Prof. Dmitry Shmonin, Dr. of Sciences (History of Philosophy), director of the Institute of Theology of St. Petersburg State University, editor-in-chief of the journal "Issues of Theology», chairman of the Expert council on theology of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, member of the Commission for the Development of theological, religious and spiritual-moral education of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation.
Dmitry Viktorovich Shmonin was born on January 20, 1968, in the village of Yelizovo, Kamchatka region, to a military family.
In 1985 he graduated from high school in Leningrad. After serving in the Soviet army (1986-1988) he studied at Leningrad (St. Petersburg) State University, the Philosophy Department of which he graduated with honors in 1994. His wife and daughter are graduates, respectively, of the Department of Biology and the Department of Psychology at St. Petersburg University.
In 1997 at the Department of Philosophy of St. Petersburg State University D.V. Shmonin defended his PhDdissertation (the title of the work was "Metaphysics of Francisco Suarez: from Medieval Scholasticism to the Philosophy of the Modern Age"). There he also successfully defended his thesis on "The Second Scholasticism of the 16th - early 17th Century: Cultural Context, Metaphysical Foundations, Place in the History of Thought" (2003).
From 1993 he worked as a school teacher, and from 1996 he held professorial, teaching and administrative positions at universities in St. Petersburg and Moscow, including the positions of Assistant, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Philological Studies of St. Petersburg State University (1999 - 2011). From 2009 to the present, he has been a professor at the Department of Theology of St. Petersburg Orthodox Theological Academy. From 2016 to 2022 he held a position of Vice-Rector for Research at Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate and Doctoral Studies (Moscow).
From 2005 to the present Dmitry Shmonin has been working as a member of different dissertation councils, various state and public expert bodies, editorial boards and councils of scientific periodicals. He has also been a thesis supervisor (scientific consultant) of six successfully defended PhD dissertations and three DSci theses.
From 2016 to 2019 D.V. Shmonin was an Academic Secretary of the Expert Council of the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia in Theology. In 2019 he was appointed Chairman of the Expert Council of the Higher Attestation Commission on Theology. In 2022 by Order of the Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education of Russian Federation D.V. Shmonin was confirmed anew as Chairman of the Expert Council.
In August 2022, D.V. Shmonin took charge of a newly established Institute of Theology at St. Petersburg State University.
Prof. D.V. Shmonin is the author of more than 140 works on the history of philosophical and theological thought, history, philosophy and theology of education. He classified the main educational paradigms as major historical forms of education directly related to the value and worldview foundations of the respective eras, with particular attention to the Christian educational paradigm and its significance in modern education. In recent years, D.V. Shmonin has been developing the concept of theology of education, revealing the potential of Orthodox theology and pedagogy, as well as theological doctrines of traditional religions (confessions) in education and upbringing.
The main results of scientific and pedagogical research of D.V. Shmonin are reflected in his published works, among which are the following:
Monographs and collections of articles
Shmonin, D.V. Fokus metafiziki. Porjadok bytija i porjadok poznanija v filosofii Fransisko Suaresa [The Focus of Metaphysics. The Order of Being and the Order of Cognition in the Philosophy of Francisco Suarez]. St. Petersburg, 2002;
Shmonin, D.V. V teni Renessansa: vtoraja sholastika v Ispanii [In the Renaissance Shadow: the Second Scholasticism in Spain]. St. Petersburg: SPbGU Press, 2006;
Shmonin, D.V. (ed.). Sholasticheskij racionalizm v istorii myshlenija: ot srednih vekov k novomu vremeni [Scholastic Rationalism in the History of Thought: From the Middle Ages to the Modern Age]. St. Petersburg: RHGA Press, 2013 (in co-authorship with G.V. Vdovina, N.L. Mushelishvili, R.V. Savinov);
Shmonin, D.V. O filosofii, bogoslovii i obrazovanii [On Philosophy, Theology and Education]. St. Petersburg: RHGA Press, 2016;
Shmonin, D.V., Trimbl U. (eds.) Teologija i obrazovanie [Theology and Education]. St. Petersburg: RHGA Press, 2017;
Shmonin, D.V. Tehnologija blaga: ocherki teologii obrazovanija [The Technology of Good: Essays on the Theology of Education]. Moscow: Poznanie Press, 2018;
Shmonin, D.V. Tajna otveta: vvedenie v racional'nuju teologiju [The Mystery of the Answer: An Introduction to Rational Theology]. St. Petersburg: SPbDA Press, 2021.
Textbooks and educational manuals
Shmonin, D.V. (ed.) Filosofija zapadnoevropejskogo Srednevekov'ja [Philosophy of the Western European Middle Ages]. St. Petersburg: SPbGU Press, 2005. (in co-authorship with O.E. Dushinym, R.V. Svetlovym, A.G. Pogonjajlo, L.V. Cypinoj);
Shmonin, D.V. Vvedenie v srednevekovuju filosofiju. Patristika [Introduction to Medieval Philosophy]. St. Petersburg: SPbGU Press; RHGA Press, 2008 (2nd ed. - 2010, 3rd ed. - 2013);
Religiovedenie [Religious studies] / Ed by. A. Ju. Rahmanina. Moscow: Jurait Press, 2016 (Shmonin D.V., coauthor) reprints - 2018, 2019, 2020;
Shmonin, D.V. Teologija i universitet. Uchebnoe posobie dlja aspirantov [Theology and University. Manual for Postgraduates]. Moscow: MARHI Press, 2022.
Articles:
Shmonin, D. European Scholasticism in Orthodox Thought: The Reception of the Scholastic Tradition in Eighteenth-century Russia, in Jaarboek 2000, Thomas Instituut te Utrecht. Utrecht, 2001. P.31-41;
Shmonin, D. La influencia de la escolástica española en la filosofía rusa de la primera mitad del siglo XVIII, in Cuadernos salmantinos de filosofía. 2003. Vol. XXX. P. 111‑116. [In Spanish];
Shmonin, D. Stefan Jaworski y su “Agonum philosophicum” en el contexto de la escolástica postmedieval: un ejemplo ”individual”, in Causalidad y libertad e otras cuestiones filosóficas del Siglo de Oro español / Cuadernos de pensamiento español, no 42 (2011 (1)), pp. 150-156. [In Spanish];
Shmonin, D. Institutionalization of Philosophy in Russia: the First Universities in the 18th century, inInnovazione filosofica e università tra Cinquecento e primo Novecento - Philosophical Innovation and the University from the 16th Century to the Early 20th (La filosofia e il suo passato) / Gr. Piaia - M. Forlivesi (ed.). Padova: CLEUP, 2011, pp. 165-173;
Shmonin, D. Theology in Secular and Denominational Universities in Contemporary Russia: Problems and Prospects for the Development of Religious Education, in Islamic Education in Secular Societies / Ednan Aslan, Margaret Rausch (eds.)., Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien: Peter Lang edition 2013. (Wiener Islamstudien. Bd. 4), pp. 237-246;
Shmonin, D. La escolástica postmedieval y la filosofía profesional en los centros docentes rusos del siglo XVIII, in Los fundamentos antropológicos de la ley en Suárez, en J. A. García Cuadrado (ed.), Eunsa, Pensamiento Medieval y Renacentista, Pamplona, 2014, pp. 235-247. [In Spanish];
Shmonin, D. Religion and Education in Contemporary Russia: the Dynamics of Resent Years, in Analysis ISPI, 2014, No 233;
Shmonin, D. Citizenship Education in Russia: Between “Patriotism” and “Spirituality”, in Islam and Citizenship Education / Aslan, Ednan, Hermansen, Marcia (eds.), Wiesbaden: Springer, 2015, pp. 273-282;
Shmonin, D. Religia i oswiata: doswiadczenie aksiologiczno-kulturologiznego modelu, in Jesus Christus w Rosji wczoraj i dzis. Lublin: KUL, 2015. – 582 s. S. 102-105 [in Polish];
Shmonin, D. Theology and Scholastics: Brinks of Philosophical Interpretations // Voprosy Filosofii, Vol. 12 (2019), pp. 64–73. [in Russian];
Svetlov, R, Shmonin, D. Rational Theology in Polemic Strategies of Early Christian Apologues, in Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2020, vol.13, No 8. pp. 1398-1404.