2024/2025
Confessions, Churches, Diasporas: Religions and Religiosity in Modern Russia
Type:
Mago-Lego
Delivered by:
School of Politics and Governance
When:
1, 2 module
Open to:
students of all HSE University campuses
Instructors:
Yulia Karpich
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
6
Course Syllabus
Abstract
“Confessions, Churches, Diasporas: Religions and Religiosity in Modern Russia” is a survey course with a conceptual and problem-focused approach. It is based on current Russian and international Religious Studies research. This course allows students to look at the religious map of modern Russia from an interdisciplinary perspective, taking into account insights from geography, history, sociology and philosophy of religion, as well as from contemporary anthropological studies. The course examines religiosity in Russia from a historical angle and explores its manifestations in current Russian socio-political life. It foregrounds questions regarding experience in the religious sphere, and of religious identity and its significance in the contemporary lives of people in Russia.
Learning Objectives
- to provide a general introduction to the field and main concepts for understanding the presence of religions (confessions, churches, diasporas) and religiosity in Modern Russia: historical context and current developments; personal, societal, and institutional dimensions;, influence on social-political life
- to make students aware of interdisciplinary approaches to studying issues concerning religion and religiosity
- to provide skills of updating literary and intellectual background for solving current research tasks concerning confessions, churches and diasporas in Modern Russia
Expected Learning Outcomes
- to formulate the main concepts concerning religions and the position of religions in modern societies
- to describe the presence and intricacies of religions and religiosity in Modern Russia
- to highlight characteristics of "traditional" religions in Modern Russia
- to identify the features of political influence on national and religious problems in Russia
- to identify the influence of religion on personhood, society and politics in Russia
Course Contents
- Religion: concepts and modern interpretations
- Religion and politics in theoretical perspective
- Secularization, secularism and multiple secularities
- State and church
- Religiosity and political attitudes
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 2nd module0.4 * Presentation + 0.3 * Practical assignment + 0.3 * Active participation in discussions
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- Carlson, L. F. (2017). The Oxford Handbook of the Study of Religion. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 85(4), 1155–1157. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfx053
- Mikhail Smirnov. (2015). The Sociology of Religion in Russia: two observations. Вестник Православного Свято-Тихоновского Гуманитарного Университета: Серия I. Богословие, Философия, (3), 71. https://doi.org/10.15382/sturI201453.71-80
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Luhmann, N., & Kieserling, A. (2013). A Systems Theory of Religion. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1519312