HIST 438
Religion and Secularism in Modern Europe and Russia
Last Offered Fall 2015
Division II Writing Skills
This course is not offered in the current catalog

This course will explore the complex and changing interplay between religion and secularity in modern Europe and Russia through an examination of selected topics from the Enlightenment to the present, including the interrelationship between religion on the one hand and politics, revolution, secularist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic ideologies, the formation of imperial and national polities and identities, social and economic change, women and gender, and the rise of consumerism on the other. The influence and fate of religion in modern Europe present a complex and contradictory pattern. Increased religious tolerance and pluralism have coexisted with intense anti-clericalism, militant secularism, virulent anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia; religious revival and innovation have coexisted with skepticism, secularization, and dechristianization; both religion and irreligion have served as bases for political mobilization and powerfully shaped personal, national, and transnational identities. Demonstrating a long-term trajectory toward secularity, Europe for some scholars reflects the inexorable process of modernization; other scholars reject this claim and contend that Europe’s experience is unique in a global context. As evidence, some point to the apparent vitality of religion in imperial Russia and the revival of religious profession and identity in post-communist Russia. In addition to exploring these questions through the topics noted above, students will do so also through a substantial independent research project on a topic of their own choice.