SOURCE: "Nicolas Berdyaev, the Philosopher of Personalism," in Christian Thought from Erasmus to Berdyaev, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1962, pp. 214-24.

In the following essay, Spinka traces Berdyaev's development as a thinker.

Among those who repudiate our secularist civilization most consistently, comprehensively, and vehemently is the Russian religious philosopher, Nicolas A. Berdyaev. Since his acceptance of the Christian world-view he had been a man in revolt against a world in revolt against God. Having rejected God, our era is now in the process of repudiating man, as far as his spiritual nature is concerned. This is seen in such movements as fascism and communism; for having rejected God, we are now renouncing man.

Berdyaev was born in Kiev of an old aristocratic family, and although in opposition to it, he retained the best features of his aristocratic upbringing throughout his life. His father, a retired officer in the Cavalier Guard, placed...