Religious Freedom in Modern Russia

The commitment to showing that there was a wide spectrum of understandings of religious freedom in imperial Russia is particularly praiseworthy, turning the attention of scholars away from a monolithic vision focused on liberal theorists and the autocracy’s failure to implement freedom of conscience to a more multidimensional account of various trends, discourses, and institutions interacting with one another.

* The Russian Review *

This brief summary does not do justice to the consistently impressive research and analysis—as well as the diversity of voices, positions, and experiences—that these eight chapters bring to the discussion of ‘freedom of conscience’ in Russia. This book should be welcomed by scholars in the fields of religious history, intellectual history and the history of the Russian Empire.

* Slavonic and East European Review *

Edited by Randall Poole and Paul Werth, the splendid Religious Freedom in Modern Russia offers eight essays that explore historical, social, and philosophical and theological dimensions of religious freedom in Russia.

* Journal of Law and Religion *

This stimulating collection of essays is a major contribution to the study of religious policy in modern Russia. It provides a valuable and comprehensive picture of the theory and praxis of religious policy, as a multi-confessional empire sought to reconcile its traditional ties to the Orthodox Church with the expectations of the non-Orthodox (roughly a third of the Empire in 1897).

-- Gregory Freeze, Brandeis University

Russia tends to be associated with limits on religion rather than with its freedom. This book offers a richer and more nuanced narrative. In fascinating and eloquent detail, leading authorities trace little-known traditions of Russian religious freedom—including toleration and freedom of conscience— evolving and sometimes thriving in difficult contexts, from early modernity to today’s global spiritual marketplace.

-- Nadieszda Kizenko, University at Al