Georg B. Michels & Robert L. Nichols, eds., Russia’s Dissident Old Believers 1650-1950. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN, 2009, 316pp. $45.00

This is a short review in the Nov., 2010, journal REE (Religion in Eastern Europe) of a publication most of which concerns Old Belief before 1905. The collection of essays from a conference held at St. Olaf College, Minnesota, in 1994 represents a review of the scholarly knowledge of Old Belief at a time when there was a renewed interest in the study of religion.

The book is divided into four parts, following an introductory essay by Michels and Nichols that sets the tone with extensive footnoting, especially of Russian sources. The fourteen chapters that follow constitute the best interpretations of scholars - 8 from the west, 6 from the former Soviet Union - available in English yet with a very extensive source citation. Some survey what has been learned about Old Believer culture, others about Old Belief’s relations with the Orthodox church and the state and on its role in social and economic history.

http://www.georgefox.edu/academics/...%20Review_Michels_Russias_Nov%202010.pdf

Information about ordering can be found at:

http://mgs.umn.edu/publications/