CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Dubovka, Daria |
|---|---|
| Title | Orthodoxy under Discussion: Public Religion and State Building in Abkhazia |
| Summary | In the contemporary world, many people prefer to find their own spiritual way rather than to follow the instructions of traditional religious organizations. Catholicity, traditional Protestant denominations, and Orthodoxy are that kind of religious organizations whose hierarchical structure and prescribed way of communication with supernatural lead to decreasing of the number of supporters. In this circumstances, the churches try different ways to combine the leading role of religious institutions with the global trend of individualization of religion. Particularly, Orthodoxy uses nationalism, secular and modern project, to legitimate its role in peoples' life. The phenomenon is especially acute for semi-recognized states such as Abkhazia, separated territory of Georgia. The Abkhazian Orthodox Church invests in both national identity and creative transformation of church’s structure for the purpose of its own surviving. The thesis investigates the question: how does the structure of traditional Christian churches change in the conditions of lacking legitimacy upon shifting of national borders. What does the shift mean for our understanding of public religion? In other words, the ways how secular and religious borders form new religious communities in the public sphere. The thesis argues that nationalistic discourse is still the most effective way of communication with state’s authorities and spiritual leadership is needed church’s legitimation inside religious groups. However, there appears a new model of church’s community formation that uses internet technology and the model reshapes common secular / religious borders. |
| Supervisor | Naumescu, Vlad; Vedres, Balazs |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/dubovka_daria.pdf |
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