Russian Orthodox culture or Russian Orthodox teaching? Reflections on the textbooks in religious education in contemporary Russia

Abstract

A new textbook in religious education is analysed, first, in comparison to earlier ones, and, second, with respect to its content and goals. The aim of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is threefold – to educate into religion, to foster the ethnic Russian identity and to make youngsters loyal to the state. Actually, the state rather than society is one of the major values (together with the faith) both for the ROC and for the respective textbooks. The new religious courses received the support of the Russian President in 2009, after which a new educational standard was elaborated and new textbooks were completed. Six courses were accepted: four on ‘traditional religions’, one as an introduction to world religions and one on secular ethics. Each of these six courses could be chosen voluntarily by pupils and their parents. The new courses were first introduced in 24 regions in the spring semester of 2010 as a pilot project. I will analyse the textbooks and show which particular courses were most popular in various regions of Russia.

Keywords:

• religious studies
• secondary school
• spirituality
• primary school

Acknowledgements

The project was generously supported by the Georg Eckert Institute, Braunschweig. I am thankful to two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. The German analyst also noted that the materials were presented from the Orthodox point of view rather than culture studies. It was ‘tradition-based rather than problem-based’ (Willems 2007, 237). For details on Borodina’s textbook, see also Willems 2006, S. 113–14, 118–19, 130–31.

2. It is noteworthy that shevchenko’s teaching materials were approved by the Patriarch aleksij II himself. To be precise, the lecture course for the 11th grade is still undeveloped.

3. The “Law of God” (Zakon bozhii) was a standard textbook in the Russian Empire intentionally educating into religion. For details see (Kozyrev and Fedorov 2007, 145).