Overview

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.

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A combination of solid archival research and compelling historical interpretations. --Irina Paert, University of Tartu 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

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 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

"""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 ""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"

Author Information

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.

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