Dukhovnye stikhi

Sat Feb 4 21:50:43 UTC 2006

4 Feb 06

Dear Colleagues,
Very good.  This was what I was expecting - a misinterpretation of my 
question.  I am aware of (and have even cited many of) the valuable 
studies listed below by Christine Worobec.  But note how my question was 
phrased:

>What do ordinary believers there believe (and have 
>believed in the past)?  How do ordinary believers feel (and how have 
>they felt) about what they believe?
>

It is one thing to present (mostly historical-descriptive) information 
about East Slavic religious beliefs and practices.  It is another to 
probe the spirituality of believers, and in particular to examine "how . 
. . ordinary believers FEEL (and how have they FELT) about what they 
believe."

The study of human feelings falls under the rubric of psychology, and 
historians of Russia usually disregard this area (except for some very 
few psychohistorians and psychobiographers who bother to educate 
themselves in the relevant areas of psychology, including the psychology 
of religion).  There is a rich psychological literature on religion and 
spirituality.  It includes the work of Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi on object 
relations theory and religious experience, John Bowlby on attachment and 
loss, Michael Carroll on the cult of the Virgin Mary in the West, the 
late Alan Dundes on religious folklore, Donald Winnicott on transitional 
objects (including religious objects), Ana-Maria Rizuto on the 
psychoanalysis of the "living God," William James on the "varieties of 
religious experience," James Jones on the psychoanalysis of religion, 
Vamik Volkan on the need to have religious enemies, and much more.  To 
my knowledge, this literature is neglected in all of the studies 
mentioned below by Professor Worobec.

What the conventional historians, Slavists, folklorists are doing is 
often of great value.  But certain questions are avoided.  For example, 
what is the psychological basis of witchcraft and witch-hunting?  Why is 
Russia (and not some other nation) designated the "home" of the Mother 
of God?  Why did many of the Old Believers seem deliberately to seek 
suffering and self-destruction?  What psychological needs are fulfilled 
by those who castrate themselves (skoptsy)?  Why are some members of the 
Russian Orthodox hierarchy so hostile to other faiths?  What is the 
psychological basis of traditional Russian anti-Semitism?

For some historical, folkloric, and religious phenomena it is an 
inescapable fact that psychology applies.  Those who try to circumvent 
psychology when it is relevant suffer from what I term the horror of 
application.

Regards to the list,

Daniel Rancour-Laferriere

Christine Worobec wrote:

>Dear Colleagues: There seems to be a misconception out there that
>Western scholars are not interested in East Slavic popular spirituality.
>The initial question posed had to do with dukhovnye stikhi, which is why
>I did not reply. But to the larger question of popular or lived
>religion, please note that there are numerous scholars working on the
>topic, many of whom belong to the Association for the Study of Eastern
>Christianity. Here are a some names of people very active in studying
>practiced Russian and Ukrainian Orthodoxy, Old Belief, and sectarians:
>Vera Shevzov (book and numerous articles); Nadia Kizenko (her work on
>Father Ioann also delves into religious practices); Eve Levin (for the
>early modern period); Valerie Kivelson and Robert Greene (ed. collection
>on lived religion in Imperial Russia); Robert Greene (diss. on
>veneration of saints in Imperial and Soviet Russia); Chris Chulos (book
>on popular Orthodoxy in Voronezh Province in Imperial Russia); Christine
>Worobec (possession; witchcraft; miraculous healings; pilgrimages); Roy
>Robson (Old Believers); Robert Crummey (Old Believers); Irina Paert (Old
>Believers; pilgrimages; oral interviews regarding practices in the
>Soviet period); Laura Engelstein (sectarians; Russian Orthodoxy); Eugene
>Clay (sectarians); Scott Kenworthy (miraculous cures and veneration of
>saints); Mark Steinberg and Page Herrlinger (workers' religiosity in the
>late Imperial period); Heather Coleman (evangelicals in the Imperial
>period; Orthodoxy in the Ukrainian provinces of late Imperial Russia);
>Sergei Zhuk (evangelicals in the Imperial period); Nicholas Breyfogle
>(sectarians in the Imperial period); Margaret Paxton (anthropologist
>whose new book on Solovyovo deals in large part with contemporary
>beliefs); Faith Wizgell (lived Orthodoxy); William Wager and Marlyn
>Miller (Russian Orthodox nuns); Gregory Freeze (numerous aspects of
>practiced religion); W. F. Ryan (major book on popular religious
>beliefs); and John-Paul Himka (Ukrainian Orthodoxy); Sibelan Forrester
>(zagovory in contemporary Karelia). Catherine Wanner  is working on
>evangelicals in contemporary Ukraine; and there has been a recent
>dissertation from the University of Michigan on Old Believers. My
>apologies to anyone I inadvertently left off the list.
>
>Please note, too, that two new collection of essays will be appearing
>this year, one edited by Mark Steinberg and Heather Coleman on Sacred
>Stories in the Russian Empire (includes pieces on Jewish religiosity as
>well), which is being published by Indiana University Press; and the
>other edited published by John-Paul Himka and Zaharniuk having to do
>with popular religiosity in Ukraine and Russia (forthcoming University
>of Toronto Press).
>
>I think that the study of East Slavic religiosity is alive and well!!!!
>
>Best wishes,
>Christine Worobec
>Presidential Research Professor and
>Professor of Russian History,
>Northern Illinois University
>
>
>
>  
>
>>>>darancourlaferriere at COMCAST.NET 02/03/06 4:56 PM >>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>3 Feb 06
>
>Thanks to those of you who have pointed to a few non-Russian sources 
>about dukhovnye stikhi in Russia (and in Ukraine - Ukraine is not 
>Russia, of course, although there are many Russian speakers and 
>"surzhyk" speakers in Ukraine, and there are many there who identify 
>themselves as Russians, or who are not sure whether to identify 
>themselves as Russians or as Ukrainians - see: V. Tishkov, 1997, 
>_Ethnicity, Nationalism and Conflict in and After the Soviet Union: The 
>Mind Aflame, London: Sage Publicatons, p. 20).
>
>Still, my impression is that there is an overall resistance on the part 
>of Western scholars to probe (let us call it) East Slavic popular 
>spirituality.  What do ordinary believers there believe (and have 
>believed in the past)?  How do ordinary believers feel (and how have 
>they felt) about what they believe?  Are these questions best left to 
>East Slavs themselves, or should Western scholars exert more effort in 
>this area?
>
>Regards,
>
>Daniel Rancour-Laferriere
>
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