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Russia's Social Gospel
The Orthodox Pastoral Movement in Famine, War, and Revolution
Daniel Scarborough
“Russia's Social Gospel thoughtfully and expertly adds an important piece to the puzzle of this complex, historically contingent thing we call Russian Orthodoxy.”
—Patrick Lally Michelson, Indiana University
The late Russian Empire experienced rapid economic change, social dislocation, and multiple humanitarian crises, enduring two wars, two famines, and three revolutions. A “pastoral activism” took hold as parish clergymen led and organized the response of Russia's Orthodox Christians to these traumatic events. In Russia's Social Gospel, Daniel Scarborough considers the roles played by pastors in the closing decades of the failing tsarist empire and the explosive 1917 revolutions.
This volume draws upon extensive archival research to examine the effects of the pastoral movement on Russian society and the Orthodox Church. Scarborough argues that the social work of parish clergymen shifted the focus of Orthodox practice in Russia toward cooperative social activism as a devotional activity. He furthers our understanding of Russian Orthodoxy by illuminating the difficult position of parish priests, who were charged with both spiritual and secular responsibilities but were supported by neither church nor state. His nuanced look at the pastorate shows how social and historical traumas shifted perceptions of what being religious meant, in turn affecting how the Orthodox Church organized itself, and contributed to Russia's modernization.
Daniel Scarborough is an assistant professor of Russian history and religion at Nazarbayev University. His interests include the religious and intellectual history of late imperial Russia, the local history of Moscow and Tver', and Russia's Silver Age.
Praise
“A combination of solid archival research and compelling historical interpretations.”
—Irina Paert, University of Tartu
“The author’s scholarship is detailed and his prose lucid. . . . This is an exceptional chronicle.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A fascinating glimpse into an often overlooked discourse in Russian church history. . . . Scarborough has taken great pains to put the archival resources at his disposal into a coherent narrative that challenges both the conception of the late imperial Russian Orthodox Church as a monolithic entity and the inability of grassroots initiatives of the time to work toward true democratization. . . . A well-researched and broad approach that highlights fascinating aspects of Russian religious history.”
—H-Russia
“A fresh and in-depth look at activities that have previously been largely dismissed as ineffective by historians. . . . Russia’s Social Gospel presents a convincing argument based on extensive use of new primary sources.”
—The Russian Review
“Stimulating. . . . It both synthesizes the extensive scholarship of the last generation that has offered a more nuanced interpretation of church-state relations, and it makes a useful contribution by painting a dynamic picture of the Orthodox clergy and the role of the Church in the social and political life of late imperial and revolutionary Russia.”
—Journal of Church and State
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 The New Kind of Pastor
2 War, Revolution, and Famine
3 Revolt in the Seminaries
4 The Church as a School
5 The Parish Crisis
6 The Pastor as a Political Actor
7 Revolution in the Church
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
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Larger images
New in Paperback!
October 2023
LC: 2021040742
320 pp. 6 x 9
3 tables
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