Ukraine and Russia

2021 ◽  
pp. 763-781
Author(s):  
Heather J. Coleman

This chapter describes the intertwined religious and political histories of Russia and Ukraine, focusing on church–state relations and religion’s role in relations between the two nations. It analyzes the common origins of these countries in medieval Kyivan Rus’, and the ongoing debate about the significance of the decision to accept Orthodox Christianity in 988 to both the relationship between church and state and the cultural orientation of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians. It traces the legacy of separate religious development in the medieval era; changing church–state relations in Russia; the use of religion as a mode of governance; the civilizational debate about Orthodoxy and European identity; the experience under the Soviet regime; religious revival amid the collapse of communism; and post-communist tensions about the role of religion in a pluralist society, and about competing visions of a ‘Russian World’ on one hand and autocephaly for Ukrainian Orthodoxy on the other.

1951 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Huntston Williams

If we are correct in saying that for the Arians the relationship of the Logos-Son to the Father was primarily a cosmological problem and for the Catholics primarily a soteriological problem, we should be able to go on and point to corresponding differences in the liturgical ethos of the rival parties and more specifically to divergent conceptions and practices connected with the Eucharist, resulting from differing conceptions of the role of Logos-Son. We do find, despite the meagre materials on the Arian side, divergent emphases that will be seen to bear on the behavior of the two parties in the ecclesio-political struggle of the fourth century.


2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-116
Author(s):  
Olga Kazmina ◽  

The religious situation in Russia has changed greatly following the collapse of communism in 1991. Although the process was more difficult and contradictory than expected in the early 1990s, Russia has made considerable progress on its way to religious freedom. Now, people can openly profess their faith. To evaluate the degree of religious freedom in contemporary Russia, it is necessary to examine legal acts such as the Constitution arui laws on religion, and how they are implemented, the dynamics of the denominational structure of the population, and the status of different denominations in society. During the 1990s, there were crucial changes in such spheres as the principles of church-state relations, religious legislation, and the role of religion in the social, political, and cultural life of the country. Religion is recovering its place in society lost during the Soviet period, and can play a significant role in overcoming the social crisis and contribute to building a civil society. The growing interest in religion can be reconciled with freedom, pluralism, and tolerance.


1978 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Deshen

A great deal has been written on Israeli religious institutions, activities, and problems, but the treatment of the subject leaves much to be desired. Many studies focus primarily on a specific topic within the subject – the relationship between the polity and religion as reflected in institutional arrangements. But this problem is not coterminous with the subject as a whole. While the problem of relations between synagogue and state can be discussed as a formal constitutional problem, it cannot be understood sociologically, because it merely represents the tip of an iceberg, so to speak. The iceberg itself, still to be uncovered, consists of religious phenomena – the variegated activities of various groups whereby they relate to religious symbols. People engage in these activities in many ways, causing the emergence of various features of society, and the relationship between synagogue and state is only one of them. Another limitation of present writing on religion in Israel lies in the bias whereby the Israeli situation is often evaluated according to a model of separation of church and state of the American or French type. Many writers demonstrate impatience and lack of sympathy when discussing the religious establishment and the current role of religion in the Israeli state.


1984 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Schmitt

Conventional wisdom holds that two sharp breaks occurred historically in Mexican church-state relations: the first during the Reforma (1857-1861), and the second during the Revolution (1910-1920). These breaks reflected growing estrangement and hostility between secular and ecclesiastical authorities, culminating finally, with the Constitution of 1917, in the most anti-clerical and even anti-religious legislation ever enacted in the hemisphere. This paper has no quarrel with the above interpretation as far as it goes. What I will argue here is that, despite these very real changes, certain basic continuities have persisted in the conceptualization of the relationship between Church and State. Moreover, a number of specific quarrels and modes of government response have roots that extend well into the colonial period. Anti-monasticism has some precedent in the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, and the nationalization of Church property in 1859 and again in 1917, in the royal Consolidation of 1804.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-30
Author(s):  
Liudmyla Fylypovych ◽  
Anatolii Kolodnyi

The article is devoted to relations between Church and the Ukrainian State and analysis of their current state and prospects of development. The authors analyze some state–church approaches to the relationship between State and Church based on Ukrainian legislation and social concepts of churches. The main task of a modern state is to guarantee freedom of conscience to citizens and provide conditions for free functioning of religious organizations. Church also assumes certain responsibilities to the state and society. The article provides an overview of the attitude of the Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox Churches to power. Referring to the practice of state-church relations and church-state relations in Ukraine, the authors deduce that the subjects of these relations do not yet demonstrate the appropriate level of culture of this relationship, and do not follow the rules of partnership between Church and State. The authors admit a possibility to constructively criticize each other’s positions and make mutual demands, contextualizing their interests and needs while forming this culture. At the same time, State should get rid of the remnants of Soviet totalitarian control over the activities of Church, and Church should renounce patronage and servility. For both State and Church, in the sphere of mutual relations, taking into consideration world models of civilized relations between them and referring to their own history of these relations and existing experience of communication with each other, there should be established a high culture of dialogue between State and Church, between secular and spiritual authorities.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-367
Author(s):  
P Coertzen

This article is about freedom of religion in South Africa before and after 1994. It is often argued that the relationship between church and state, and the resultant freedom of religion, during 1652-1994 was determined by a theocratic model of the relationship between church and state. In a theocratic model it is religion and its teachings that determine the place and role of religion in society. This article argues that it was, in fact, a Constantinian model of the relationship between state and church which determined the place and role of religion in society between 1652 and 1994. In a Constantinian model it is the governing authority's understanding and application of religion that determines the place and role of religion in society as well as the resulting degree of freedom of religion. Examples from history are used to prove the point. The second part of the article discusses freedom of religion in South Africa after 1994.


1969 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 506-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. K. Clifford

During the past forty years Canadian historians have viewed the relationship between religion and the development of Canadian society from three perspectives. None of these perspectives have risen out of the Canadian context; they have been imported and adapted with various degrees of success to the Canadian scene. The assistance they have given Canadian historians in perceiving and highlighting various aspects of the role of religion in their national life has been valuable. Like all perspectives, however, they have often concealed as much as they have revealed. Canadian church historians, of course, have been aware of the limitations which these perspectives have placed upon the story of the religious development of Canadian society. Their comments and criticisms, however, have never been systematically studied nor viewed in the wider context of the development of these perspectives elsewhere. This neglect needs to be remedied for such a study throws light not only on an aspect of the intellectual history of Canada but also on a number of points of emphasis in the use of these perspectives which appear to be distinctively Canadian. In what follows, therefore, an attempt has been made first of all to trace the development and continuing influence of these perspectives on the interpretation of religion in Canadian society; secondly, to assess the adequacy and limitations of these perspectives as interpretive frameworks in the Canadian context; and finally, to point out some of the factors in the present situation which need to be taken into consideration in the development of a new perspective.


1997 ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Borys Lobovyk

An important problem of religious studies, the history of religion as a branch of knowledge is the periodization process of the development of religious phenomenon. It is precisely here, as in focus, that the question of the essence and meaning of the religious development of the human being of the world, the origin of beliefs and cult, the reasons for the changes in them, the place and role of religion in the social and spiritual process, etc., are converging.


Author(s):  
Leana A. Bouffard ◽  
Haerim Jin

This chapter provides an overview of the literature examining the role of religion and military service in the desistance process. It also identifies outstanding issues and directions for future research. It first presents an overview of research examining the role of religion in desistance and highlights measurement issues, potential intervening mechanisms, and a consideration of faith-based programs as criminal justice policy. Next, this chapter covers the relationship between military service and offending patterns, including period effects that explain variation in the relationship, selection effects, and the incorporation of military factors in criminal justice policy and programming. The chapter concludes by highlighting general conclusions from these two bodies of research and questions to be considered in future research.


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