Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution, 1905-1929

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&1905–1929 & & & &Spiritual Revolution & &Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual &Spiritual & &Spiritual & Russian Baptists HEATHER J. COLEMAN I n the early twentieth century, Baptists were the fastest-growing non-Orthodox religious group among Russians and Ukrainians. Heather J. Coleman traces the development of Baptist evangelical communities through a period of rapid industrialization, war, and revolution, when Russians found themselves asking new questions about religion and its place in modern life. Baptists’ faith helped them navigate the problems of dissent, of order and disorder, of modernization and westernization, and of national and social identity in their changing society. Making use of newly available archival material, this important book reveals the ways in which the Baptists’ own experiences, and the widespread discussions that they generated, illuminate the emergence of new social and personal identities in late Imperial and early Soviet Russia, the creation of a public sphere and a civic culture, and the role of religious ideas in the modernization process. Cover photo: Baptists at home. FromV. IasevichBorodaevskaia , Bor’ba za vieru, 1912. “. . . a fascinating read for everyone interested in Russia, religion, and modernity. . . .Whether it is the penetration of Western ideas beyond the educated elite, the connection between religion and official national identity, or the creation of a public sphere and civic culture, the Baptists emerge at the center of fundamental issues in modern Russian history.” —Nadieszda Kizenko “Heather Coleman masterfully reconstructs the history of the Baptists in Russia in a dramatic period of social, economic, and political change. . . . She astutely demonstrates the modernity of the Russian Baptist movement and analyzes the ways in which the growing popularity of evangelicalism challenged the political status quo in late Imperial Russia and the early Soviet Union.” —ChristineWorobec HEATHER J. COLEMAN is Canada Research Chair in Imperial Russian History and an associate professor in the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Canada. Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies Alexander Rabinowitch and William G. Rosenberg, general editors Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution, 1905 – 1929 COLEMAN INDIANA INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis http://iupress.indiana.edu • 1–800–842–6796 Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution, 1905–1929 Coleman, Russian Baptists 2/7/05 12:03 PM Page i Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies Alexander Rabinowitch and William G. Rosenberg, general editors Coleman, Russian Baptists 2/7/05 12:03 PM Page ii ...