Religion and politics in Russia : a reader / edited by Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Balzer, Marjorie Mandelstam.

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religion.

Russia (Federation)--Religion--21st century.

Russia (Federation).

Russia (Federation)--Religion--20th century.

Religion and politics--Russia (Federation).

Religion and politics.

Physical Description:

xxxi, 319 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Armonk, N.Y. : M.E. Sharpe, [2010]

Summary:

Russia is not only vast, it is also culturally diverse, the core of an empire that spanned Eurasia. In addition to the majority Russian Orthodox and various other Christian groups, the Russian Federation today includes large communities of Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and followers of many new and traditional religious identities. All are in a state of ferment; only four are legally recognized: Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism.

This collection provides entry into the diversity of Russia's religious communities. Marjorie Balzer's introduction illuminates the political, social, and cultural-anthropological dimensions of the subject. The book is then organized by religious tradition with an introduction to each group of readings, all of which were originally translated from Russian for special issues of the noted journal Anthropology and Archaeology of Eurasia.

The authors include ethnologists, sociologists, political analysts, and religious leaders from many regions of the Federation. They analyze the changing dynamics of religion and politics within each community, and in the context of the current drive to recentralize both political and religious authority in Moscow. Coverage extends from the reassertions of Russian Orthodoxy to the influence of Christian missionaries to stirrings in Russia's many non-Christian communities, both old and new.

Contents:

Part I Christianity: Orthodoxy and Others

1 Russia: Trends in Orthodox Religiosity in the Twentieth Century (Statistics and Reality) / Kira V. Tsekhanskaia

2 Icon in the Home / Kira V. Tsekhanskaia

3 People of the Schism (1667-2007) / Oleg L. Shakhnazarov

4 Russian Lutheranism: Between Protestantism, Catholicism, and Russian Orthodoxy / Sergei Filatov, Aleksandra Stiopina

5 Religious Searching and New Religious Organizations / G. V. Eremicheva

6 The Catholic Community of St. Petersburg: The Phenomenon of Conversion and the Transformation of Power Relations / Ia. B. Moravitskii

Part II Islam: Sunnis and Shi'ites in Cultural Perspective

7 "Folk Islam" and Muslim Youth of the Central and Northwest Caucasus / Akhmet A. Yalykapov

8 For Us, Religion Is Life / Tamara Sivertseva

9 Anyone for Polygamy? A Marriage Boom in Ingushetia Is Not Expected / Abu Gadaborshev

10 Islam and Muslims in Contemporary Tatarstan / Roza M. Musina

Part III Judaism: From Persecution to Revival

11 Who Are Those Mountain Jews? / Mikhail Chlenov

12 Russian Jews: The Confessional Situation in the Late Twentieth Century / Semen Ia. Kozlov

13 Judaism Throughout the Commonwealth of Independent States? / Semen Charnyi

Part IV Buddhism: Cultural Variations

14 Lamaism / Natalia L. Zhukovskaia

15 The Revival of Buddhism in Buryatia: Problems and Prospects / Natalia L. Zhukovskaia

16 Buddhists of Russia at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century / Natalia L. Zhukovskaia

17 Lamaism in Kalmykia / Elza P. Bakaeva

Part V Old and New Religious Movements: Burkhanism and Falun Gong

18 Burkhanism in Gorny Altai / Liudmilla I. Sherstova

19 The Phenomenon of "White Faith" in Southern Siberia / Andrei Vinogradov

20 Activity of the Chinese Religious Movement Falun Gong in Russia / Liudmilla A. Kravchuk

Part VI Shamanism: Syncretism and Revival of Traditional Worldviews

21 Traditional Religious Beliefs of the Peoples of Sayano-Altai and Problems of Religious Syncretism / Olga M. Khomushku

22 The Teleut Ritual Chymyr: Exorcism and Explanation / Dmitri A. Funk.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780765624147

0765624141

OCLC:

320697445

Publisher Number:

99935904191