Religion, Morality, and Community in Post-Soviet Societies

"WASHINGTON—Woodrow Wilson Center Press has published a new book, Religion, Morality, and Community in Post-Soviet Societies, edited by Mark D. Steinberg and Catherine Wanner. It is copublished with Indiana University Press. In the post-Soviet environment of expanded civil freedom, there is still great everyday uncertainty, unhappiness, injustice, and suffering, and religious organizations and beliefs in Russia and Eurasia face numerous opportunities and intense challenges. Based on recent research and interdisciplinary methodologies, this volume examines how religious organizations and individuals engage the changing and troubled environment in which they live. The contributions investigate not just Russian Orthodoxy, but also Old Belief, Judaism, Islam, Buriat shamanism, and Catholicism. Among the important questions considered are how religion addresses problems of charity, memory, justice, community, morality, nationalism, democracy, and civil liberties. "The authors contribute fresh field, archival, and literature research, updating aspects of the nexus of religion and politics in the post-Soviet regionThe scholarship is impressive."—Marjorie Balzer, Georgetown University "The chapters in this volume represent the 'leading edge' of research in the field."—Serhii Plokhii, University of Alberta Mark D. Steinberg is Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and editor of Slavic Review. Catherine Wanner is Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University."

~WILSON QUARTERLY

"The essays are sympathetic and insightful analyses, from the perspectives of their disciplines. One can learn . . . about the role of religion in shaping the ethos of societies where the dominant ideology has broken down. #41 April 2009"

~MISSIOLOGY: Intnl Review

"[R]eligion, Morality, and Community in Post-Soviet Societies is a required read for scholars interested in the roles of religion, democracy, and community in post-Soviet societies.August 2010"

~Politics and Religion

"[A] very welcome addition to the literature on postsocialist transformation.June 2010"

~Ethos

"Each of the contributions provides interesting reading and a vivid description of religion and morality in post-Soviet transition, through the prism of Soviet legacies (state atheism and Soviet modernity), transition to capitalism, expansive nationalism and increased globalisation.Volume 62.1 Jan. 2010"

~ALEXANDER TYMCZUK, University of Oslo

"[T]his volume makes a very timely and well researched contribution to the discussion of religion and politics in the former Soviet Union."

~SEER

"Social scientists have been devoting more attention to the topic of religion in recent years, and this volume represents an important interdisciplinary contribution to this area of study. . . . [The essays] present a variety of thoughtfully researched and illuminating stories about the ways that religion is embedded into social life in the former Soviet Union. Vol. 69.2f"

~The Russian Review

"I regard the book as a highly important contribution to postsocialist studies and, due to its impressive comparative range, to the anthropology of religion as well, and it engages with a topic that is of paramount importance for understanding Russia, past and present.Spring 2010"

~Slavic Review

"The chapters in this volume represent the 'leading edge' of research in the field."

~Serhii Plokhii, University of Alberta

"The authors contribute fresh field, archival, and literature research, updating aspects of the nexus of religion and politics in the post-Soviet region. . . . The scholarship is impressive."

~Marjorie Balzer, Georgetown University