VARIA

Armenian Protestantism and the Religious Crisis in Shamakhi (1840s–1860s): Toward the Question of Russian Imperial Confessionalism

This article is dedicated to the initial period of the history of Armenian Protestantism in the Russian Empire. It characterizes the basic principles of Russian confessional policy concerning Armenians, such as the state’s support of the Armenian Apostolic Church and its opposition to Catholic and Protestant propaganda among Armenians. This article discusses the background of the Armenian Protestant movement and reveals that it was due to the activity of American missionaries in the Ottoman Empire and of the Basel Missionary Society in Russian Transcaucasia.

Academic Approaches in the Study of Church Buildings in Urban Space: A Typology

This article is devoted to an analysis of scholarly literature dealing with church buildings in contemporary urban space, both outside and inside Russia. Five analytical approaches were defined: historical, sociological, spatial, theological, and economic. In the historical approach, a church building is taken by itself, with no active relation to the social environment. In the sociological approach, the social processes around the church become central. The theological approach is similar, but here the focus is on the spiritual dimension of church activities.

The Problem of Religious Conversion on the Example of Phenomenological Movement in Germany

This article looks at the origins of phenomenological investigations into the problem of religion. Reinach’s Aufzeichnungen drew the attention of Göttingen phenomenologists toward religious experience; at the same time the philosophical discussion was accompanied by the active interest of Husserl’s students in Christianity. This article summarizes psychological research into the problem of religious conversion before reconstructing the history of phenomenological religiosity.

Religious Tradition in Today’s Society: Theoretical Analysis

This article analyzes problems of preservation and reproduction of religious tradition in modern society using the example of Russian Orthodoxy. The author uses the apparatus of the phenomenological philosophy of A. Schutz to analyze the translation of «high» forms of tradition. P. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus is used to describe the mechanism of the transmission of tradition in its «popular» manifestation.

The Origin of Science and Religious Experience

This article describes the «beginning of science», that initial actof thought, through which scientific research begins. It is also demonstrated that the experience of the subject accompanying this act of thought is close to the religious experience. The specific scientific use of language and related ontological assumptions are analyzed. A comparison of language and the ontology of science with language and the ontology of utilitarian practices is made. Description is considered as the language typically used for science. Description is opposed to instruction.

There Is Nothing New under the Sun: The Concept of “Gnosis” in Studies of Western Esotericism

This article analyzes the tradition of using the category of «gnosis» in studies of Western esotericism. The origins of the understanding of «gnosis» as a special form of spiritual experience is related to non-traditional religiosity connected with the works of the members of the Eranos circle (H-C. Puech, G. Quispel, H. Corbin). Because of Corbin, the category of «gnosis» appeared in A. Faivre’s concept of Western esotericism as a form of thought. At the same time, among American researchers gnosis became a central category in the description of Western esotericism.

God’s Self-Identification in Exodus 3.14: «I am THE BEING» or «I am who I am»? Modern Exegesis and Ancient Grammar

The article compares two interpretations of God’s self-definition in Exodus 3:14, namely (a) the traditional «ontological» interpretation («I am the One Who really is»), which is represented in the Septuagint and patristic exegesis, as well as in the standard Russian (so-called Synodal) translation, and (b) the «apophatic» interpretation («I am what I am»), which is predominant in modern exegesis and modern translations. Analysis of the Hebrew text suggests that the «apophatic» reading reflects the original understanding of Exodus 3:14 in its pre-Hellenistic context.

“The New Course” in Stalin’s Religious Policy and the Church Context within the Occupied Region of Leningrad (1943–1944)

Based on church documents and eyewitnesses’ memories, the author attempts to present how the Stalin’s “New Course” religious policy influenced church life under German occupation within Leningrad region from 1943 to 1944. The reinstatement of the Moscow patriarchate and the growing legality of the Russian Orthodox Church allowed the Soviet government to employ the religious factor in its solution to burning political issues. This was especially true within national outlying districts that were not included in the USSR till 1940.

The Image of the Sun in Georges Bataille’s Philosophy of the Sacred

This article considers the image of the sun in Georges Bataille’s philosophy and its position in relation to his theory of the sacred. The author puts forward the hypothesis that the sun as a conceptual metaphor accumulates meanings, notions, and intuitions that are later attributed to the sacred and are finally inscribed in its composition.

Religion and Identity in Buryatia: Competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in Late Imperial Russia (On Materials from St. Petersburg Archives)

This paper discusses the political importance of religious identity in the context of competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in the Buryat spiritual space in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Christianization of Buryats as well as other non‑Russians in the remote regions of Russia seemed a necessary tool for strengthening the borders of the empire, which were under threat from Qing China.

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