Popular Religion in Russia
Subtitle:  'Double Belief' and the Making of an Academic Myth (Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe)
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Routledge
Published: November 5, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 234
ISBN-13: 9780415317719
Subjects: Religion & Beliefs; Religion; Religion - Socialissues; General; Religion / General; Spirituality - General; Russia
Description: "This book dispels the widely held view that paganism survived in Russia alongside Orthodox Christianity, demonstrating that 'double belief', dvoeverie, is in fact an academic myth. Scholars, citing the medieval origins of the term, have often portrayed Russian Christianity as uniquely muddied by paganism, with 'double-believing' Christians consciously or unconsciously preserving pagan traditions even into the twentieth century. It shows how the concept of dvoeverie arose with nineteenth-century scholars obsessed with the Russian 'folk' and was perpetuated as a propaganda tool in the Soviet period, colouring our perception of both popular faith in Russia and medieval Russian culture for over a century."--BOOK JACKET.