Eastern European Studies Commons^™

Ethnonational Identity And Detached Lives In A Serbian Province: A Study Of Parallelism Among Vojvodina's Hungarian Community, Uros Prokic

Dissertations and Theses

Current theories of interethnic relations generally posit assimilation, integration and marginalization as possible outcomes between minority and dominant groups in Eastern Europe. However, there may be cases that are not adequately described by any of these existing interethnic relations paradigms. This dissertation explores one alternative, dubbed parallelism, which can be described as institutionally-driven self-isolation and detachment leading to communities living side by side on parallel trajectories and not interacting. Using the Hungarian ethnonational minority community in Serbia's autonomous northern province of Vojvodina as a case study, the author examines the institutional factors that have led to parallelism. Primary data from …

Thirty Years Later: The Pentecostal Church In Romania And Religious Freedom In The Post-Communist Era, Dragoș Ștefănică

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The aim of the present paper is to provide a brief presentation of the evolution of religious freedom in Romania since the 1989 Revolution from the perspective of a Pentecostal believer. To better understand what this event meant for this denomination, first the situation of the Pentecostal movement in the interwar and communist times will be presented, and then survey the changes brought by the fall of the communist regime and how religious freedom evolved in the past three decades.

Transnational Migration And Ethnic And Religious Renewal Amongst The Ethnic German Minority In Romania, Ovidiu Oltean

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The normalization of inter-ethnic relations after the fall of communism and the establishment of a rather inclusive minority regime has opened up new possibilities for the ethnic and religious minorities in Romania. Social, cultural and religious life has seen a pluralization and revival that was not possible during communism. Ethnic minorities developed new forms of cultural and ethnic expression and gained new leveraging instruments in relation to the ethnic Romanian majority. As Romanian society has grown more pluralistic, not only has political and cultural life developed and become more diverse but also religious forms of expression and religious organizations have …

Thirty Years Later: Being Orthodox In Romania, Then And Now, Claudia Chiorean

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"Romanians know themselves to be traditionally Orthodox, so they declare themselves in censuses as belonging to the majority religion. But in fact, in practice, only about 30 percent are Orthodox practitioners....

If I, as a Romanian, belong to the two-thirds who have only declared themselves Orthodox without living the faith in its true dogmatic dimensions, this means I have replaced God in my life with the Internet, with the psychologist, with my job, with trips, with activities which distract my attention from myself and from my own identity."

Reflections On Jehovah’S Witnesses In Romania: A Thirty-Year Retrospective, Ionut Moraru

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article provides testimony from and data about Jehovah’s Witnesses in Romania, who have suffered persecution both before and after the fall of Communism. In recent years the government has taken steps to officially recognize and protect Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Foreword To This Special Issue, Beth Admiraal

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The door that opens up to religious freedom does not always lead to expected places. Our contributors, reflecting on the past thirty years for religion in Romania, note both the joys and tribulations of freedom."

Book Review: The Victory Of The Cross: Salvation In Eastern Orthodoxy, Paul Crego

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Victory of the Cross: Salvation in Eastern Orthodoxy is the latest book by James R. Payton, Jr., emeritus professor of history at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. His previous books include Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition. He also edited A Patristic Treasure: Early Church Wisdom for Today.

Crimean Anti-Religious Persecution In 2018 And 2019, Felix Corley

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In Russian-occupied Crimea in 2018, there were 23 prosecutions brought against individuals for ill-defined "missionary activity," of which 19 ended with punishment, Forum 18 has found. Many of those punished were prosecuted for sharing their faith on the street or for holding worship at unapproved venues. Cases against two more were due to be heard in mid-January 2019. This represents a doubling of such cases in the Crimean peninsula since the first year such punishments for "missionary activity" were imposed. July 2016 to July 2017 saw 13 known cases of which eight ended in punishment.

Eurasian And Eastern European Evangelicals: Tested Over Two Centuries, Walter Sawatsky

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The oppression of evangelicals has been a persistent legacy, but it has not applied to all of them. Therefore, we must begin by defining evangelicals and oppression. A further query to pursue is: what intensity of oppression has permitted creative survival?

Post-Soviet Transformation For Evangelicals, 1991-2018: Deepening Causes For Discord, Walter Sawatsky

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

During the great transformation between 1989 and 1991, the majority of American journalists were completely surprised by the transformations of 1989 in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the USSR in 1991, since it contradicted their stereotypes so profoundly. Several developments within the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe turned out to be signposts for those with the eyes to see. Literary figures and philosophers circulating their thinking in samizdat form, or through the emergence of dissenting movements, pointed to the disillusionment with the grand socialist promises. Solzhenitsyn had already drawn attention in his Nobel speech to the power of truth …

Beyond Europeanization: The Politics Of Scale And Positionality In Lithuania’S Alternative Food Networks, Renata Blumberg, Diana Mincyte

Publications and Research

This article brings geographical insights to understanding the Europeanization of agri-food politics in new European Union member states. Most literature on agri-food policy and law in the European Union has conceptualized policy making and implementation as an institutional process involving multiple levels of governance. In this perspective, Europeanization is understood as a process through which stakeholders formulate, negotiate, and implement legal principles and procedures across various institutions at different levels of governance. By employing the conceptual tools developed in geographical research, we contribute a spatial and historical dimension to these studies. Our analysis shows how the politics of scale and …

Women In The Serbian Orthodox Church: Historical Overview And Contemporary Situation, Aleksandra Djurić Milovanović, Radmila Radić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Research on the position of women in the Eastern Orthodox churches is still scarce. Some recent studies show differences among the various Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe regarding women’s issues. The position of the women in the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) was addressed as late as in the 1990s, but this is still an insufficiently examined field. Eastern Orthodox theologians have rarely discussed the problem of the position and role of women in the SOC. During the socialist era, they did not engage this topic, except in studies related to female monasticism. On the other hand, sociological and anthropological studies …

Book Review: Church In A Divided World: The Encounter Of The Lutheran World Federation With The Cold War, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Research on the mutual impact of Christian churches and the Cold War is proceeding albeit slowly. One of the most important initiators of such research, the prominent church leader Risto Lehtonen of Finland, has now added his own study based on his personal experience in executive positions with the World Student Christian Federation and then more pertinently as Director of the Department of Church Cooperation of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). With occasional direct references to his own role in the historical development of the churches’ role in the post-World War II rupture of the world into two hostile camps, …

Book Review: A Short History Of The Georgian Church [SakʻArtʻVelos Eklesiis Mokle Istoria], Paul Crego

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Metropolitan Archbishop Anania Japaridze (1949-present) is a member of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in Georgia and has served as a bishop in that church since 1991. He has published several books, mainly on the history of the Orthodox Church in Georgia, but also books on how Georgians have been converted to other Christian denominations or religions, and, thereby “converted” to other ethnicities. The thesis of one such book is that Georgian converts to Islam in the northwest part of historical Georgian territories lost their Georgian language and national identity and became Abkhazians. (Apʻxazetʻi: kʻartʻveltʻa "gaapʻxazeba" = Abkhazia: …

Frontmatter (Volume 39, Issue 6), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

A Secret In The Words Tales Of Literature And Dissent In Communist Czechoslovakia, Thea Toocheck

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In order to better understand the parallel culture of the 1970s and 1980s Czechoslovakia, this paper aims to tell the stories of six members of the Czechoslovak samizdat community: Marie Klimešová, Ivan Lamper, Ladislav Šenkyřík, Tomáš Tichák, Jáchym Topol, and Jarka Vrbová. Through personal interviews with these individuals, we understand how editors, typists, artists, writers, translators, and readers played significant parts in this parallel culture as well as how these people continue to play important roles in society today. While the tales told here are only parts of the lives of six individuals, they help reflect the impact of an …

The Truth In Fiction: A Discussion Of Educational Agency And Hierarchical Truth In Children’S Literature, Grace Griffin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

I wrote and created With Wings and Words, a children’s picture book based off of interview material gathered about the 1989 Velvet Revolution, in order to demonstrate the inherent multiplicity of truth around historical events and break down the construction of a “national” truth by placing personal narratives and interpretations in conversation with each other. These narratives, while present and available in the Czech Republic, are important to display and discuss in order to avoid the oversimplification of events or erasure of the emotional complexities they cause. After consulting with various relevant Czech children’s books, I completed interviews and used …

Radio Maria Transylvania: National Representation, Prayer, And Intersubjectivity In A Growing Catholic Media Network, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines the public discourse of a Radio Maria Transylvania, a growing Catholic media network for members of the Hungarian ethnic minority in Romania. I look at two primary narratives: first, accounts about how the network was founded in the mid-2000s. And second, listeners’ prayers to the Virgin Mary published on the media network’s web site. Acts of petitioning powerful others for assistance on behalf of a family are central features of Radio Maria Transylvania’s storytelling–on behalf of a national family in the case of the network’s origin narratives and a natal family in the case of prayers to …

Introduction: Mediating Catholicisms: Studies In Aesthetics, Authority, And Identity, Eric Hoenes Del Pinal, Marc Roscoe Loustau, Kristin Norget

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Overview & Acknowledgements, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Recent U.S. And International Assessment Of Baltic Security Developments, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to analyse Baltic security developments from U.S. government and military resources, scholarly journal articles, and multinational public policy research institute assessments. METHODS: The aim is to analyse the content and rhetoric within these resources to learn how those producing these materials view Baltic security developments and their viewpoints on how the U.S. and its allies should respond to these developments focusing on increasing Russian regional assertiveness. RESULTS: The author provides interpretations of Baltic security developments, Russian Baltic policy, and U.S. and NATO responses to these developments in materials produced by U.S. civilian and …

Ilya Repin In Paris: Mediating French Modernism, Allison Leigh

Department of Visual Arts

This article explores the development of a singular painting by Russia’s most famous realist painter, Il’ia Repin. First exhibited under the title Un café du boulevard, the work was conceived during Repin’s stay in Paris from 1873-75. Repin himself described the work as “the main types of Paris in their most typical place,” but what he produced proves a departure for the young artist not only in terms of its Parisian subject matter. Careful analysis of Repin’s letters and the work itself show him searching for a stylistic language that had universal translatability in this moment, one that he importantly …

The Baltics And Ukraine: Geopolitical Hotspots, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides detailed historical overview and contemporary analysis on why the Baltics and Ukraine are historical and remain contemporary geopolitical hotspots. Provides analysis of cultural economic, environmental, and security factors influencing long-standing contentiousness over these regions. Places emphasis on how Russian behavior and policies influence this contentiousness. Concludes by noting that differences between the U.S. and its allies and conflicts within the U.S. Government may limit the ability of the U.S. to effectively respond to events in these disputed regions.

Role Of Religion In The Western Balkans’ Societies - Full Text

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This is the entire volume of proceedings from the first regional conference on the role of religion in the western Balkans, held in Tirana, June 11-12, 2019, under the auspices of the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (http://idmalbania.org/).

Reproduced with permission.

Frontmatter (Volume 39, Issue 5), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Advanced Photogrammetric Modeling Of Dranoc Kullas Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, George Gebert, Liam Griffin, Justin Lawlor, Lauren Davis, Kylee Vander Velde, Sami Ali

Student Works

Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS), also known as drones, offer new capabilities for cultural heritage preservation activities. Student researchers from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University have applied photogrammetric techniques based upon sUAS captured imagery to assist with historical site documentation and cultural heritage preservation in the Republic of Kosovo. Imagery from three locations -- Isniq, Dranoc and Junik -- highlight this work. Student researchers created georectified orthomosaics and 3D virtual objects. At each of these three locations the object of interest was a type of building known as a kulla. These kullas are fortified homes built for protecting large families and are …

The Intertwining Of Religion And Nation: The Russian Administration’S Approach To Religious Life And National Identity, Beth Admiraal

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "The relationship between religion and nation that is promoted by a state will have tremendous effects on religious minority groups. For religious minorities in Russia, the forms that are most utilized by the state are exclusion and strong internalism. The former leads the state to cherry-pick troublesome religious groups for exclusion, for failing to be ‘Russian’ enough, leading to serious impairment for religious groups that are singled out by the state as threats to the nation. With regards to the latter formulation, the Russian Orthodox Church is the basis for a strong internalist mechanism, determining who is in and …

Is The East-West Political Bipolarity The Foundation Of The Ecumenical Movement? The Cold War As A Meta-Narrative Of The World Council Of Churches, Katharina Kunter

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "...the following remarks provide an overview of the role of churches during the Cold War. Very often, the role of churches will be represented by developments and discussions within the WCC, which can be understood as a sort of role model, because it provided the "bell" for similar developments in the Western and Northern European countries. Three topics were prioritized. First was the dilemma of an ecumenism between the East and West in the early phase of the Cold War during the late 1940s and 1950s, which accompanied the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Second, …

Nationalistic Smog Over Poland, Alfred Marek Wierzbicki

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Nationalism poisons Christianity. It strips its universalism and humanism. Using a slogan from a church hymn “We want God” on nationalists’ banners should rouse objection. God cannot be appropriated by one nation. Besides that, what is the reason for elevating this slogan in a setting conducive to religious freedom? If this supposed to be a response to secularization of modern culture, then combining it with racial slogans of white civilization and clearly anti-Islamic slogans, is a primitive action grown out from a fear of what is different and foreign. Religion assimilating social and national fears is a pathological phenomenon …

Recent Protestant Developments In Ukraine And Russia, William Yoder

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Topics covered, with commentary, include:

Ukraine Baptist Union Breaks Its Ties with John MacArthur

Seminary Suspensions in Russia; Moscow’s Baptist Seminary is Back in Operation

New Inter-Confessional Body in Ukraine

Surviving Past–And Future–Blockades; A Russian Prayer Breakfast Met in St. Petersburg

Commentary: Franklin Graham in Moscow

A Bridgebuilder between East and West: Siegfried Springer Has Died