Introduction: From Forced Secularization to Desecularization
1. The Theological Roots of Militant Atheism
2. Evicting God: Forced Secularization in the Soviet Union
3. Faith in Defiance: The Persistence of Religion under Scientific
Atheism
4. Russia's Religious Renaissance
5. China's Third Opium War: The CCP's Struggle With Religion
6. Keeping the Faith: The Persistence of Religious Life in
Communist China
7. From Religious Anesthesia to Jesus Fever
Conclusion: Man, The State, and God
This comparative survey of the secularization policies of the Soviet Union and China looks at the suppression, survival, and revival of religion in both countries.
Christopher Marsh is Professor of Political Science and Director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University. The author of several books, including Unparalleled Reforms: China's Rise, Russia's Fall, and the Interdependence of Transition (Lexington Books, 2005), he also serves as editor of the Journal of Church & State (Oxford UP). Dr. Marsh speaks Russian and Chinese and has conducted field research across Eurasia.
Lucidly and engagingly written, Christopher Marsh's book is a
landmark contribution to the growing literature on secularization
and desecularization in the modern world. Previous studies have
typically focused on a single country or religious movement, while
there has been precious little comparative, cross-national and
cross-civilizational research. Yet, without comparative research,
it is impossible to theorize desecularization and detect its broad,
cross-national meaning, patterns, causes, and consequences. Dr.
Marsh's book fills in this gap. It detects and theorizes the
patterns of religions' suppression, resilience and resurgence by
comparatively exploring the cases of Russia and China. These are,
without an exaggeration, the two most important and massive cases
of forced secularization and subsequent religious resurgence in the
20th - early 21st century. The book marshals impressive empirical
evidence, ranging from documentary sources to representative
national surveys. An outstanding expert on Russia as well as China,
Christopher Marsh aptly utilizes his thorough knowledge of the two
cases and his fluency in both languages to present to his readers a
convincing, empirically grounded yet theoretically consequential
account of the stunning resilience of faith under the ruthlessly
oppressive atheist regimes, and of its ongoing spectacular revival.
-Peter Berger, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Sociology and
Theology. Director, Institute on Culture, Religion, and World
Affairs, Boston University.
This is a masterful work, by a scholar with the rare ability to
handle sources in both Russian and Chinese, that sheds much light
on theoretical debates surrounding religion and modernity,
secularization, and desecularization. But it is much more than
that; It is also an inspiring story of human resilience in the face
of oppression. -- Peter L. Berger, University Professor Emeritus,
Boston University
... [the book] presents hagiographies of Orthodox, Evangelical,
Buddhist and Taoist individuals who resisted Communist persecution
and who were imprisoned or killed as a result. These stories
illustrate the common experience of these different religious
groups and set out a shared history that binds Russian and Chinese
religious leaders together. Christopher Marsh's implied hope is
that the narrative of a shared past will allow for greater
interreligious collaboration on issues of religious freedom in the
future.
*Times Literary Supplement*
[This book offers] valuable contributions to emerging areas of
study, focusing on the abject failure of forced secularization and
Orthodoxy's influence on federal politics, respectively.
*The Russian Review*
The most important part of this monograph provides and concise by
useful historiography of the ideas and the policies implemented by
the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China...The book will
open the eyes of readers who are convinced that the policy of the
Communist Party is simply a matter of repression and teaching
atheism. It offers a needed corrective to that view. the author
should be commended for providing some important contextual
facts...I would recommend this book in a comparative politics or
contemporary history undergraduate class, because it stands out as
rigorous in its research design while remaining accessible.
*Journal of Chinese Religions*
This book will be invaluable for those interested in secularization
theory. It situates the cases of post-communist Russia and China
firmly within ‘Bergerian’ debates in the sociology of religion.
*Slavonica*
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