Of Religion and Empire

This book is the first to investigate the role of religious conversion in the long history of Russian state building, with geographic coverage from Poland and European Russia to the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia, and Alaska.

Robert P. Geraci is Associate Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the author of Window on the East: National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia, also from Cornell. Michael Khodarkovsky is Professor of History at Loyola University, Chicago, and author of Where Two Worlds Met: The Russian State and the Kalmyk Nomads, 1600-1771, also from Cornell, and Russia's Steppe Frontier: The Making of a Colonial Empire, 1500-1800.

Although many monographs have appeared in the last twenty years on individual aspects of religion in the Russian empire, a truly synthetic treatment of the varieties of religious experience and imperial attitudes toward them has been lacking. Of Religion and Empire goes a long way toward filling this gap.... The range of subjects covered and the discussions of the overarching theoretical issues make the book a real contribution for anyone who has thought about Russia as an empire.

Nikolas K. Gvosdev, Baylor University:

Whether one is interested in examining the roots of religious and ethnic diversity in contemporary Russia, or in studying the missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church, or in probing encounters between Christian and non-Christian traditions, Of Religion and Empire should be placed at the top of the reading list.

Vera Shevzov, Smith College:

This volume will remain for quite some time one of the standard works on the interface between national and religious identities, empire building and missions, and conversion and religious tolerance. This holds true both for persons interested particularly in imperial Russia and for those who seek a broader comparative context for the study of these topics in other geographical areas of the world.

Nicholas B. Breyfogle, Ohio State University:

This collection of essays explores the tremendous religious diversity of tsarist Russia and adds long-overdue perspectives to our understanding of Russia as a multiethnic, multiconfessional entity. It is a highly significant book that is sure to become a classic for students of Eurasian, colonial, and religious history.... The authors are to be praised for their indispensable contribution to our understanding of a neglected but significant area of the Eurasian past.

Laura Engelstein, Princeton University:

The twelve essays in this valuable collection offer case studies of official policy and its impact on local communities. The volume also constitutes an exercise in comparative religion, for it focuses not only on policy but also on the way the different religious communities adapted to the conditions imposed by imperial rule.... The information and insight the essays provide illustrate the scope and importance of a subject that deserves further research. The volume... is elegantly designed, with some nice illustrations.

Gregory L. Freeze, Brandeis University:

Ranging across a vast period of time and space, Of Religion and Empire demonstrates the extraordinary complexity of the problems that faced ecclesiastical and secular authorities in Russia. This book represents a serious contribution to this new inquiry.

Catherine Evtuhov, Georgetown University:

A fascinating, original, and wide-ranging investigation of religious conversion in its political and imperial dimensions.