The Life and Thought of Filaret Drozdov, 1782–1867

The Life and Thought of Filaret Drozdov, 1782–1867
Author: Nicholas S. Racheotes
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2018-10-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1498577601

The Life and Thought of Filaret Drozdov, 1782–1867: The Thorny Path to Sainthood is an intellectual biography of the foremost historical figure in the religious world of nineteenth-century Russia. The product of decades of archival research, most of which was in the Russian language, this is the first book-length study of St. Filaret in English. The volume is designed for specialists engaged in imperial Russian history, students in upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses, and for readers interested in Eastern Orthodox spirituality, and observers of the contemporary Russian scene who wish to understand traditional church/state relations. Deeply researched and including a formidable bibliographic component, the volume also serves as a reference guide to scholars desiring to study, at greater length, one of the many topics raised. Racheotes argues that Filaret was far more than a neo-patristic theologian steeped in the tradition of the Eastern fathers. He was simultaneously a valued monarchal apologist and a guardian of the privileges of the Russian Orthodox Church to the point of subtly resisting the state. By means of translation, select passages from sermons, letters, and official reports are available in English for the first time. Often preaching before three reigning tsars, writing or editing such monumental documents as Alexander I’s will and Alexander II’s decree emancipating the Russian serfs, leading the drive for a Russian translation of the Bible, and preparing Orthodox catechisms are but a few examples of St. Filaret’s historical importance. His centrality to policy formation with respect to the so called Old Believers, his incessant campaigns for clerical education reform, and for translation into Russian of the seminal works of Eastern theologians account for the enduring influence attributable to this Archbishop. Today, his pronouncements are enjoying a revival among a new generation of religious historians in Russia and are often adduced by a host of contemporaries arguing for Russian exceptionalism.

The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought

The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought
Author: Caryl Emerson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 736
Release: 2020-09-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0192516418

The Oxford Handbook of Russian Religious Thought is an authoritative new reference and interpretive volume detailing the origins, development, and influence of one of the richest aspects of Russian cultural and intellectual life - its religious ideas. After setting the historical background and context, the Handbook follows the leading figures and movements in modern Russian religious thought through a period of immense historical upheavals, including seventy years of officially atheist communist rule and the growth of an exiled diaspora with, e.g., its journal The Way. Therefore the shape of Russian religious thought cannot be separated from long-running debates with nihilism and atheism. Important thinkers such as Losev and Bakhtin had to guard their words in an environment of religious persecution, whilst some views were shaped by prison experiences. Before the Soviet period, Russian national identity was closely linked with religion - linkages which again are being forged in the new Russia. Relevant in this connection are complex relationships with Judaism. In addition to religious thinkers such as Philaret, Chaadaev, Khomiakov, Kireevsky, Soloviev, Florensky, Bulgakov, Berdyaev, Shestov, Frank, Karsavin, and Alexander Men, the Handbook also looks at the role of religion in aesthetics, music, poetry, art, film, and the novelists Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Ideas, institutions, and movements discussed include the Church academies, Slavophilism and Westernism, theosis, the name-glorifying (imiaslavie) controversy, the God-seekers and God-builders, Russian religious idealism and liberalism, and the Neopatristic school. Occultism is considered, as is the role of tradition and the influence of Russian religious thought in the West.

Understanding World Christianity

Understanding World Christianity
Author: Alexander S. Agadjanian
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2021-01-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1506469175

Understanding World Christianity: Russia is a broad examination of Christianity--especially Orthodox Christianity--in modern Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church is currently playing a very prominent role in Russian society and politics, and it is not possible to fully understand Russia today without it. The role of Russian Orthodoxy today is a dramatic reversal from the suppression it suffered for most of the 20th century under the Soviet regime. Based upon a wealth of recent research in multiple fields, this book examines the complexity of contemporary Russian Orthodoxy within a historical context. It first introduces the reader to what is distinctive about Orthodox Christianity in general and Russian Orthodoxy in particular, then provides an overview of the history of Christianity in Russia, its various regional expressions, the experience of representative individuals during the 20th century, an examination of modern Russian theology, and ends with an analysis of the post-Soviet relationship of religion, politics, and society. It is an ideal introduction for students and non-specialists interested in Global Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Russian Studies, and any others who wish to know how Christianity influences, and is influenced by, the Russian context.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
Author: Andrew Louth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 4474
Release: 2022-02-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0192638157

Uniquely authoritative and wide-ranging in its scope, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church is the indispensable reference work on all aspects of the Christian Church. It contains over 6,500 cross-referenced A-Z entries, and offers unrivalled coverage of all aspects of this vast and often complex subject, from theology; churches and denominations; patristic scholarship; and the bible; to the church calendar and its organization; popes; archbishops; other church leaders; saints; and mystics. In this new edition, great efforts have been made to increase and strengthen coverage of non-Anglican denominations (for example non-Western European Christianity), as well as broadening the focus on Christianity and the history of churches in areas beyond Western Europe. In particular, there have been extensive additions with regards to the Christian Church in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Australasia. Significant updates have also been included on topics such as liturgy, Canon Law, recent international developments, non-Anglican missionary activity, and the increasingly important area of moral and pastoral theology, among many others. Since its first appearance in 1957, the ODCC has established itself as an essential resource for ordinands, clergy, and members of religious orders, and an invaluable tool for academics, teachers, and students of church history and theology, as well as for the general reader.

Russia

Russia
Author: Christopher J. Ward
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2021-07-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000415392

This lucid account of Russian and Soviet history presents major trends and events from Kievan Rus’ to Vladimir Putin’s presidency in the twenty-first century. Directly addressing controversial topics, this book looks at issues such as the impact of the Mongol conquest, the paradoxes of Peter the Great, the “inevitability” of the 1917 Revolution, the Stalinist terror, and the Gorbachev reform effort. This new ninth edition has been updated to include a discussion of Russian participation in the War in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, Russia’s role in the Syrian civil war, the rise of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s confirmation as “president for life,” recent Russian relations with the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union as well as contemporary social and cultural trends. Distinguished by its brevity and supplemented with substantially updated suggested readings that feature new scholarship on Russia and a thoroughly updated index, this essential text provides balanced coverage of all periods of Russian history and incorporates economic, social, and cultural developments as well as politics and foreign policy. Suitable for undergraduates as well as the general reader with an interest in Russia, this text is a concise, single volume on one of the world’s most significant lands.

The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism

The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism
Author: Bernice M. Kaczynski
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 743
Release: 2020
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199689733

The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism addresses, for the first time in one volume, multiple strands of Christian monastic practice. Forty-four essays consider historical and thematic aspects of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions, as well as contemporary 'new monasticism'.

Thinking Orthodox in Modern Russia

Thinking Orthodox in Modern Russia
Author: Patrick Lally Michelson
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 0299298949

This collection of essays on Russian religious thought focuses on the extent to which Russian culture and ideology has been informed by the nation's roots in Orthodox Christianity.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity

The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity
Author: John Anthony McGuckin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 598
Release: 2014-02-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1118759338

Based on the acclaimed two-volume Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Wiley Blackwell, 2011), and now available for students, faculty, and clergy in a concise single-volume format An outstanding reference work providing an accessible English language account of the key historical, liturgical, doctrinal features of Eastern Orthodoxy, including the Non-Chalcedonian churches Explores the major traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy in detail, including the Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopic, Slavic, Romanian, Syriac churches Uniquely comprehensive, it is edited by one of the leading scholars in the field and provides authoritative articles by a team of leading international academics and Orthodox figures Spans the period from Late Antiquity to the present, encompassing subjects including history, theology, liturgy, monasticism, sacramentology, canon law, philosophy, folk culture, architecture, archaeology, martyrology, and hagiography Structured alphabetically and is topically cross-indexed, with entries ranging from 100 to 6,000 words

The Optina Desert and its Era

The Optina Desert and its Era
Author: Ivan Kontsevich
Publisher: Vladimir Djambov
Total Pages: 555
Release:
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

“Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Science without humanity Knowledge without character Politics without principle Commerce without morality Worship without sacrifice. https://vidjambov.blogspot.com/2023/01/book-inventory-vladimir-djambov-talmach.html Together with Christianity, the spiritual work of the ancient Egyptian hermits was also transferred to Russia, which subsequently developed among monasticism in the Byzantine Empire for more than 1000 years of its existence. In the XV century, when Russia lost touch with the Christian East, due to the invasion of the Turks, this inner work was forgotten. And when at the end of the XVIII century he was revived in Moldova by the Archdiocese Paisy Velichkovsky, it is a work that many seemed like an unprecedented innovation. Since its penetration into Russia, Optina Pustyn has been the main focus of this feat and the associated old age. In Optina, it was transmitted for about 100 years from generation to generation and was interrupted only with the defeat of this monastery by the Bolsheviks. I devoted my whole life to this topic. When at the Theological Academy I had to choose a topic for my candidate essay, I wanted to write about Optina Desert and its elders. For a candidate's essay, it is necessary to study all the literature on this topic. When I studied it, I saw that the question of the essence of old age was not completely covered in theological science. Moreover, there were incorrect and conflicting opinions. There was not even a definition of the concept of old age. Therefore, I started from the very beginning: with an explanation of spiritual work and its occurrence in history, and in particular in the spiritual life of our people, since the spiritual life of the people is connected with the spiritual life of monasticism. The fruit of this was my book "Gaining of the Holy Spirit in the ways of ancient Russia." It expresses the Orthodox worldview with a historical perspective. But this book only serves as an introduction to the main theme.

Looking East in Winter

Looking East in Winter
Author: Rowan Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2021-06-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1472989236

In many ways, we seem to be living in wintry times at present in the Western world. In this new book, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and a noted scholar of Eastern Christianity, introduces us to some aspects and personalities of the Orthodox Christian world, from the desert contemplatives of the fourth century to philosophers, novelists and activists of the modern era, that suggest where we might look for fresh light and warmth. He shows how this rich and diverse world opens up new ways of thinking about spirit and body, prayer and action, worship and social transformation, which go beyond the polarisations we take for granted. Taking in the world of the great spiritual anthology, the Philokalia, and the explorations of Russian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discussing the witness of figures like Maria Skobtsova, murdered in a German concentration camp for her defence of Jewish refugees, and the challenging theologies of modern Greek thinkers like John Zizioulas and Christos Yannaras, Rowan Williams opens the door to a 'climate and landscape of our humanity that can indeed be warmed and transfigured'. This is an original and illuminating vision of a Christian world still none too familiar to Western believers and even to students of theology, showing how the deep-rooted themes of Eastern Christian thought can prompt new perspectives on our contemporary crises of imagination and hope.