When we talk about the issues that this issue focuses on, the case of Russia is relevant in two ways. On the one hand, Russia, located on the European periphery (and now referred to as "Eurasia" in the geographical and cultural sense), is one of the most characteristic examples of the constant combination of backwardness and desperate attempts to overcome it. In particular, the communist experiment undertaken in Russia in the 20th century was a completely new, unique and globally significant modernization project. Therefore, when discussing the question of "multiple modernities", it is impossible to avoid this Russian case.
At the same time, being a country where, on the one hand, historically the overwhelming majority has always been adherents of Orthodoxy, and on the other hand, a complex confessional mosaic has been preserved, Russia provides a wealth of material about the influence of the "religious factor" in national history (especially when tacitly or explicitly compared with the "Latin West"); about the division of the Russian Orthodox Church religious and secular, which culminated in the relentless secularization of the Soviet era; as well as the religious revival after the fall of the Soviet regime. In this respect, the Russian case is also quite appropriate when discussing another major topic that intersects with the topic of "multiple moderns" - the topic of"post-secularity".
This article is based on the results of the scientific seminar "Multiple Moderns and a global post - secular society", which was held on May 4-6, 2011 at the University of Tor Vergata (Rome). The English version of this article will appear in the collection: Multiple Modernities and Postsecular Societies / Eds. Massimo Rosati and Kristina Stoeckl. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012 (Forthcoming). The rights to publish the article are provided by Ashgate Publishing house.
page 83The "damned questions" of Russian history, at least since the nineteenth century, have been questions about how to"cat ...
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