The American YMCA and Russian Culture

The American YMCA and Russian Culture PDF Author: Matthew Lee Miller
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739177575
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
In The American YMCA and Russian Culture, Matthew Lee Miller explores the impact of the philanthropic activities of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) on Russians during the late imperial and early Soviet periods. The YMCA, the largest American service organization, initiated its intense engagement with Russians in 1900. During the First World War, the Association organized assistance for prisoners of war, and after the emigration of many Russians to central and western Europe, founded the YMCA Press and supported the St. Sergius Theological Academy in Paris. Miller demonstrates that the YMCA contributed to the preservation, expansion, and enrichment of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It therefore played a major role in preserving an important part of pre-revolutionary Russian culture in Western Europe during the Soviet period until the repatriation of this culture following the collapse of the USSR. The research is based on the YMCA’s archival records, Moscow and Paris archives, and memoirs of both Russian and American participants. This is the first comprehensive discussion of an extraordinary period of interaction between American and Russian cultures. It also presents a rare example of fruitful interconfessional cooperation by Protestant and Orthodox Christians.

The American YMCA and Russian Culture

The American YMCA and Russian Culture PDF Author: Matthew Lee Miller
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739177575
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 301

Get Book Here

Book Description
In The American YMCA and Russian Culture, Matthew Lee Miller explores the impact of the philanthropic activities of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) on Russians during the late imperial and early Soviet periods. The YMCA, the largest American service organization, initiated its intense engagement with Russians in 1900. During the First World War, the Association organized assistance for prisoners of war, and after the emigration of many Russians to central and western Europe, founded the YMCA Press and supported the St. Sergius Theological Academy in Paris. Miller demonstrates that the YMCA contributed to the preservation, expansion, and enrichment of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. It therefore played a major role in preserving an important part of pre-revolutionary Russian culture in Western Europe during the Soviet period until the repatriation of this culture following the collapse of the USSR. The research is based on the YMCA’s archival records, Moscow and Paris archives, and memoirs of both Russian and American participants. This is the first comprehensive discussion of an extraordinary period of interaction between American and Russian cultures. It also presents a rare example of fruitful interconfessional cooperation by Protestant and Orthodox Christians.

Solzhenitsyn and American Culture

Solzhenitsyn and American Culture PDF Author: David P. Deavel
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
ISBN: 0268108277
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 473

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Book Description
These essays will interest readers familiar with the work of Nobel Prize–winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and are a great starting point for those eager for an introduction to the great Russian’s work. When people think of Russia today, they tend to gravitate toward images of Soviet domination or, more recently, Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. The reality, however, is that, despite Russia’s political failures, its rich history of culture, religion, and philosophical reflection—even during the darkest days of the Gulag—have been a deposit of wisdom for American artists, religious thinkers, and political philosophers probing what it means to be human in America. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stands out as the key figure in this conversation, as both a Russian literary giant and an exile from Russia living in America for two decades. This anthology reconsiders Solzhenitsyn’s work from a variety of perspectives—his faith, his politics, and the influences and context of his literature—to provide a prophetic vision for our current national confusion over universal ideals. In Solzhenitsyn and American Culture: The Russian Soul in the West, David P. Deavel and Jessica Hooten Wilson have collected essays from the foremost scholars and thinkers of comparative studies who have been tracking what Americans have borrowed and learned from Solzhenitsyn and his fellow Russians. The book offers a consideration of what we have in common—the truth, goodness, and beauty America has drawn from Russian culture and from masters such as Solzhenitsyn—and will suggest to readers what we can still learn and what we must preserve. The last section expands the book's theme and reach by examining the impact of other notable Russian authors, including Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Gogol. Contributors: David P. Deavel, Jessica Hooten Wilson, Nathan Nielson, Eugene Vodolazkin, David Walsh, Matthew Lee Miller, Ralph C. Wood, Gary Saul Morson, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., Micah Mattix, Joseph Pearce, James F. Pontuso, Daniel J. Mahoney, William Jason Wallace, Lee Trepanier, Peter Leithart, Dale Peterson, Julianna Leachman, Walter G. Moss, and Jacob Howland.

New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations

New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations PDF Author: William Benton Whisenhunt
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317425154
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations includes eighteen articles on Russian-American relations from an international roster of leading historians. Covering topics such as trade, diplomacy, art, war, public opinion, race, culture, and more, the essays show how the two nations related to one another across time from their first interactions as nations in the eighteenth century to now. Instead of being dominated by the narrative of the Cold War, New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations models the exciting new scholarship that covers more than the political and diplomatic worlds of the later twentieth century and provides scholars with a wide array of the newest research in the field.

Russian Émigré Culture

Russian Émigré Culture PDF Author: Christoph Flamm
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1443863661
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
A quarter of a century ago, glasnost opened the door for a new look at Russian émigré culture unimpeded by the sterile concepts of Cold War cultural politics. Easier access to archives and a comprehensive approach to culture as a multi-faceted phenomenon, not restricted to single phenomena or individuals, have since contributed to a better understanding of the processes within the émigré community, of its links with the lost home country, and of the interaction with the cultural life of the countries of adoption. This volume offers a collection of critical articles that resulted from the international interdisciplinary symposium which was held at Saarland University in November 2011 as part of a one-week festival, “Russian Music in Exile”. Scholars from around the world contributed essays reflecting current perspectives on Russian émigré culture, shedding new light on cultural diplomacy, literature, art, and music, and covering essentially the whole 20th century, from pre-revolutionary movements to the present. The interdisciplinary approach of the volume shows that émigré networks were not confined to a particular segment of culture, but united composers, artists, critics, and even diplomats. On the whole, the contributions to this volume document the fascinating diversity, the internal contradictions, as well as the impact that the largest and most durable émigré movement of the 20th century had on European cultural life.

New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations

New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations PDF Author: William Benton Whisenhunt
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317425146
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations includes eighteen articles on Russian-American relations from an international roster of leading historians. Covering topics such as trade, diplomacy, art, war, public opinion, race, culture, and more, the essays show how the two nations related to one another across time from their first interactions as nations in the eighteenth century to now. Instead of being dominated by the narrative of the Cold War, New Perspectives on Russian-American Relations models the exciting new scholarship that covers more than the political and diplomatic worlds of the later twentieth century and provides scholars with a wide array of the newest research in the field.

Religious Life in the Late Soviet Union

Religious Life in the Late Soviet Union PDF Author: Barbara Martin
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000930432
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This book presents the first large overview of late Soviet religiosity across several confessions and Soviet republics, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Based on a broad range of new sources on the daily life of religious communities, including material from regional archives and oral history, it shows that religion not only survived Soviet anti-religious repression, but also adapted to new conditions. Going beyond traditional views about a mere "returned of the repressed", the book shows how new forms of religiosity and religious socialisation emerged, as new generations born into atheist families turned to religion in search of new meaning, long before perestroika facilitated this process. In addition, the book examines anew religious activism and transnational networks between Soviet believers and Western organisations during the Cold War, explores the religious dimension of Soviet female activism, and shifts the focus away from the non-religious human rights movement and from religious institutions to ordinary believers.

Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States

Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States PDF Author: Tanya Chebotarev
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317955374
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
Gain a better understanding of the past and cultures of Slavic and East European peoples with American archival collections! Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States, the first collection of its kind, offers perspectives from leading Slavic librarians, archivists and historians on the cultural history of Russian and East European exiles and immigrants to North America in the twentieth century. Editor Tanya Chebotarev—curator of the Bahkmeteff Archive at Columbia University—and a group of leading authorities document the concerted effort to preserve Russian and East European written culture outside the bounds of Communist power. This book is a vital addition to the collections of archivists, librarians, historians, and graduate students in Russian studies and American immigrations. Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States explores the role of Russian émigrés, librarians, and scholars in the United States in providing a haven for archival collections of Russian literature, art, and historical manuscripts at the height of panic during the Cold War. This essential resource celebrates the efforts made by archivists and librarians in collecting émigré materials. This book addresses many important related topics, such as: an introduction to the life and work of Boris Aleksandrovich Bakhmeteff—financial contributor to the Archive and the last Russian ambassador to the United States before the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power the Eurasianist movement—its roles and views on science, culture, and empire reflections of Russian émigrés on Soviet nationality policies during the 1920s and 1930s American collections on immigrants from the Russian Empire the New York Public Library—its role in collecting and describing vernacular Slavic and East European language and history materials to a diverse readership Columbia University Libraries’ Slavic and East European Collections—a historical overview of these extraordinarily rich collections of materials from or about the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the countries and people of Eastern Europe the Hoover Institution’s Polish émigré collections and the Polish state archives Russian archives online—present status and future prospects This book also details recent efforts to “repatriate” archival collections and libraries abroad and return them to their countries of origin. Disagreements between countries are already emerging, and Russian and East European Books and Manuscripts in the United States discusses their implications and the future of America’s Slavic archives.

Orthodox Christian Identity in Western Europe

Orthodox Christian Identity in Western Europe PDF Author: Sebastian Rimestad
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100022810X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
This book analyses the discourses of Orthodox Christianity in Western Europe to demonstrate the emerging discrepancies between the mother Church in the East and its newer Western congregations. Showing the genesis and development of these discourses over the twentieth century, it examines the challenges the Orthodox Church is facing in the modern world. Organised along four different discursive fields, the book uses these fields to analyse the Orthodox Church in Western Europe during the twentieth century. It explores pastoral, ecclesiological, institutional and ecumenical discourses in order to present a holistic view of how the Church views itself and how it seeks to interact with other denominations. Taken together, these four fields reveal a discursive vitality outside of the traditionally Orthodox societies that is, however, only partly reabsorbed by the church hierarchs in core Orthodox regions, like Southeast Europe and Russia. The Orthodox Church is a complex and multi-faceted global reality.Therefore, this book will be a vital guide to scholars studying the Orthodox Church, ecumenism and religion in Europe, as well as those working in religious studies, sociology of religion, and theology more generally.

Sergei Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff PDF Author: Valeria Z. Nollan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666917605
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Valeria Z. Nollan’s biography of perhaps the finest pianist of the twentieth century plunges readers into Rachmaninoff’s complex inner world. Sergei Rachmaninoff: Cross Rhythms of the Soul is the first biography of Rachmaninoff in English that presents him in the fullness of his Russian identity. As someone whose own life in Russian emigration ran in parallel ways to Rachmaninoff’s own—and whose meetings with the composer’s grandson in Switzerland informed her work—Nollan brings important cultural insights into her observations of the activities of this generation of creative artists. She also traces the intricacies of Rachmaninoff’s relations with the women closest to him—whose imprints are palpable in his compositions—and introduces a mystery woman whose existence challenges our established narrative of his life.

New Mecca, New Babylon

New Mecca, New Babylon PDF Author: Robert H. Johnston
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773561587
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Three major waves of emigration from Soviet Russia followed the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Civil War. While emigrants in the first wave have been identified mainly with a vague notion of aristocratic taxi drivers, Robert Johnston, through a collective biography of the roughly 120,000 Russians who lived in France during 1920-45, in particular in Paris, shows that this first wave of Russian emigrants made a much more significant contribution to French life and to western knowledge of Russia. Paris was the capital of "Russia Abroad," the home of an emigre generation which included figures from every field of Russian culture and every point of the political compass. Divided and diverse, the community was bound together in the hope and expectation of the downfall of Bolshevism and a return to Mother Russia. Members of the community believed that their mission in Paris was to preserve Russian culture, language, and liberty, a task which required educating France and the West about the true dangers of Communism. As their time away from Russia increased, however, the exiles found it difficult to preserve their organizations and customs and to resist the assimilation of French ways. Gradually the original refugees died, moved away, or surrendered to French culture: by 1951 only 35,000 Russian refugees remained in all of France. The Russian exiles in Paris lived on the margins of history. But though politically defeated, their struggle to defend what they saw as worthwhile Russian values, their efforts to survive, and their contributions to the life of their country of refuge have something to say to a later age, not least to their exiled "grandchildren", the current third wave of emigrants from the USSR.