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DAVIDKOLBAIA
IwouldliketowritealettertoMariaAlexandrovna,theteacherin
Akhalkalaki,butIwilldoittomorrow.IneedtowritetoCaptainGam-
krelidzetoo.
TodayIwenttothelibrarytoreturnSaintPaul18byRenan.Iwanted
totakeoutTheLifeofJesus19withallmyheartbutithappenedtobelost
soItooktheotherbookbyhim,TheApostles20
Renan’snarrativestartswithresurrection,butitisclearhedoesnot
believeinit.Hedoesnotbelieveinamatterthatisacornerstoneof
Christianity.“Еслихристосневоскрес,тоипроповедьнашатщетна,
тщетнаивераваша,”21saidPaultheApostle.Renanconsidersthatthe
resurrectionisthecauseofMaryMagdalene’shallucinations;allinallhe
explainsitallegorically.Butifwemustfollowtheallegoriesandvague
dogmasweeventuallybecomeclosertotheschoolofNeo-Platonismthat
wasformalizedduringthecrisisofpolytheismonlyjusttodefendback-
ward,mossypaganism.Evennow,embeddingtheNeo-Platonistelements
intheologydoesnotindicateChristianity.ThefactisthatChristianityat
onetimeputanendtopaganism.Butallthesame,Renanavoidsdirect
explanations…No,itisnotlikethatatall.Christianityaboundswith
humanity’sdrivingforces;itisrepletewithdivinebeauties!Hundredsof
yearsmaypass,evenamillion,butitwillinevitablyfascinateourhearts,
continuetoenchantourmindsandhelptohumbleourarrogance.
Idonotagreewiththenotionthatcomparedtomoderntimes,inthe
pastthereweremanymorebelievers.спасименя,боже,еслинекуда
идтииеслиистинаумалчиваетсярадиспасениячеловечествa[Save
me,oh,God,ifthereisnowheretogoandtheTruthisbeingwithheldfor
thesalvationofhumanity]…Itistrue,thepeopleweretoosuperstitious
before;butstepbysteptheirfaithbecomesfreeofmisapprehensions.
Ibelieve,soontherenewaloftheadherentsofpurereligionmayoccur.
IfinishedreadingRenan’sSaintPaulandwhatconclusionshave
Imadeoverthisbook?Ididnotknowanythingatallabouttheauthorbe-
fore.IthasbeenonlythreemonthssinceIstartedreadinghimandIhave
beenimmenselyimpressed.Iwonderwhatobjectivestheypursuedatthe
18ЭрнестЖозефРенан,АпостолПавел(1869).
19E.Renan,LaViedeJésus,éditionrevueetaugmentée,rééditiond’aprèsla13eédition(1867),
premiervolumedel’HistoiredesOriginesduchristianisme.CalmannLévy(Paris,1895).Эрнест
ЖозефРенан,ЖизньИисуса(1863).
20ЭрнестЖозефРенан,Апостолы(transl.М.А.Шишмаревой,1907).
21“AndifChristisnotrisen,thenourpreachingisemptyandyourfaithisalsoempty”,1Corin-
thians15:14.