TARÉEV, MICHAIL MICHAILOVIČ. - Russian theologian and philosopher (1867-1934).
Doctor of Theology and professor of moral theology at the Moscow Ecclesiastical Academy, he was, according to Florovsky, the extremist representative of moralism in Russian theology and, according to Glubokovsky, of a subjective, individualistic, and anarchic mentality. T. sought to transform theology into a “Christian philosophy,” into a “system of Christian thought.” Alongside objective dogmatics, stripped however of its scholastic inheritance and transformed into a true science—that is, into a historical doctrine of dogmas—he recognized moral doctrine on Christianity itself as the highest discipline, though subjective in nature.
Already in his first book, *The Temptations of the God-Man as the Sole Redemptive Activity of the Entire Earthly Life of Christ, in Connection with the History of Pre-Christian Religions and of the Christian Church* (Moscow, 1892), he outlined his system. For the guiding idea of this work, he drew inspiration from Dostoevsky (the legend of the Grand Inquisitor). Decisively opposing natural and historical life to spiritual life, he distinguished between moral temptation (the force of the triple concupiscence) and religious temptation (provoked by the contrast in which man, the image of God, is subjected to the restricted conditions of this life). To redeem man, Christ enclosed His divine life within the conditions and laws of human life, that is, He humbled Himself (kenosis) and thereby conquered religious temptation.
The principal work of T. consists of the four volumes of *The Foundations of Christianity* (I, *Christ*; II, *The Gospel*; III, *Christian Contemplation of the World*; IV, *Christian Freedom*; Sergiev Posad, 1908). This was followed by a complementary volume titled *Religious Life* (Sergiev Posad, 1910-11). T.’s system drew sharp criticism from theologians; among other things, he had to defend himself against the accusation—shared with Merezhkovsky and Rozanov—of teaching the “freedom of the flesh” and false doctrines on the power of the Church, etc. His defense against these charges is collected in the book *The Philosophy of Life* (Sergiev Posad, 1916) and in a series of articles in the journal *Theological Messenger* (ibid., 2 [1917], pp. 108-16, 254-68, 385-410; cf. also the appeal of Protopriest I. L. Yanyshev to the Holy Synod, ibid., pp. 410-17). In his final book, *Christian Philosophy* (1917), T. denied the principle of the patristic tradition, which he called “Gnostic,” and asceticism, “the accursed enemies of the Russian genius,” and recognized as the sole principle in theology the Word of God.
T. sought to provide an organic, profound, and original overview of the work of Christ. He also ranks among the most noteworthy recent Russian theologians as a writer.