Slavic Paganism Today: Between Ideas and Practice

Since the late years of the USSR, a new religious movement has gained momentum in Russia which seeks to return to the ancient faith of the Slavic peoples and to revive the pagan traditions that once embraced vast expanses of Eurasia. The Rodnoverie or "Native Faith" movement has emerged as a constellation of diverse religio-spiritual, philosophical, socio-cultural, and political currents whose identities and dynamics have continued to draw attention within the religious landscape of the post-Soviet space. At the same time, the Slavic pagan revival has figured as part of a larger global trend of concerns with cultural identity in the twenty-first century. In this unprecedented collection of studies, translated into English for the first time, one of Russia's leading scholars of Slavic paganism, Dr. Roman Shizhensky, explores the macrocosms and microcosms of contemporary Slavic pagan ideas, figures, practices, and trends from a diverse array of perspectives. From theoretical deliberations on key terminology to comparative studies of doctrines and movements, from sociological portraits and direct interviews with pagan figures to analyses of symbols and art, Shizhensky presents a colorful palette of approaches to paganism in contemporary Russia and Europe.