Vol. 1 (1) 2014 ISSN 2311 – 3448 and RELIGION STATE, CHURCH ATION R STATE, DMINIST A RELIGION UBLIC P ARTICLES BOOK REVIEWS and AND Alexander Kyrlezhev. A Post-Secular Sergei Filatov and Alexey Malashenko Conceptualization of Religion: Defining (Еds.) (2011). The Orthodox Church the Question under the New Patriarch. (Pravoslavnaia CONOMY E CHURCH Tserkov’ pri novom patriarkhe). Moscow: Dmitry Uzlaner. The Pussy Riot Case Moscow Carnegie Centre (in Russian). — and the Peculiarities of Russian Post- 416 pages. Secularism ATIONAL N Alexander Agadjanian and Kathy Rousselet Christopher Stroop. The Russian Origins (Eds.) (2011). Parish and Community in OF of the So-Called Post-Secular Moment: Today’s Orthodox Christianity: Some Preliminary Observations The Grassroots of Russian Religiosity. (Prikhod i obshchina v sovremennom CADEMY A Dmitry Rogozin. From Outsider pravoslavii: kornevaia sistema rossiiskoi to Parishioner: Religious Identity Among religioznosti). Moscow: Ves’ Mir (in the Older Generation in the Ivanovo Russian). – 368 pages. Archdiocese Mikhail Smirnov (2011). Sociology of Vol. 1 Vol. 1 (1) 2014 ESIDENTIAL Alexey Beglov. The Practice of Taking Religion: A Dictionary. (Sotsiologiia R Communion Among Orthodox religii: Slovar’). St. Petersburg: St. P (1) Parishioners in the Soviet Era Petersburg State University Press (in 2014 Russian). – 411 pages. USSIAN R R USSIAN P R ESIDENTIAL A CADEMY OF N ATIONAL E CONOMY AND P UBLIC A DMINIST R ATION RELIGION CHURCH Vol. 1 Vol. STATE, and Moscow, 2014 Moscow, ISSN (1) 2311 2014 – 3448 editor-in-chief Dmitry Uzlaner editor Christopher Stroop editorial staff Alexander Agadjanian, Alexander Kyrlezhev design Sergey Zinoviev, Ekaterina Trushina layout Anastasia Akimova State, Religion and Church is an academic peer- reviewed journal devoted to the interdisciplinary scholarly study of religion. Published twice yearly under the aegis of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. editorial board Alexey Beglov (Russia), Mirko Blagojević (Serbia), Thomas Bremer (Germany), Grace Davie (UK), Vyacheslav Karpov (USA), Vladimir Malyavin (China), Vasilios Makrides (Germany), Bernice Martin (UK), David Martin (UK), Alexander Panchenko (Russia), Kathy Rousselet (France), Kristina Stoeckl (Austria), Marianna Shachnovich (Russia), Mikhail Smirnov (Russia), Roman Svetlov (Russia), Olga Vasil’eva (Russia), Alexander Verkhovsky (Russia), Paul Werth (USA), Alexey Yudin (Russia). Address: State, Religion and Church Editorial Office. International Institute of Public Administration and Management. Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Prospekt Vernadskogo 84. Building 8, Room 2023. 119606 Moscow, Russia. Web-site: www.srch.ranepa.ru E-mail: [email protected] Copyright © 2014 Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Editor. The opinions of the authors expressed in this journal are their own and do not necessarily coincide with those of the editorial staff. Table of Contents From the Editors . 4 Articles Alexander Kyrlezhev. A Post-Secular Conceptualization of Religion: Defining the Question. .7 Dmitry Uzlaner. The Pussy Riot Case and the Peculiarities of Russian Post-Secularism. 23 Christopher Stroop. The Russian Origins of the So-Called Post-Secular Moment: Some Preliminary Observations . 59 Dmitry Rogozin. From Outsider to Parishioner: Religious Identity Among the Older Generation in the Ivanovo Archdiocese . 83 Alexey Beglov. The Practice of Taking Communion Among Orthodox Parishioners in the Soviet Era . .104 Book Reviews Sergei Filatov and Alexey Malashenko (Еds.) (2011). The Orthodox Church under the New Patriarch. (Pravoslavnaia Tserkov’ pri novom patriarkhe). Moscow: Moscow Carnegie Centre (in Russian). — 416 pages. .130 Alexander Agadjanian and Kathy Rousselet (Eds.) (2011). Parish and Community in Today’s Orthodox Christianity: The Grassroots of Russian Religiosity. (Prikhod i obshchina v sovremennom pravoslavii: kornevaia sistema rossiiskoi religioznosti). Moscow: Ves’ Mir (in Russian). — 368 pages . .136 Mikhail Smirnov (2011). Sociology of Religion: A Dictionary. (Sotsiologiia religii: Slovar’). St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg State University Press (in Russian). — 411 pages . .140 Reference Information Authors . .148 VOL. 1(1) · 2014 3 From the Editors EAR Reader, welcome to the inaugural issue of State, Religion and Church, Da peer-reviewed electronic religious studies journal. This new initiative of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Moscow) was undertaken with the goal of bringing Russian contributions to religious studies into dialogue with global developments in the field. Our parent journal, Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’ v Rossii i za rubezhom (State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide) is a cutting-edge peer-reviewed print quarterly published in Russian that features both original research and translations of seminal theoretical contributions to religious studies originally published elsewhere. It has thus emerged as a leader in the development of new directions in religious studies in post- Soviet Russia. State, Religion and Church, which will appear twice yearly, will complement the parent journal by publishing translations of original articles first published in Gosudarstvo, religiia, tserkov’. In addition, our translations of book reviews will provide a window into the state of the religious studies field in Russia that will be of interest to specialists focused on Russia and Eurasia as well as other scholars in religious studies. But our mission is also broader. Readers can anticipate a diverse array of topics, including both empirically and theoretically oriented contributions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. In addition to publishing translations from Russian, we will also publish quality original articles written in English. Thematically, this current issue deals mostly with Russian religious thought and praxis. It examines problems of religious identity among Russian Orthodox Christians in secular and post-secular ideological 4 © state· religion · church From the editors environments in addition to exploring theoretical approaches to the concepts of secularism and post-secularism. Although the term was coined earlier, the concept of “post-secular society” has stimulated substantial and at times contentious discussion since its public invocation by Jürgen Habermas in his acceptance speech for the 2001 Peace Prize of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association. The debates surrounding post-secularism (whether as an empirical descriptive term or a set of normative assumptions) are perhaps especially relevant to contemporary Russia, where a militantly ideological secularist regime has been replaced by an order in which the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) has returned to a position of power and close collaboration with the secular (or not quite secular?) state authorities. Perhaps unsurprisingly in light of recent Russian history and the religious turn in the humanities and social sciences, religious life in the Soviet Union has become one of the hottest areas of inquiry in Russian studies both inside and outside Russia. In this issue of State, Religion and Church we bring you an original contribution in the form of Alexey Beglov’s historical and anthropological investigation of the evolution of practices associated with Holy Communion in the ROC from the late imperial period of Russian history through the entire Soviet period. Questions of proper religious practice (and who is allowed to define it) are also key to Dmitry Uzlaner’s interpretive study of materials generated by both state organs and civil society in connection with the Pussy Riot trial of 2012. This article, which speaks to the peculiarities of Russian post-secularism through the lens of the Pussy Riot affair, represents one of the first scholarly attempts to come to terms with this cause célèbre. Its close analysis, featuring many extended quotations, offers those unable to read Russian a glimpse into fascinating sources unavailable in English. The problematics of post-secularism link Uzlaner’s article to Alexander Kyrlezhev’s essay, which, written within the tradition of Russian religious philosophy, seeks a theoretical conception of religion suitable for a post-secular world. Meanwhile, Christopher Stroop embarks on an intellectual-historical search for specifically Russian origins of the post-secular moment, which he defines as characterized primarily by an intense confrontation with the problem of nihilism. Finally, sociologist of religion Dmitry Rogozin presents readers with his analysis of an empirical case study of religious identity among members of the older generation in the recently established Ivanovo Archdiocese. Just as Uzlaner’s study of the Pussy Riot phenomenon does, Vol.1(1) · 2014 5 From the editors Rogozin’s study sheds light on an important aspect of contemporary Russian religious life. The translated articles offered here are just a taste of what State, Religion and Church’s parent journal has brought to religious studies in Russia, and we are excited to be able to bring Russian scholarship on some of the most pressing contemporary issues in religious studies to a broader global readership. In future issues of State, Religion and Church we will expand the journal’s