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The Economy of the Temples of God in the Turmoil of Changing Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2014

Detelina Tocheva
Detelina Tocheva*
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale [tocheva.detelina@gmail.com].
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Abstract

The liberalisation of religious practice after the fall of the Soviet regime and the support by the Russian state to the Russian Orthodox Church have contributed to the enormous growth of the church economy. Controversies within and without the Church interrogate commercial and gifting practices. The relationship between the expansion of church commerce and the operation of moral boundaries, underlined by critical stances, has been determined by culture and history, with the post-Soviet transformation having played a key role in shaping popular notions of selflessness and profit-seeking. Moreover, as people participate in the church economy they mobilise perceptions of the differential moral valence of gift and commerce in order to communicate concerning the power of the Church, its controversial image, Russia’s social stratification, and to deploy ethics of equity and honesty.

Résumé

La libéralisation des pratiques religieuses après la chute de l’Union soviétique et le soutien apporté par l’État russe à l’Église orthodoxe russe ont contribué à son très fort enrichissement. Des controverses à l’intérieur et à l’extérieur de l’Église ont surgi sur les pratiques commerciales et de don. La collusion entre religion et commerce dénoncée par les critiques qui rappellent les interdits moraux est un produit historique et culturel, la transformation post-soviétique ayant joué un rôle-clé dans la formation des notions populaires de désintéressement et de recherche de profit. Tout en participant à l’activité économique de l’Église, les fidèles mobilisent des visions différenciées de la valeur morale du don et du commerce qui alimentent le débat sur le pouvoir de l’Église et son image, la stratification sociale en Russie et appellent à une éthique d’équité et d’honnêteté.

Zusammenfassung

Die freie Religionsausübung seit der Auflösung der Sowjetunion und die Unterstützung der orthodoxen Kirche durch den russischen Staat haben zum enormen Wirtschaftswachstum letzterer beigetragen. Innere und äußere Kirchenkontroversen hinterfragen die Wirtschafts- und Spendepraktiken. Das Verhältnis zwischen Ausbau des Kirchenumsatzes und Entstehung moralischer Grenzen, hervorgehoben durch kritische Meinungsäußerungen, wurde durch Kultur und Geschichte bestimmt, wobei die postsowjetische Umwandlung eine Schlüsselrolle in der Entstehung eines volkseigenen Verständnisses von Uneigennützigkeit und Profitsuche gespielt hat. Durch die Teilnahme an der religiösen Wirtschaft entwickeln die Menschen darüberhinaus eine Vorstellung von differentieller moralischer Wertung in puncto Spende und Handel, um über die Kirchenmacht, ihr umstrittenes Bild und die soziale Stratifizierung Russlands zu kommunizieren, aber auch um eine Gerichtigkeits- und Ehrlichkeitsethik einzuführen.

Keywords

Russian Orthodox ChurchReligious economyGiftCommercePostsocialismÉglise orthodoxe russeÉconomie religieuseDonCommercePost-socialismeRussisch-orthodoxe Kirchereligiöse WirtschaftSpendeHandelPostsozialismus
Type
Research Article
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , April 2014 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2014 

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References

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