Religion in the Soviet Union: An Archival Reader by Felix Corley (review)

570BOOK REVIEWS tin Buber and Judah Magnes, and cites statements of Massignon about the creation of Israel. Because the eschataological perspective of the Shiites so influenced Massignon in the last third of his life, "Louis Massignon et l'Iran" is particularly valuable: Shiite theology, its echoes in Massignon's writings, and an account of Massignon's visits to Iran are all included. The varied topics of this book reward the careful reader not only with insights into Massignon's life and thought but also with references to guide further research. Mary Louise Gude University ofNotre Dame Religion in the Soviet Union:An Archival Reader. By Felix Corley. (NewYork: NewYork University Press. 1996. Pp. xiv,402. $55.00.) Felix Corley's Religion in the Soviet Union:AnArchival Reader is a valuable guide to Soviet religious policy from 1917 to the collapse ofthe Soviet Union in 1991· The author has located many of the key documents that outline the Soviet government's policy on religion and then organized them chronologically to show the changing nature of that policy. Some of the documents were already published and translated from Russian into English, but many were not, and Corley found most of these in the newly opened Soviet archives. The author also connects the major chronological divisions of the documents with a running commentary, which puts the various documents into context and shows clearly the Communist government's antireligious policy that went from an initial effort to eradicate religion by any means to a policy in the late Brezhnev and Gorbachev eras to control and harness religion for various political goals, including political stability. In effect, the book is a description of the policy handbook of Soviet bureaucrats, who were charged with the implementation of Soviet religious policy. The overriding impression of the compilation of documents is to underscore the Soviet government's hostility to religion. Of course,the book shows that Soviet animosity waxed and waned, depending upon circumstances, including foreign-policy pressures and the strength and willingness of specific religious leaders to make an accommodation with the Kremlin. Nonetheless, there remained an unrelenting opposition to religion, even in the last days of the Soviet empire. The author attributes this attitude to ideology and bureaucratic habit. He explains the persistence of religion as due in part to inconsistent persecution . Corley does make clear that the Soviet government's policy ofpersecution ebbed as it had less to fear from beleaguered believers, as foreign threats mushroomed , especially the Nazi threat in the 1940's, and as religious believers sought refuge from persecution in underground movements, which the state BOOK reviews571 soon saw as more threatening than the toleration of above-ground religious groups,which at least it could control. The book offers striking evidence of the determination of the Soviet authorities to damage religion. One is struck by the extraordinary dedication to detail of Soviet ideologues in their effort to control and, where and when possible, weaken religion. On the other hand, the book also produces compelling evidence by implication of the persistent influence of religion in the lives of the people. The choice was between ideology or religion, and both had believers and supporters. Although the Soviet Union is gone, the choice really has not changed much at the end of the twentieth century for the former Soviet people or, for that matter , for people in general. In our increasingly interdependent world, where men and women are torn from their traditional ways of life, it is clear from the experience of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and now the former Yugoslavia that secular ideologies will destabilize and destroy civilized communities. Religion has its own checkered history of intolerance and dogmatism and in the wrong hands can be manipulated to wreak havoc as destructive and destabilizing as ideology. But in the hands of genuine believers and spiritual leaders religion is a force for harmony and stability. Religion is perhaps our best hope for peace and co-operation as we enter the age of globalization, and we can only pray that the major religions can work together to meet the challenge of divisive ideology and help produce a global community united in its support ofthe...