A Sacred Space Is Never Empty

A History of Soviet Atheism

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Other Practices, Atheism, History, Asian, Russia
Cover of the book A Sacred Space Is Never Empty by Victoria Smolkin, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Victoria Smolkin ISBN: 9781400890101
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: May 22, 2018
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Victoria Smolkin
ISBN: 9781400890101
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: May 22, 2018
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

When the Bolsheviks set out to build a new world in the wake of the Russian Revolution, they expected religion to die off. Soviet power used a variety of tools--from education to propaganda to terror—to turn its vision of a Communist world without religion into reality. Yet even with its monopoly on ideology and power, the Soviet Communist Party never succeeded in overcoming religion and creating an atheist society.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty presents the first history of Soviet atheism from the 1917 revolution to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and in-depth interviews with those who were on the front lines of Communist ideological campaigns, Victoria Smolkin argues that to understand the Soviet experiment, we must make sense of Soviet atheism. Smolkin shows how atheism was reimagined as an alternative cosmology with its own set of positive beliefs, practices, and spiritual commitments. Through its engagements with religion, the Soviet leadership realized that removing religion from the "sacred spaces" of Soviet life was not enough. Then, in the final years of the Soviet experiment, Mikhail Gorbachev—in a stunning and unexpected reversal—abandoned atheism and reintroduced religion into Soviet public life.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty explores the meaning of atheism for religious life, for Communist ideology, and for Soviet politics.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When the Bolsheviks set out to build a new world in the wake of the Russian Revolution, they expected religion to die off. Soviet power used a variety of tools--from education to propaganda to terror—to turn its vision of a Communist world without religion into reality. Yet even with its monopoly on ideology and power, the Soviet Communist Party never succeeded in overcoming religion and creating an atheist society.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty presents the first history of Soviet atheism from the 1917 revolution to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Drawing on a wealth of archival material and in-depth interviews with those who were on the front lines of Communist ideological campaigns, Victoria Smolkin argues that to understand the Soviet experiment, we must make sense of Soviet atheism. Smolkin shows how atheism was reimagined as an alternative cosmology with its own set of positive beliefs, practices, and spiritual commitments. Through its engagements with religion, the Soviet leadership realized that removing religion from the "sacred spaces" of Soviet life was not enough. Then, in the final years of the Soviet experiment, Mikhail Gorbachev—in a stunning and unexpected reversal—abandoned atheism and reintroduced religion into Soviet public life.

A Sacred Space Is Never Empty explores the meaning of atheism for religious life, for Communist ideology, and for Soviet politics.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book The Enlightenment by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book The Global Remapping of American Literature by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Environment, Scarcity, and Violence by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book The Judge in a Democracy by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book A Short History of Celebrity by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Ernst Cassirer by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book The Furies by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Building Anglo-Saxon England by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Respect for Nature by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 9 (Part 2) by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Dreams of Other Worlds by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book No Shadow of a Doubt by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Territory, Authority, Rights by Victoria Smolkin
Cover of the book Mumbai Fables by Victoria Smolkin
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy