SOURCE: "God-Manhood," in Nicolas Berdyaev and the New Middle Ages, James Clarke & Co., Ltd., 1945, pp. 33-58.

In the following excerpt, Lampert elucidates the concept of "God-Manhood" in Berdyaev's thought.

[The idea of God-Manhood] summarizes the quintessence of Berdyaev's thought. He begins and ends his reasoning not with God or man, but with God and man, with the God-man, with Christ and God-manhood. This defines both the content and "style" of his thought. Without bearing this in mind it is hardly possible to discern the inner motives and trace the complex thread of his argument. "Both philosophy and theology should start neither with God nor with man, but rather with the God-man. The basic and original phenomenon of life is the meeting and interaction of God and man, the movement of God towards man and of man towards God" (Freedom and the Spirit).

Men have seldom been able to...