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This book asks if the nobility could lead the Westernization of Russia in early modern times. Its yardstick is Humanism and the Latin Classics, which dominated education in Europe, but with which Russia's government only flirted, and most in society rejected.
The Rise and Fall of Latin Humanismus in Early Modern Russia argues that, between 1650 and 1789, Russia flirted with Western Europe's Latin Humanism. However, all levels of society, especially the nobility, consistently rejected the pagan authors of Latinate culture, propagated by Ukrainian clergy. An examination of the printing industry, Latin teaching, and private libraries in Russia, and excursions into the thought of Russia's “enlighteners” demonstrate that Latin authors had little impact on Russia, especially the nobility, traditionally regarded as the advocate of Western educational and cultural values. The book contributes to our understanding of the reforms of Peter the Great, of Catherine's “enlightened” reputation, of the origins of the intelligentsia, and of the cultural ties between Russians and the peoples they annexed in early modern times.
Why have Russians chosen unlimited autocracy throughout their history? Why is democracy unable to flourish in Russia?
During the 1740s, literate Russians mostly kept to traditional forms of written language. Although the linguistic reforms undertaken by Peter the Great earlier in the century affected printed secular texts and the imperial administration, these reforms were less radical than often assumed. This study draws conclusions based on an analysis that differs from earlier ones. First of all, the study examines the Russian language during a comparatively little-known decade of the eighteenth century. In doing so, it takes into account not only strictly linguistic data, but also developments in Russian society. Second, the investigation analyzes sources that are seldom valued for their linguistic content, thus offering a broader perspective on the Russian language of the period.
Though not without its rivals, Latin stood at the apex of Western culture from the Renaissance until relatively recently. Franoise Waquet offers an enthralling, original history of the language's uses, its detractors and defenders, and the social hierarchies its practitioners inscribed. Granted a new lease of life by the Humanists and the Catholic Church, Latin was the form in which generations of schoolchildren were taught to read, millions of people worshipped, and an international community of scholars communicated with one another. It conveyed sacredness, but also obscenity; learning, as well as pedantry; science, but also trickery and mumbo-jumbo. Few individuals even among the clergy or the most learned scholars have ever managed to speak it with any degree of correctness or fluency, let alone elegance. Why, despite rationalist criticisms that Latin was inaccessible to the great majority of people, and inconvenient and time-consuming for the rest, did it maintain such a strong presence - some would say a tyranny - for so long?
Russian Orthodoxy Resurgent is the first book to fully explore the expansive and ill-understood role that Russia's ancient Christian faith has played in the fall of Soviet Communism and in the rise of Russian nationalism today. John and Carol Garrard tell the story of how the Orthodox Church's moral weight helped defeat the 1991 coup against Gorbachev launched by Communist Party hardliners. The Soviet Union disintegrated, leaving Russians searching for a usable past. The Garrards reveal how Patriarch Aleksy II--a former KGB officer and the man behind the church's successful defeat of the coup--is reconstituting a new national idea in the church's own image. In the new Russia, the former KGB ...
Connections between the Society of Jesus and astrology used to appear as unexpected at best. Astrology was never viewed favourably by the Church, especially in early modern times, and since Jesuits were strong defenders of Catholic orthodoxy, most historians assumed that their religious fervour would be matched by an equally strong rejection of astrology. This groundbreaking and compelling study brings to light new Jesuit scientific texts revealing a much more positive, practical, and nuanced attitude. What emerges forcefully is a totally new perspective into early modern Jesuit culture, science, and education, highlighting the element that has been long overlooked: astrology.