Sylabus
Week 1
Introduction to the Central and Eastern Europe, its societies, nationalities and religions.
The lecture gives a general overview of the region’s nationalities, religions and societies both in contemporary and historical perspectives. Students will be able to learn about the various ethnicities, their relations with each other and role in the region as well as about different attitude towards religious denominations existing among the region’s ethnic groups.
Week 2
Introduction to religious denominations of Central and Eastern Europe.
The lecture will cover the main characteristics of the religious denominations existing in Central and Eastern Europe (Christianity in its various interpretations, Judaism and Islam). Regional specifics of the profession of the religion among the region’s population will be shown. Additional emphasis will be made on the role of religious denominations for the historical nation-building and contemporary national identity in the region.
Week 3
Introduction to Communism and its history in Central and Eastern Europe.
The lecture will cover the main aspects of emergence, evolution and development of Communism. Students will learn about the emergence and evolution of Communism as a state ideology in the CEE countries and national peculiarities of these processes. Special emphasis will be made on the attitude of theoretical and practical Communism toward religion. Additionally, the role of Communist regimes in contemporary national identities of the region will be examined.
Week 4
Religion in the USSR in 1920-30s.
The lecture will be focused on the anti-religious policies of the early Communist regime in the USSR. Different religious denominations will be overviewed while special emphasis will be made to the situation of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Week 5
Stalin, war and church.
The lecture will present the overview of the state-church relationship in the Soviet Union at the eve and during the World War II. Students will learn the changes in the Soviet policies toward religion as an attempt to apply to people’s patriotism and the church as one of its indicators.
Week 6
Midterm test.
This is a seminar class when students will be offered practical tasks based on the overview of the previously presented material. The final part of the class will be devoted to the mid-term test.
Week 7
Religion in the post-war USSR.
This lecture will be devoted to the situation of various religious denominations in the post-war USSR. Differences in the state-religion attitudes under various post-war Soviet leaders will be examined. While different religious denominations will be overviewed, special emphasis will be made to the situation of the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. The final part of the lecture will be devoted to students’ presentations.
Week 8
Religion in the post-war communist Poland.
This lecture will be focused on the situation of the religion in the post-war Poland. Special emphasis will be made on the role of the Roman Catholic Church for the Polish national identity under the communism as well as on the Church’s role in the anti-communist movement in Poland. While the Roman Catholic Church will be the main focus, the religious situation of national minorities in Poland under Communism will also be considered. The final part of the lecture will be devoted to students’ presentations.
Week 9
Religion in the post-war communist Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic.
This lecture will give an overview of the post-war religious policies in the communist Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic. The examination of the state policies toward religion will be made with the emphasis of the regional specifics and subsequent role of the religion for the identity of certain ethnic groups (Slovaks, Hungarians and Ruthenians in Czechoslovakia, and Sorbs in the GDR). The final part of the lecture will be devoted to students’ presentations.
Week 10
Religion in the post-war communist Yugoslavia.
This lecture will be devoted to the state-religion relations in the multiethnic and multi-confessional Yugoslavia. Special emphasis will be made to the analysis of the role of religion for the nationalist anti-communist independence movements among the various ethnic groups of the country. The final part of the lecture will be devoted to students’ presentations.
Week 11
Church and International Relations in the Cold War era.
This lecture will be devoted to the role and place of religion in the international relations during the Cold War period. The influence of the international factor to the status of religious denominations in various communist countries will be examined. Church(es) will be presented both as players and objects in/of these policies. Special emphasis will be made to the role of the Holy See under the Polish-born Pope John Paul II. The final part of the lecture will be devoted to students’ presentations.
Week 12
Final debate and final exam.
The lecture will start with a short debate on the course results and will be followed by the final test.
Anotace
The course is designed for students with different academic background who show their interest in the history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 20th century and in particular on the experiences of the relationship between the communist governments with various religious denominations in the region. The course will cover the analysis of the communist regimes’ attitudes toward religion and various religious denominations in different countries of the region and at different moments of time. The course is based on active participation. The teachers will help students choose and work on their final papers paying respect to their major and minor studies.
Chronologically the course took the WWII as the division line for its parts. The first part the course has its focus on the introduction to the region and its nationalities and religious denominations, main characteristics of these denominations in the regional contexts, main characteristics of the theoretical Communism, emergence of the communist regime in the territory of the former Russian Empire, its main features and characteristics as well as on its interaction experience with religion during the early communism in the USSR.
The second part of the course will be focused on the different experiences with the religion that the communist regimes established in the post-war Central and Eastern Europe faced. It will also include the analysis of the post-totalitarian development in the religious life of various denominations in the CEE region.
By the end of the course students will be able to outline and analyse major characteristics, nature and development of the communism at the various stages of its existence and in various countries, as well as different attitudes of the communist regimes toward religion. Students will also be able to outline main characteristics of the development of the religious denominations of the CEE states after the fall of communism. According to their academic interests students will be able to research on certain aspects of the interaction between state and church under communism and to present the results of their studies to other students. The reading materials provided for each lecture will be followed by class discussions so that students will be develop their analytic and debate skills while working with academic literature and providing argumentation for their position. Furthermore, students will learn the importance of working with original historical documents as primary research sources.