Vasiliy Pavlovich Zubov is a towering figure in the Russian intellectual life of the twentieth century. Mainly known to Western art historians for his book on Leonardo da Vinci, he also made substantial contributions to architectural history and received the highest international recognition for his work in the history of science. In this paper I analyse his approach to history writing and in particular the methodological position he developed in opposition to German-style Geistesgeschichte. I argue that the core tenets of this position are underwritten by the strong emphasis on free will that he implicitly derived from Orthodox theology.