On the Christian understanding of the concept of people and nationality – problems of its philosophical and historical use

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleЗа християнското разбиране на понятието за народ и народност – проблеми на философската и историческата му употреба
3. Language term Bulgarian
4. lemma author Nachev, Ivaylo
5. lemma category Ecumenism and dialogue > Westernism and anti-westernism - Concepts of knowledge and modes of reasoning > Materialism/Idealism - Culture and national identities
6. Publication date 2005
7. lemma work Чурешки, Стефан [Author]. On the Christian understanding of the concept of people and nationality – problems of its philosophical and historical use
8. lemma manifestations Christianity and Culture
9. Keywords atheism - christian approach to history
10. Lemma body

    1. The author, a historian specialized in ancient and medieval history, provides a historical and semantic analysis of the concept ”people” (“народ”) and a number of widely used in the humanities related terms. The evolution of the concepts was examined in several epochs, including Ancient Greece, Rome, Byzantium and Medieval Bulgaria.

       St. Chureshki who had published several books on the philosophy of history and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church suggested the need of a general review from a Christian perspective and adaptation in line with the Biblical language of notions used in the Bulgarian humanities. He proposed the careful study of the Slavic notions from the Bible and their comparative analysis with the Greek and Latin notions. 

       As an example for an ill-fated linguistic novelty was given the “promiscuous introduction” in contemporary Bulgarian works of the term “ethnos” (“етнос”), the various meanings of which for the Ancient writers were also analyzed.  Arguing from the position of a fervent supporter of an Eastern Orthodox approach to the national history, the author suggested that the true meaning of the Slavic word “народ”, denoting the firm unity of people connected with a land, ruler and the Christian faith, has been distorted by the secular ideologies after the French Revolution that marked the successful advance of the concept of “nation” („нация”), a “dangerous word” according to the author.  In that time subtle social and political thinkers used sciences as chemistry, physics and biology to coin new terminology. Approaches form the exact sciences were applied in interpretations, but according to the author materialism clashed with the spiritual and idealistic nature of Christianity. Substance and soul collided in the modern epoch and these tensions could explain the catastrophes of the 20 century.  According to the author, atheistic views were intruded through ideas of revolution and nation on the Bulgarian consciousness, promoted as well by the technical and evolutionistic approach in education. This resulted into erosion of the Christian and biblical idea about the national community, which is better expressed by the term “народ”, a more meaningful concept in the local context and also a vehicle for spiritual unity.