Information on the thesis

The characteristics and main factors of formation of the сhristological experience within the limits of the emigration Shevchenko studies are first discovered; the main types and sporadic tendencies of сhristological Shevchenko studies experience are defined, determined and analyzed in the thesis. The diaspora Shevchenko studies as a historiographic and metacritical object is presented. It is found out that the diaspora scholars of the postwar period, who continued the methodology of the first interpreters of T. Shevchenko, contributed greatly to the preservation of the scientific and philosophical vector of the poet’s understanding during the colonial period (in the conditions of the «double-edgedness» of the Ukrainian cultural life).

A number of peculiarities of emigration Shevchenko studies are explained. Firstly, the publications were frequently the answer to the forgery of T. Shevchenko’s art in Soviet Ukraine. Secondly, the lack of many primary sources and new studies weakened the quality of the works. Thirdly, the emphasis was on the Christian and national-centric motives of Kobzar’s poetry as a desire to fill the lacunae in Shevchenko studies, because in Soviet Ukraine, only the researches on the revolutionary democracy, rhythm, stanzion, genre specifics, and style of T. Shevchenko’s poetry were «permitted». Fourthly, the peak of the Shevchenko studies dates back to the 1960s – to commemorate the 150^th birth anniversary and the 100^th death anniversary of the poet. Fifthly, the poet’s work has been interpreted by the people of different ages, education, and activity, who were not always the literary critics, explaining why the metacritical heritage of diaspora scholars has a different value – from truly valuable scientific phenomena to the works that are regarded as the facts of history. Sixthly, the dialogue between the researchers from mainland Ukraine and diaspora authors was indirect and difficult, as well as scientific and controversially polemical. Seventhly, the domination of the essayistic or scholarly essayistic style of emigration scholars’ researches became an answer to the challenges of the rapid post-war era, when science developed in the unconventional conditions. Eighthly, the Church had a major impact.

Hence the validity of using Christology as a theoretical and methodological basis of the research is logically implied. It is noted that there is no generally accepted theory of the сhristological interpretation as a literary hermeneutic methodology in the Ukrainian humanitarian literature but an explication of this concept, offered by P. Ivanyshyn, is rather productive. Having considered theological, philosophical, and hermeneutic experiences, the researcher gave a broad and universal methodological definition of the Christian hermeneutics (identical to the Christian exegesis) as «a strategy for the interpretation of phenomena and laws of being from the point of view of Christianity», and more specifically as «a theory and practice of interpreting artistic and literary phenomena from the point of view of Christian spirituality».

According to the types of social consciousness and ideological and methodological guidelines in diaspora Shevchenko studies, it is possible to distinguish three main types of сhristological experience: literary type in V. Barka’s, L. Biletskiy’s, Yu. Boyko’s, T. Pasichnik’s, L. Plyushch’s, V. Yaschun’s writings; religious-philosophical type to which D. Buchinskiy, D. Koziy, I. Ogienko belong; political-philosophical type, represented mainly by D. Dontsov’s works. The sporadically сhristological aspect is presented in a number of other works: in nationalist-hermeneutic discourse by E. Malanyuk, political-culturological by R. Bzhesky, synthetic-nationalistic by V. Domanitsky, and universalist-ethical by Yu. Sherek and G.Grabovich. Such a division is dictated by the desire to structure the inheritance of the scholars, who, being different in education (philologists, literary scholars, philosophers, spiritual persons, lawyers, and politicians), in one way or another, worked in line with the сhristological interpretation.

Key words: christology, essayism, hermeneutics, national centrism, interpretation, diaspora, Shevchenko studies.