vahanian, Christianity, to a large degree, lost its positions after paradoxically inspiring the secularization process and getting involved in it. As a result, waiting for absolute eschatological justice was replaced with attaining relative justice via political mechanisms inside history. God has become a Christian culture artifact of little significance instead of being a mystical source of both individual human fate and collective mankind fate. Faith, risky dedication, and part of human-God relations, transformed into "religiosity" – merely one sphere of a modern civilized person's life who is sheltered from risks stemming from communication with God. Further, it is demonstrated that G. Vahanian's views on modern Christianity and its future are characteristic of peculiar dialectics. It is concluded that the theologian himself was not entirely sure how much constructive potential Christianity still has and whether the current situation can be reversed. The final part is dedicated to the heuristic potential that G. Vahanian's "death of God theology" has for the description of our modern postsecular situation.
Key words: death of God, postsecularism, post-Christian culture, religiosity, faith, death of God theology.
Citation. Babkin V.S. "Death of God" in Postsecular Context: Modern Philosophical Interpretation of Gabriel Vahanian. Logos et Praxis, 2026, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 98-104. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/lp.jvolsu.2026.1.10
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