Volunteering, social ministry and ethical-behavioural attitudes in post-Soviet Russian Orthodox Christianity
This article explores the principles of volunteer mobilisation in social ministry and diaconal practices in contemporary Russian Orthodoxy. I focus on the main types of faith-based volunteer associations, assistance organisations and official Orthodox centres of social ministry that recruit voluntee...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[2018]
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| In: |
Religion, state & society
Year: 2018, Volume: 46, Issue: 1, Pages: 43-63 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Russia
/ Russisch-Orthodoxe Kirche
/ Social engagement
/ Honorary office
/ History 1991-2017
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| Further subjects: | B
Volunteering
B humanitarian-anthropological theology B Russian Orthodoxy B social ministry B Orthodox Theology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article explores the principles of volunteer mobilisation in social ministry and diaconal practices in contemporary Russian Orthodoxy. I focus on the main types of faith-based volunteer associations, assistance organisations and official Orthodox centres of social ministry that recruit volunteers. While analysing the mechanisms of attracting volunteers and the types of motivations, I identified two main models of organising communities and social groups: an authoritarian-mystical model and a socially open one. Ethical-behavioural preferences and attitudes determine the motivation of volunteers, as do gender, confessional and ideological-political factors. The analysis is based on both empirical data obtained through interviews with parish priests, organisers of church-based assistance organisations and volunteer associations, and homiletic theological and moral-didactic literature produced within Russian Orthodox Church circles and in official Church documents. I also consider the motivation of volunteers and their ethical-behavioural attitudes in the Russian Orthodox theological context. The article also analyses theological approaches in Russian Orthodoxy, inspired by modern developments in psychology, including self-determination theory and psychological autonomy, as well as humanitarian-anthropological theology'. |
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| ISSN: | 1465-3974 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion, state & society
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/09637494.2018.1430974 |