Starting with a definition of political modernity from the perspective of its greatest trial ¿
totalitarianism ¿ this study asks the question how community is conceptualized in the
contemporary Western philosophical discourse and in the Russian Orthodox intellectual
tradition. Contemporary philosophical and theological approaches in Russia develop alternative
perspectives on community and on the human subject. This study analyzes them historically and
philosophically and compares them with liberal postmodern and communitarian philosophies of
community in the West.
