Myrrha Lot-Borodine: networking concepts of freedom, personhood and love

Abstract

Myrrha Lot-Borodine played a central role in the “rediscovery” of the concept of “deification” in the 20th century, thereby deepening the understanding of personhood, freedom and love. This enabled encounters between eastern and western theology, while revisiting patristic thinking. This paper looks at how meetings and intellectual exchange with philosophers such as Nikolai Berdyaev and Jacques Maritain marked Lot-Borodine’s synthesis. On the one hand, I focus on the polemics with Berdyaev on slavery, freedom and eschatology. On the other, I look at how exchanges with J. Maritain revolve around conceptions of person and love, with reflections of patristic and medieval literature. Additionally, the paper inquires how Lot-Borodine’s interest in ecumenism is nourished by her disseminating ideas on love of God, freedom and contemplation in societies with Catholic public and by experiencing ecumenical meetings between Orthodox and Anglican. Myrrha Lot-Borodine appears as a cultural interpreter between the language games of philosophy, theology and literature, as well as between between eastern and western ways of engaging with human freedom and divine dynamics of grace and love.