HIST 330(F) Orthodoxy, State and Society in Modern Russia (Same as Religion 220)

It has often been claimed that Russia's distinctiveness, however defined and evaluated, owes much to the imprint of Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Church. Yet curiously, both are largely absent from the historiography of modern Russia, except to be caricatured as either the handmaiden or the victim of a repressive state. This course seeks to reach a fuller understanding of the impact of Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Church on the history and culture of modern Russia, and of the ability of the Church in turn to adapt to conditions of modernity, by examining the responses of the Church to a series of profound challenges that have confronted it since the early eighteenth century. Topics to be explored include the relationship of the Orthodox Church to both the Imperial Russian and the Soviet state, the response of the Church to internal dissent and demands for reform, the relationship between the Church and other religions, and the response of the Church to secularizing critics, popular religious movements, the feminization of monasticism, social and economic change, and revolutionary upheaval. The uses of Orthodoxy by artists, intellectuals, and political movements also will be examined. Discussion course.
Evaluation will be based on class participation, several short essays based on class readings, and a final self-scheduled exam. An alternative set of readings will be available for students with a reading knowledge of Russian.
Group B

Hour: W. WAGNER