Russia

“Let Your Lamps Be Ready”: Individual Destiny and Collective Identity in Eschatological Perspective (the Case of the Moscow Spiritist Circle)

The aim of this study is to highlight the links between eschatological ideas and social/ethical beliefs of the Moscow spiritist circle who viewed their fellowship as a religious eschatological community. Eschatological doctrine of the group could be characterized both as “catastrophic” and “progressive” millennialism. Eschatological social project suggested the elimination of the border between the earthly and heavenly realms and a shift towards egalitarian social model through a total renewal of the present world.

The Early History of the Hristovschina: From an Ecstatic Movement to a Confessionalized Sect

This article considers the emergence of the sect of Khlysty. Sources that were not previously used in the study of this movement (investigative documents of Streltsy riots, the case of queen Evdokia, Major Glebov and others) allow a better reconstruction of the environment in which the shaping of the movement took place, its structure and early history.

Perception of Islam in the Russian Society: Comparative Dimension

Unlike in Western Europe, there is no demand for exclusion of Muslims from the Russian “political market.” There are two reasons for this: the “autochthonous” nature of Islam in Russia and the specific features of the current political system. Due to these two factors, parties with an openly Islamophobic agenda are unlikely to emerge, and public articulation of negative attitudes toward Islam and Muslims is hampered. At the same time, Russia is experiencing tensions similar to those in Western European societies.

Religious Culture or Invitation to Religion: What Are the New Textbooks About?

School courses in the basics of religious cultures introduced recently into the Russian federal curriculum raise many questions: how and in what way religion can be taught in secular school; whether the course should be monoconfessional or based on comparative religious studies; what its goal should be teaching about religion or an invitation to religion; whether the course should be chosen with respect to ethnic background or whether it can be optional; whether it should be a short course or an extensive one covering the entire educational period; what the content of the

What Is the Scientific Status of Theology as a Discipline? Round-Table in the Editorial Office of the Journal

“In contrast to theology, the scientific axioms are only local and ‘technical’…”

The Constitutional Theocracy of Lubsan-Samdan Tsydenov: an Attempt to Establish a Buddhist State in Transbaikalia (1918–1922)

Celestial Reflections: an Outline of Contemporary Astrology

The article offers a short historical-analytical survey of some general trends of modern Western astrology, by discussing changes and continuities of astrological worldview with short excurses into a number of astrological systems found in the modern Russian religious landscape.

Counteracting „Religious Extremism“: the Russian State in Search for Responses to the Challeges of Desecularization

Some Aspects of Desecularization in Post-Soviet Russia

The article deals with desecularization in post-Soviet Russia as a backlash of massive secularization in the Soviet Union. Author presents analysis of different aspects of secularization typical to communist countries such as «hyper-privatization of religion» and what he calls «distillation of the religious consciousness.» He then explores special features of religion’s revival in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet system.

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