International Convention: The Religious Underground in the USSR

Call for Papers

The Religious Underground in the USSR

November 18 to 19, 2011

Chernigov, Ukraine

The Shevchenko University of Chernigov

with the participation of members of the Keston Institute (Oxford, U.K.) 

Dear Colleagues: 

We invite you to participate in Ukraine's first international convention examining «The Religious Underground in the USSR», organized by a group of Ukrainian educational and cultural organizations under the leadership of the Shevchenko University of Chernigov. The conference will be held in Chernigov, Ukraine, on the 18^th and 19^th of November 2011. The organizing committee is being advised by members of the Keston Institute (Oxford, U.K.).
   
Although religious resistance to the totalitarian regime in the USSR has been studied in the West for over fifty years, it lacks attention of a similar scope from native scholars. Such attention is critically important now, because of the dangerous trend in Russian and Ukrainian scholarship that many Western scholars have noted, of rewriting recent Russian and Ukrainian history to reflect the politics and concerns of current regimes. This is especially true in matters concerning the Church.
  
The international convention « The Religious Underground in the USSR” aims to inspire dialogue between Western and Eastern students of this phenomenon, and to attract the attention of younger scholars. Several widely known scholars in the field have already offered to present papers at the convention, including Canon Michael Bourdeaux, Xenia Dennen, Vladimir Moss, Lev Regelson, Mikhail Shkarovskii, Irina Osipova, Lydia Sikorskaia, and Archpriest Aleksei Lebedev.  
An exhibit presenting the history and achievements of the Keston Institute is planned for the convention. Copies of items from the Keston Archive located at the Baylor University (Texas, USA) will be displayed, including unique documents and photographs witnessing the history of religious persecution in the USSR. The conference program also includes excursions around the city of Chernigov, led by the members of the National Association “Historical Chernigov.”   
We invite papers describing underground religious movements and activity in the USSR from various perspectives: historical, political, theological, and sociological. Papers presented at the conference will be published in the conference proceedings which will be distributed by the organizing committee to Western and Russian and Ukrainian academic libraries. 
Deadline: September 30, 2011  
Contact: Prof. Svetlana Shumilo veraigizn@rumbler.ru or
        Sister Tatiana sistertatianaspektor@gmail.com