Digital Commons Network^™

Religious Transformation Of Crimea Amid Geopolitical Changes: From Pluralism To Totalitarian Control (2000–2026), Volodymyr Zuikov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article analyzes the radical transformation of the religious landscape of the Crimean Peninsula in the context of geopolitical changes and “hybrid warfare.” I conduct a comparative analysis of two chronological periods: the stage of Ukrainian sovereignty from 2000 to 2013, which was characterized by a high level of religious pluralism and interconfessional peace, and the period of Russian occupation from 2014 to 2024/2026, which was marked by a transition to a rigid hierarchical system of control. The scholarly novelty of the study lies in its detailed reconstruction of the mechanisms of the “hybrid absorption” of Protestant communities, including Baptists, …

Use Of Courts By The Totalitarian Regime Against Protestant Communities In Ukraine, Oksana Vysoven, Natalia Varadi, Yurii Fihurnyi, Ganna Kriukova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article analyzes the use of the courts by the totalitarian regime against Protestant communities in Ukraine. It has been established that the show trials held in the 1960s–1980s against the leaders and active members of the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christian Baptists, which opposed the totalitarian regime, and against ordinary believers in Protestant communities were conducted according to the plan of atheistic campaigns by officials of the communist regime and were organized by the repressive special services of the State Security Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It has been established that the trials led to the …

Pentecostals In The Ukrainian Ssr During Collectivization And The Holodomor Of 1930–1933: Socio-Adaptive Survival Practices, Oleksandr Korotaiev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the social adaptation and survival practices of Pentecostal communities in the Ukrainian SSR under the conditions of forced collectivization, dekulakization, and the Holodomor of 1930–1933. Drawing on criminal-investigative case files of the GPU, top-secret Soviet security service documents, party and state decrees, and testimonies of contemporaries, the study reconstructs individual, family, and communal strategies employed by believers in response to systematic state violence. Particular attention is devoted to Pentecostal communities in the Odesa okrug, especially the village of Holma in the Balta district, where Soviet repressive policies manifested themselves through a combination of economic pressure, religious persecution, …

Marriage Governance In Kyrgyzstan: Convergence And Divergence Between Secular Law, Islamic Norms, And Customary Practices, Aisuluu Adylbekkyzy, Zailabidin Azhimamatov, Aiitmamat Kariev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Marriage governance in Kyrgyzstan is shaped by the coexistence of secular law, Islamic norms, and customary law), creating a plural legal environment in which multiple sources of authority regulate family relations. This study examines how these normative systems interact in the governance of marriage, identifies areas of convergence and divergence, and explores their implications for legal legitimacy and family regulation. Employing a qualitative socio-legal methodology grounded in legal pluralism theory, the research draws on documentary and comparative analysis of legal texts, Islamic sources, official religious guidance, and relevant scholarly literature. The findings demonstrate that marriage governance in Kyrgyzstan operates through …

Book Review: Ryszard Tyndorf With Rev. Zygmunt Zieliński, Wartime Rescue Of Jews By The Polish Catholic Clergy: The Testimony Of Survivors And Rescuers, John M. Grondelski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Ryszard Tyndorf with Rev. Zygmunt Zieliński, Wartime Rescue of Jews by the Polish Catholic Clergy: The Testimony of Survivors and Rescuers. Lublin, Poland: Heschel Center, Wydawnictwo KUL, 2023. 2 vols., HB. ISBN 978-83-8288-087-8//088-5.

Psychological Aspects Of Religious Faith Among Participants Of Combat Operations In Crisis Situations, Ivan Bilosevych, Hanna Voshkolup, Andriy Hirnyak, Anastasiia Yatyshchuk, Volodymyr Shafranskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The purpose of the study is to examine the influence of the psychological dimensions of religious faith on the sense of coherence among military personnel, which in turn serves as an indicator of heightened stress tolerance. The study employs various empirical methods, including questionnaires, as well as both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The Duke Religiosity Index is utilized to assess the level of religiosity among military personnel, encompassing three dimensions: organizational religious activity, non-organizational religious activity, and intrinsic religiosity. To evaluate the level of coherence in military personnel under stress and combat conditions, the Antonovsky SOC-13 scale is employed, utilizing …

Frontmatter (Volume 46, Issue 1), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Dwelling In Parallel Worlds: Esoteric And New Age Milieus In The Soviet Period And Afterward, Edited By Birgit Menzel And Anna Tessman: A Review, Alexander John Paul Lutz

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Birgit Menzel and Anna Tessmann, eds. Dwelling in Parallel Worlds: Esoteric and New Age Milieus in the Soviet Period and Afterward. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2025. 320 pp. €34.90 (paperback). ISBN: 978-3-643-91580-1.

On Dark Skinned Jesus Of Nazareth: Why Color Matters, Nicholas Berkel

MA Theses

This thesis examines the historical, religious, and cultural consequences of portraying Jesus as white within Christian art. Although Western art has overwhelmingly depicted Christ with white skin, archaeological, and contextual evidence supports a dark-skinned Jesus rooted in the ethnogeography of first century Palestine. The persistence of a White Jesus has shaped religious imagination and perception for centuries, reinforcing racial hierarchy and legitimizing systems of white supremacy. Through an interdisciplinary analysis combining biblical studies, Christian iconography, ethnography of ancient Semitic, Greco-Roman, and Egyptian peoples, medieval symbolism, modern mass-produced imagery, and Black thought, this study demonstrates how Jesus’ original complexion was gradually …

Scholars Called Ten Years Of Doctorates In Biblical Studies At Asbury Theological Seminary, David B. Schreiner, Jason A. Myers

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Spell Of Forty Small Failings, Erin B. Ehren

Theses and Dissertations

Spell of Forty Small Failings is a collection of images and writings that draws from an unruly range of literary forms, academic disciplines, and religious cannons in order to address the Divine—all that which exists on account of the phenomena of what it is to see and be seen: to hear and be heard: to touch and be touched: to know and be known, and through that knowing proceed beyond mediation. I wrote this thesis for me in the hopes that all along I was writing for you.

The Mundo I Imagine, Angeliky Castrellon

Theses and Dissertations

My work investigates the human experience of belonging and how the force of displacement alters the perception of one's present and enables dissociation. After leaving my home and starting a new life overseas, coming back never felt the same; I couldn’t find peace and comfort anywhere. This made me create an imaginary world called “Mundo.” Shelters for the souls of the displaced, looking for comfort. As I became a graduate student in the Craft/Materials Studies department, my perspective widened, and my work itself answered a question for me: I want to be comfortable everywhere; how can my home be everywhere …

Lucretius, Ovid, And Milton In Seventeenth-Century England: First Matter, Creation, And Food Of Angels, Conny M. Pfeifer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Paradise Lost is a complex poem that not only contains John Milton’s rendition of the Genesis creation narrative and the Fall of humankind but also provides a voice for his unique theology. This dissertation argues that Milton’s creative use of the three disparate concepts of consuming and digesting knowledge, chaos, and the night sky allows him to respond to Lucretian atomism, to address questions regarding the mortality of the soul, and to navigate the scientific discoveries of the seventeenth century, especially the astronomical discoveries of Galileo Galilei. An examination of digestion, chaos, and night helps shed light on Milton’s unique …

The Religious Landscape Of Ukraine During The War: Consolidation Potential And Destructive Imitations, Vadym Dyiak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the transformation of religion’s functional role in the context of the russian-Ukrainian war. The author analyzes how the extreme circumstances of armed conflict catalyze the polarization of Ukraine’s religious landscape, clearly distinguishing between authentic religiosity and its ideological imitations. The main focus is on conceptualizing the differences between churches that serve as a resource for spiritual consolidation and social therapy (the OCU, the UGCC) and religious institutions that are used as instruments of hybrid aggression. To describe the latter phenomenon, the author introduces and adapts Oswald Spengler’s concept of “historical pseudomorphosis.” It is argued that the activities …

The Ukrainian Religious Diaspora In Countering Russian Aggression, Liudmyla Fylypovych, Georgii D. Fylypovych Mr.

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the activities of the Ukrainian religious diaspora during the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, its involvement in humanitarian support, and information-media opposition to Russia. It examines the initiatives of various churches, including the UGCC, the Orthodox Church in America, and Protestant congregations abroad, in providing concrete assistance to Ukraine, specifically to refugees, displaced persons, medical institutions, and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The assistance provided is multi-vector in nature, ranging from financial support for individuals or institutions to psychological aid for those suffering from various traumas. The article highlights the necessity of creating inter-confessional coordination centers for …

Religious Television Of Ukraine In Shaping Spiritual Identity In The Context Of Contemporary Media Practices, Oleh Sokolovskyi, Vadym Slyusar, Maksym Melnychuk, Yuliia Kondratiuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to analysing religious television in Ukraine as a key institution of contemporary sacred communication, which shapes a new configuration of spiritual presence within the digital media space. Religious TV channels are examined as mediatized spaces for producing and transmitting symbolic meanings, within which traditional theological narratives are adapted to the demands of audiovisual culture, and the sacred acquires new forms of visualisation, emotional accessibility, and communicative dynamism. It is demonstrated that television broadcasting provides a unique format of spiritual support, enabling faith communities to participate in prayer practices, catechetical programmes, and moral-ethical discourse beyond the boundaries …

The Human Rights Argumentation Of The Uoc-Mp As A Strategy Of Institutional Self-Preservation Under Conditions Of Armed Aggression, Mariia Rudiuk, Valeriy Bulatov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the strategy of institutional self-preservation employed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) under conditions of Russian armed aggression. The relevance of the topic is determined by the adoption of Law of Ukraine No. 3894-IX “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations,” aimed at limiting the influence of religious structures affiliated with the aggressor state. Particular attention is devoted to the ways in which the UOC-MP utilizes democratic legal mechanisms and European human rights rhetoric in order to delay or neutralize Ukraine’s national security measures. The …

Hybrid Identity And Religious Radicalization: On The Effectiveness Of Kazakhstan's State Policy, Sholpan Zhandossova, Marhabbat Nurov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the relationship between hybrid identity and religious radicalization in Kazakhstan, arguing that state policy has been built on a systematically inverted risk hierarchy. Drawing on secondary analysis of longitudinal sociological surveys, expert assessments, and official statistics, the article demonstrates that the intensity of religious practice is a statistically non-significant predictor of radicalization (ρ=+0.18; p>0.05), whereas identity fragmentation– the internal incoherence between competing ethnic, Soviet-secular, Islamic, and civic- Kazakhstani identity layers–carries the strongest positive correlation (ρ=+0.61; p<0.001). The normative architecture constructed between 2011 and 2024 is evaluated against these empirical predictors across four analytical levels: longitudinal trend analysis, regional identity profiling, factor correlation analysis, and institutional trust trajectories. The article finds that successive policy instruments have concentrated institutional resources on the weakest risk factor while leaving the strongest predictors structurally unaddressed. The post-2016 decline in registered criminal cases is attributed primarily to the organizational collapse of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as a recruitment structure rather than to domestic policy effectiveness. Trust in the state-affiliated religious authority declined by twenty percentage points over the period of maximum normative intensity–an outcome directly contrary to policy intent. The article concludes with three evidence-based corrective directions: reorienting the diagnostic framework toward monitoring identity fragmentation, recovering protective social factors as explicit policy targets, and restructuring formal religious authority to allow community-derived legitimacy to carry preventive functions.

Religious Conversion From Islam To Christianity In Kazakhstan, Kalmahan Yerzhan, Didar Mamyrbayev, Yelaman Karibekuly

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The phenomenon of religious conversion constitutes a significant topic of inquiry within the realms of social and psychological research in contemporary society. This article investigates the experiences of Muslims in Kazakhstan who have transitioned to Christianity, specifically within the Baptist denomination. The study employed a qualitative approach and was executed through semi-structured interviews with participants. The primary objective of the interview was to ascertain how familial upbringing, emotional experiences, as well as social and psychological factors, influence the conversion process. The findings indicated that the act of changing one's religion is frequently correlated with an individual's personal spiritual quest, existential …

Socio-Psychological Portrait Of Muslim Women Who Joined Radical Religious Organizations, Akerke Sakbayeva, Nagima Baitenova, Zhuldyz Zhorabek, Assel Alimkhanova, Raimbek Zeinullin

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the socio-psychological characteristics, motivations for radicalization, and the legal and social status of Muslim women who have joined radical religious organizations from gender and cultural studies perspectives. In recent years, the increasing involvement of women in violent extremist movements has intensified the need to investigate this phenomenon not only as a security issue, but also as a complex social, cultural, psychological, and gender-related phenomenon. The study analyzes both internal and external factors influencing the radicalization of women, including social marginalization, identity crises, emotional dependency, limited religious literacy, and perceptions of social injustice. Particular attention is given to …

Disenchantment Of The World In The Context Of The Russian-Ukrainian War,, Olga Dobrodum, Eduard Martyniuk, Olena Nykytchenko, Mykola Palinchak, Ruslana Tkachenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes Max Weber's concept of the "disenchantment of the world" («Entzauberung der Welt») in the context of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, which began with Russia's invasion in February 2022 and continues to the present. The author examines disenchantment as a process of rationalization and desacralization of society, tracing its development from ancient origins (Epicurus) and monotheistic traditions to contemporary interpretations (Adorno and Horkheimer, Barthes, Baudrillard, Habermas, Taylor, Haraway, Latour). The paradoxical nature of the process is emphasized: secularization does not eliminate the sacred but transforms it into new forms—from commodity fetishism to digital eschatology and posthumanist animism.

The …

The Symbolic Language Of Militarized Orthodoxy In Patriarchal Sermons, Architecture, And Pseudo-Historical Memory, Oleksandr Lukyanenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to a comprehensive cultural and religious analysis of the processes of militarization of religious worldview in modern Russia using the example of public speeches of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, as well as the symbolic space of the Main Temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Particular attention is paid to the study of the mechanisms of sacralization of war through the integration of historical memory, Orthodox rhetoric and the state ideology of the “Russian world”. The study analyzes the peculiarities of the interpretation of World War II as the sacred foundation of modern Russian …

The Russian Orthodox Church In The Ukrainian Ssr, 1946–1951: Activity And State Relations In Vinnytsia Region, Natalka Zhmud, Anatoliy A. Voynarovskiy Skiy

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church (hereafter, ROC) and its relations with Soviet authorities in the Ukrainian SSR between 1946 and 1951. It draws on archival materials introduced into scholarly circulation for the first time–specifically, reports by commissioners of the Council for the Affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Council for the Affairs of Religious Cults in the Ukrainian SSR, with particular reference to Vinnytsia region. Relations between the ROC and the Soviet authorities, in authors opinion, should be regarded in the context of a noticeable easing of anti-religious pressure under Stalin’s totalitarian regime …

A Neurophenomenological Perspective On The Self And Spirituality: The Role Of The Affective Core Self, Michael J. Winkleman, Andrew B. Newberg

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Faculty Papers

The self is central to spirituality because the self is necessary for consciousness, and spiritual relations are fundamentally about the self. Diverse research illustrates the role of the downregulation of the right parietal lobe (rPL) in the spontaneous manifestation of spiritual experiences and during meditative practices. The functions of the rPL are central to the self, especially the embodied self. Disturbances of the rPL and embodied self-functions are associated with spiritual experience, exemplified in their association with “selflessness.” Many forms of self appear incompatible with spiritual and mystical experiences. An exception is the affective core self, the most ancient form …

Ten Signatories, A Hundred Communities: Pluralization Without Consolidation In Slovenian Protestantism, Katja Brkič Golob

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines why contemporary Slovenian Protestantism exhibits a dual structure: a low‑variance Lutheran core (the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession - ECAC) and a high‑variance neo‑Protestant field (mainly Pentecostal, Charismatic, Evangelical, and some Baptist communities). Using the public Register of Churches and Other Religious Communities as an administrative tracer of organizational volatility (first registrations, renamings, deletions), and situating findings in census/survey context, the study shows that post‑1991 legal liberalization enabled rapid formalization without automatic consolidation. A four‑lens framework—historico‑legal, sociological (church–sect–mysticism; religious‑economy), ecclesiological (order vs. movement), and psychological (charisma and its routinization; risks of authoritarian patterns)—explains why tensions in …

East To West: Cultural Attitudes And The Perceptions Of Death, Hannah F. Ahmed

UROP Posters

Death is a universal human experience, but cultures teach people to interpret it in different ways. These interpretations influence how individuals understand dying, how they cope with loss, what support looks like, and what meaning death makes in their lives. Eastern, spiritual, and religious traditions emphasize death as a natural transition or return to divinity rather than an endpoint, and as something one must prepare for. In these contexts, people often grow up hearing stories, prayers, and teachings that situate death within a broader journey. Because of this, death becomes something familiar and speakable rather than distant or frightening (Naderi-Afif …

Cartoons That Are No Laughing Matter: Stories Jesus Told, Darius L. Salter

Books

No abstract provided.

Prayer Presence Patience: How The Church Multiples Around The World, Carolina G. Miller

Books

No abstract provided.

Faculty Fellowships: River Dolphins In Bangladesh., Daniel Gonzalez-Socoloske

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Imperial Pivot: How The Qing Court Shaped The Kapāla And Its Global Value, Haiyi Wang

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This thesis examines the journey of the kapāla, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual skull cup, from a sacred implement to a global commodity. It argues that the modern identity, display, and commercial value of the kapāla in the Western world are not a natural extension of its original religious meaning but are fundamentally a product of its aesthetic and political re-creation by the Qing imperial court. This study posits the Qing court's intervention as the "decisive pivot" that systematically replaced the object's native "religious value system," based on ritual efficacy, with a new "imperial value system" rooted in craftsmanship, precious materials, …