In search of lost tradition. Orthodox pedagogy and the desecularisation of education studies in Russia

Facing the liberalisation of religious policy at the dusk of the communist era, the Russian Orthodox Church actively engaged with religious education, boosting this previously stagnant field. This contribution complicates criticism of these Orthodox initiatives as a ‘clericalisation’ of education by shifting focus from the ecclesiastical hierarchy to lay educators building the subdiscipline of Orthodox pedagogy in the education faculties of state universities and private theological institutes. Following the four voices of theology approach, this contribution considers Orthodox pedagogy, as we know it from the writings of the leading scholars working in this field, as ‘espoused’ and ‘operant’ theology. It addresses the centrality of tradition for Orthodox education, the meanings ascribed to tradition in different discursive contexts, and how these meanings affect the problem of identity. While the educationalists discussed here represent different trends within the Orthodox spectrum, and espouse heterogeneous influences, they share a belief in the need to root religious pedagogy in native Russian cultural and intellectual traditions.