Abstract
Scott Kenworthy and Alexander Agadjanian have successfully accomplished a diffi- cult task. Reducing a multicentury tradition with a large historical and geographic influence down to its core thematic elements is not easy. Their Russia book, part of Fortress Press’s series “Understanding World Christianity,” has managed to render sensible this massive, complicated phenomenon into its major components. It gifts both newcomers and specialists alike with a treatment that will be both a starting point and a reference, guiding students and scholars in their ability to understand Russia’s unique role in World Christianity.
Like the other texts in the series, Russia is split into distinct chapters covering vari- ous elements of Russia’s relationship to World Christianity. Chapter 1 covers the vari- ety of denominational identities in Russian Christianity; chapter 2 covers Russian Christianity’s various geographies; chapter 3 covers the history of Christianity in Russia; chapter 4 covers several distinct figures and their biographies in the modern context; chapter 5 examines Russian Orthodox theology itself; and chapter 6 examines the post-Soviet context of religious plurality regarding Orthodoxy’s special relation- ship to Russian identity. All of these chapters are impressive and important, but the third and the sixth are undeniably the most useful to those attempting to make sense of Christianity in Russia today. Kenworthy and Agadjanian have given special attention to the role East Rome (Byzantium) played in the making of Russian identity and how that history has shaped the role of church and state.
Specifically, with respect to the question of church and state, they develop the criti- cal point as to how this particular dilemma separated Orthodoxy from the Latin West (13–18). Newcomers especially will find this treatment useful, for it does justice to a complicated subject very quickly without getting bogged down by details. Their treat- ment of Russia’s complicated geographies and the plurality of Russian identities arises out of this first-order discourse regarding how power is imagined within Orthodoxy. Their clear explanation of the differences in orientation between Eastern Rome and the Latin West helps readers understand Ukraine’s geographic, political, and ecclesiastical relationship to Russia’s Christian heritage. It is precisely that sort of development that makes this volume indispensable, especially for students who are first learning about this complicated phenomenon.
If there is one area wherein this book could have been better developed, it is in presenting more clearly how Russia fits within the overall picture of World Christianity. This text is an outstanding explanation of Russian Christianity as an overall phenom- enon, but scholars engaged in the academic discourse of World Christianity may find less as to how Russia should be situated within that framework. This text accomplishes quite well the task it sets out for itself; it renders the very complex religious, ethnic, and geopolitical situation in Russia over a long period of time, paying special attention to the particular religious trajectory it went on contra the Latin West. In some ways, Russia’s distinction is its identity, yet within that complex term “Russia” is a myriad of diverse, qualified differences that are drawn out in this text. This is a most impres- sive introduction to the phenomenon and deserves a place as both a textbook and a reference in any library or course.