printMediated Orthodoxy:
Mission in China
Оstrovskaya Е.А.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Faculty of Sociology, Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia e.ostrovskaya@spbu.ru
Badmatsyrenov T.B.
Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof., Head of Department of Politology and Sociology, Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat State University, Ulan-Ude, Russia batorovitch@mail.ru
Vasilieva S.V.
Dr. Sci. (Hist.), Department of Religious Studies and Theology, Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat State University, Ulan-Ude, Russia. sv_vasilieva@mail.ru
The study was funded by RFBR, project No. 21-011-44156.
Rubric: Sociology of mass communications
For citation:
Оstrovskaya Е.А., Badmatsyrenov T.B., Vasilieva S.V. Mediated Orthodoxy: Mission in China. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2023. No 3. P. 66-79
Abstract
The rapidly unfolding processes of digitalization and mediatization are radically changing contours of social reality and semantic content of routine communication practices. Unprecedented arrangements of individuals, communications and media give rise to new meanings in translocal digital spaces of dialogue about different thematic sectors of reality. Religious websites, mobile applications, online lectures, sermons and divine services open up access to information and practices outside the boundaries of sacred territories and prescriptions expanding public discourse about religions, making available meanings previously hidden from external “non-church” or “uninitiated” search. In this article, we propose an examination of the current communicative practices of the Russian Orthodox Church mission in China. A respective sociological study may shed light on the interpretation of the mission by practicing priests serving in a foreign cultural environment, where Orthodoxy is a tiny island of sacredness for Russians as a “small nation” in several autonomous regions of the PRC and for those who came to it through individual spiritual search. This case makes it possible to get directly in touch with possible answers to questions about the very possibility of an Orthodox mission in societies of religious pluralism, at the same time deeply secularized, commercialized and individualized. Secondly, for many decades the Orthodox mission in China has been a subject of research by orientalist and historians. Paradoxically, a detailed study of the past of the Orthodox mission in China does not enable scholars to elucidate its present, especially specifics of the connections between the structures of the Russian Orthodox Church, various actors and communicative media practices of Orthodox missionary work.
Keywords
Orthodoxy; China; Missionary Activity; Digital Religion
References
Afonina L.A. (2018) Regulations on religious activity in 2018 in the PRC. Problemy Dal’nego Vostoka [Problems of the Far East]. No. 5: 138–154. (In Russ.)
Couldry N., Hepp A. (2017) Mediated Construction of Reality. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Datsyshen V.G. (2007) Christianity in China: history and modernity. Moscow: NOFMO. (In Russ.)
Gorbachev B.N., Manakova T.B. (2013) Revival of the shrine. Assumption Church on the territory of the Russian embassy in Beijing. Moscow: Vost. lit-ra. (In Russ.)
Hepp A. (2020) Deep Mediatization. New York: Routledge.
Hepp A., Hasebrink U. Human interaction and communicative figurations. The transformation of mediatized cultures and societies. In: Mediatization of Communication. Ed. by K. Lundby. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2014: 249–271.
Hepp A., Hasebrink U. (2018) Researching Transforming Communications in Times of Deep Mediatization: A Figurational Approach. In: Communicative Figurations: Transforming Communications in Times of Deep Mediatization. Ed. by A. Hepp, A. Breiter, U. Hasebrink. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan: 23–24.
Kosykh A.N., deacon. (2017) Orthodox mission in China and the restoration of church life. Vestnik Omskoy pravoslavnoy dukhovnoy seminarii [Bulletin of the Omsk Orthodox Theological Seminary]. No. 3: 136–141. (In Russ.)
Kosykh A.N., deacon. (2019) Christian Churches in China from 1978 to 2018: A Comparative Analysis. Autoref. dis. … cand. theological sciences. Moscow: OCAD. (In Russ.)
Li Yingnan. (2019) Missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in China – historical lessons. Vestnik kul’turologii. [Bulletin of Culturology]. No. 2: 194–207. (In Russ.)
Liang Zhe. (2015) Orthodoxy in the context of modern Russian-Chinese relations: the views of Chinese scientists. Vestnik RUDN. Ser. Mezhdunarodnye otnosheniya [Bulletin of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. International Relations series]. No. 1: 79–87. (In Russ.)
Lomanov A.V. (2021) Adaptation and Sinicization: Modern Religious Policy of the CCP Leadership. Mezhdunarodnaya analitika [International Analytics]. V. 12. No. 4: 88–105. (In Russ.)
Lukin A.V. (2013) The Status of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church and the Perspectives of Orthodoxy in China. Analiticheskiye doklady [Analytical Reports]. Iss. 4 (39). (In Russ.)
Pozdnyaev D., prot. (2006) Orthodox consciousness and the Chinese world: from conflict to dialogue. Vladivostok: Primorsky Blagovest. (In Russ.)
Content No 3, 2023