Neither public nor private religion: the Russian Orthodox Church in the public sphere of contemporary Russia

Cross-country comparative studies of religion (e.g. the Religion Monitor) do not cover some important issues regarding the religious situation in Russia. The problem of contemporary Russian religiosity is beyond individual religiosity or religiosity as a spiritual phenomenon. In Russia—one of the co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contemporary religion
Main Author: Zabaev, Ivan (Author)
Contributors: Mikhaylova, Yana (Other) ; Oreshina, Daria (Other)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Carfax Publ. [2018]
In: Journal of contemporary religion
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Russia / Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche / Religion / Publicity / Privateness
RelBib Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
CH Christianity and Society
KBK Europe (East)
KDF Orthodox Church
Further subjects:B Social Network Analysis
B religiosity measurement
B private religion
B Orthodox Christianity in Russia
B deprivatization of religion
B Public Religion
B religious revival in Russia
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:Cross-country comparative studies of religion (e.g. the Religion Monitor) do not cover some important issues regarding the religious situation in Russia. The problem of contemporary Russian religiosity is beyond individual religiosity or religiosity as a spiritual phenomenon. In Russia—one of the countries which experienced Communism as a period of enforced secularization, there are very few people who have had any religious socialization or who have the experience of belonging to the Christian Church or to any religion. The main point of this article is that what is happening with religion in post-Soviet Russia cannot be adequately explained by the concept of ‘public religion' and the dichotomy of public vs. private religion, due to the practices of private religion manifesting at a very low level among the Russian population, despite the fact that a large number of Russians consider themselves to be Orthodox Christians. However, the representation of the Church in the public sphere has little to do with what concerns Russians who are in some way involved in parishes. As an alternative tool we propose to describe the religiosity of Russians through the methods of network analysis. Results of a content analysis of contemporary Russian and Soviet media, survey data of the Russian population, and data obtained in a network analysis of parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church are used for substantiating this conclusion.
ISSN:1469-9419
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of contemporary religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2018.1408260