"Believers in a Godless World: Religious Lives in Revolutionary Russia" - Page Herrlinger, Frank A. Munsey Professor of History Inaugural Lecture

For much of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union was officially godless. When the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, they embraced militant atheism as a core part of their revolutionary project. Denouncing religion as a remnant of the old tsarist order, they set out to displace all forms of the divine and to empower the working classes as the creators of a new world—one freed from poverty, inequality, and exploitation. Their vision was both powerfully creative and brutally destructive, especially for the majority Orthodox faithful, who were forced to bear witness as their churches were razed, icons smashed, saints’ tombs unearthed, and clergy arrested. 

Yet the atheist project was far from complete. For many Soviet people, the world remained a place of miracles and revelation, spiritual searching, and prayer. Despite persecution, communities of faith did not disappear, but rather adapted, transformed, and diversified in unexpected ways. 

Drawing on decades of archival research made possible since the fall of the Soviet Union, this talk explores the lives of ordinary Orthodox believers in the 1920s and ’30s and shows how their stories—traditionally left out of conventional historical narratives—can enrich our understanding of the Russian Revolution and early Soviet experience.

Page Herrlinger is Frank A. Munsey Professor of History and chair of the Department of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Bowdoin College. She earned a BA in history from Yale University and an MA and PhD in history from the University of California at Berkeley. She is the author of numerous articles on religious identity in Russia and the Soviet Union and two books, including Holy Sobriety in Modern Russia: A Faith Healer and His Followers (Northern Illinois University Press, 2023).

Sponsored by the Office of Stewardship.
For more information, contact Jenn Berube Lord at jberube@bowdoin.edu or 207-725-3928.
Open to the public free of charge.