Dissent on the Margins - How Soviet Jehovah's Witnesses Defied Communism and Lived to Preach About It (Hardcover)

Emily B. Baran offers a gripping history of how a small, American-based religious community, the Jehovah's Witnesses, found its way into the Soviet Union after World War II, survived decades of brutal persecution, and emerged as one of the region's fastest growing religions after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. In telling the story of this often misunderstood faith, Baran explores the shifting boundaries of religious dissent, non-conformity, and human rights in the Soviet Union and its successor states. Soviet Jehovah's Witnesses are a fascinating case study of dissent beyond urban, intellectual nonconformists. Witnesses, who were generally rural, poorly educated, and utterly marginalized from society, resisted state pressure to conform. They instead constructed alternative communities based on adherence to religious principles established by the Witnesses' international center in Brooklyn, New York. The Soviet state considered Witnesses to be the most reactionary of all underground religious movements, and used extraordinary measures to try to eliminate this threat. Yet Witnesses survived, while the Soviet system did not. After 1991, they faced continuing challenges to their right to practice their faith in post-Soviet states, as these states struggled to reconcile the proper limits on freedom of conscience with European norms and domestic concerns. Dissent on the Margins provides a new and important perspective on one of America's most understudied religious movements.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	May 2014
First published:	April 2014
Authors:	Emily B. Baran (Assistant Professor of History)
Dimensions:	237 x 162 x 35mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	400
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-994553-5
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Other Protestant & Nonconformist Churches > General Books > History > European history > General Books > History > World history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Other Protestant & Nonconformist Churches > General Books > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Other Protestant & Nonconformist Churches Promotions
LSN:	0-19-994553-5
Barcode:	9780199945535

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