The resurgent role of religion in post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia
"The authors contribute fresh field, archival, and literature research, updating aspects of the nexus of religion and politics in the post-Soviet region. . . . The scholarship is impressive." —Marjorie Balzer, Georgetown University
"The chapters in this volume represent the 'leading edge' of research in the field." —Serhii Plokhii, University of Alberta
"The essays are sympathetic and insightful analyses, from the perspectives of their disciplines. One can learn . . . about the role of religion in shaping the ethos of societies where the dominant ideology has broken down." —MISSIOLOGY: Intnl Review , #41 April 2009
In the post-Soviet environment of expanded civil freedom with great everyday uncertainty, unhappiness, injustice, and suffering, religious organizations and beliefs in Russia and Eurasia face numerous opportunities and intense challenges. Based on recent research and interdisciplinary methodologies, this volume examines how religious organizations and individuals engage the changing and troubled environment in which they live. The contributions investigate not just Russian Orthodoxy, but also Old Belief, Judaism, Islam, Buriat shamanism, and Catholicism. Among the important questions considered are how religion addresses problems of charity, memory, justice, community, morality, nationalism, democracy, and civil liberties.
Mark D. Steinberg is Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and editor of Slavic Review. He is editor (with Heather J. Coleman) of Sacred Stories: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Russia (IUP, 2007).
Catherine Wanner is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at the Pennsylvania State University and is author of Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism.
Published in association with the Woodrow Wilson Center Press
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Distribution: World
