Monograph "The Functionality of Religion: Ukrainian Context".

The tendencies of postsecularism in the social life of today's Ukraine are especially significant in their influence on the quasi-religious context of religious worships practiced in the country. These factors erode the modernity basis of the society, and Ukraine appears in the contradictory situation of its intention to complete the modernisation process and oppose the antiglobalistic isolationism. The neo-Protestant teachings and practices are obviouly connected with the principles of liberalism and consumerism. Neo-Oriental and new syncretic religions show that they produce (...) significant influence on spreading globalistic views in the Ukrainian society. The marginality characteristics of new religions prove the idea that their values are a challenge to the essentialistic dichotomies of the Ukrainian traditional churches. The sociocultural and political context of globalisation and postmodernism includes religious transformations axiomatically, and the impact of both on the late capitalism stage is evident in different contexts. The culture of postmodernism makes this process complicated in the countries which are still between modernity and postmodernity. The processes of 'label change' are important with the stress on the substitution of the rationalistic foundation by quasi-scientific teachings. The conclusions demonstrate that the very incompleteness of the modernity has led to the expansion of the quasi-religious techniques in the social and cultural life of Ukraine. The erosion of the modernity values results in spreading new religions, which became vivid at the end of the last century. As globalisation promotes syncretic and neo-Oriental religions, antiglobalistic movements are supported by neo-pagan techniques and practices. (shrink)

Ukrainian religious studies has recently entered the world scientific community. Acquaintance with Western science, which has proven to be heterogeneous, often based on different methodological approaches and methodological means, has coincided with difficult internal transformations that have undergone all humanitarian knowledge in Ukraine after worldviews and political changes in society. In pursuit of its identity, domestic religious studies went, on the one hand, by contrasting itself with theology, and on the other, by distinguishing itself from scientific atheism. At first, the (...) emergence of religious studies from the bosom of ideologized social science was more relevant. In the form of a critical study of religion, Soviet-era religious studies were included in scientific atheism. Therefore, religious studies came not as knowledge of religion, but as its critique. (shrink)

In the life of an individual as well as the whole of society, the worldview is one and the foundation of their spiritual life and its highest manifestation. Paraphrasing the well-known expression of Hegel's philosophy, It is possible to say with greater certainty that the worldview itself is a flower and a product, a factor and a consequence of the culture of the nation. In the historical past, the dominant worldview of mankind was a religious outlook; in other words - (...) in the spiritual world of humanity, religion was undivided. This pattern is quite relevant to our, Ukrainian, people. (shrink)

Due to the growing religiosity of the Ukrainian population, there is a need to explore more deeply the new religious movements that are emerging in our territories. In particular, to consider the problem of modern Ukrainian paganism. Given that the number of believers and adherents of neo-pagan doctrines is increasing every year, this makes the study of this phenomenon quite relevant. The subject of paganism and neo-paganism is increasingly beginning to be raised at scientific religious conferences, covered in educational literature (...) and in the press. The subject of this study is the three largest non-pagan religious movements in Ukraine: the Unification of the Ukrainian Motherland, the Cathedral of the Native Ukrainian Faith, and the Family Center of the Native Orthodox Faith. (shrink)

This article analyzes some aspects of the modern Ukrainian values, including religion and religiosity in the system of values and priorities in life. It describes the relationship between religious self-identification and some of their values and philosophical positions. It is concluded that the primary value in contemporary Ukrainian society, regardless of religious self-identify, is a family. Having faith is a kind of internal moral and ethical code. According to empirical indicators of people who consider themselves believers, they are more (...) responsible towards institute of family. Individuals with certain religious beliefs, compared to non-believers are more negative towards social issues such as bribery, using office, prostitution, homosexuality, drug addiction and have higher moral expectation for their own behavior. (shrink)

There are the problems of religious outcomes of law, genetic connection of religious and legal conscience, functional interaction of religious and lawful relations, the peculiarities and dependence of the religious and legal creation of regulatory act in the context of the civil society formation in Ukraine are disputed.

The article is updated by several circumstances, which the authors reflect on. In their opinion, there are 1) obvious and external threats — violations of freedom of conscience in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, which arose as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and 2) internally hidden and potential dangers for freedom of religions of Ukrainian citizens. The well-known examples of discrimination of believers of certain faiths in the so-called DPR-LPR and Crimea given by the authors are constantly (...) updated. Relevant monitoring and analytical reports are prepared by both Ukrainian and international experts. They submitted these reports to international human rights organizations, including the rights for Freedom of Religion and Belief. Despite such convincing documented materials, separate accusations have recently appeared against Ukraine, which allegedly violates freedom of religion in the territory under its control. Some are trying to prove that Ukraine, taking advantage of the war situation and referring to the spiritual dangers for Ukraine from those religious organizations whose centers are in the aggressor country, threatens some churches, thereby violating the Constitution and the Law on Freedom of Conscience, which guarantee for all citizens, regardless of from their religious affiliation, freedom of religion. The authors refute these narratives lashed out by Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. Such negative conclusions, which express concern about the situation in Ukraine regarding freedom of conscience and religion, influence on the world public, experts on issues of freedom of conscience, religious organizations, spoil the image of Ukraine as a country with high level of freedom of conscience even among European countries. Religious freedom, as the authors conclude, needs protection today, but they call for separating real threats from imaginary ones and clearly defining who persecutes, whom he/she persecutes and where persecutes. Ukraine is consistent in its intentions to protect the rights of people and communities, to protect the freedoms of believers and their organizations. (shrink)

The article reviews the works of Ukrainian and foreign researchers, the object of which was the phenomenon of «civil religion» in the context of harmonization of relations between church, state and society.

The article is devoted to the history of UARR, its first steps – from the inception of the idea of creating a professional association of religious researchers to a constitutive conference and its decisions. On the basis of archival documents that we managed to collect, and surveys of participants of those events, the process of emergence and institutionalization of the society of religious scholars of Ukraine was restored. It was found that thanks to the enthusiasm of representatives of academic and (...) university science, the solidarity of those who supported the tradition of studying religion, the awareness of the need to develop impartial scientific observation of the religious revival, in order to overcome post-communist stereotypes in relation to religion, in 1993 an association of researchers of religion appeared in Ukraine. The author dwells on the organizational aspects of the creation of UARR, highlights the role of certain scientific, educational, religious and cultural institutions which were the initiators of this process. UARR wouldn’t have appeared so quickly and efficiently without the broad support from interested people and organizations as well as friendly relations and assistance. The organizational basis of UARR comprised the principles of democracy in management, wide representation, creativity, personal and institutional interest both in the results and in the process of research of religiosity and history of religion in Ukraine. Special role in the creation of UARR belongs to the team of the Religious Studies Department of the Philosophy Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine headed by Professor A. Kolodnyi who was supported by his colleagues P. Yarotskyi, B. Lobovyk, P. Kosukha and M. Babiy. M.Babiy prepared a draft Charter and all the constitutive documents for the state registration of the UARR as a public organization. Without the participation of the Department of Religious Studies of Taras Shevchenko National University, Department of Cultural Studies of Kyiv Pedagogical Institute and its head M. Zakovich, it is difficult to imagine that the initiative to unite scholars on religion would have so successfully spread throughout Ukraine. At the time of registration of UARR at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, regional divisions were created in 13 cities. The idea of creating an association was ardently supported in Lviv, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Odessa, Sumy, Uzgorod, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Lutsk, which showed the all-Ukrainian character of the new organization. The article presents evidences of scientific, educational, publishing activity of Ukrainian scholars in the early 1990s, when the foundations were laid for subsequent successful years of activity of Ukrainian scientists. The first steps witnessed the scale and ambitiousness of plans for the development of religious studies in Ukraine. Its conductors took the matter seriously, systematically and scientifically and defined the main directions of UARR: organizational, scientific publications and educational activities. UARR still moves in these directions annually attracting new members to religious research and dissemination of scientific knowledge about religion and religious organizations. The purpose of the article is to familiarize the wider community of study of religion with the first years of the emergence and institutionalization of religious studies in independent Ukraine. Scientific novelty is that for the first time archival documents on the beginnings of creation and development of activities of UARR are introduced which are supported by testimonies of those people who participated in those events. (shrink)

We continue to publish the memoirs of the founders of the Ukrainian Association of Reseachers of Religion, which is rightfully the long-term director of the Lviv Museum of the History of Religions Volodymyr Haiuk. He headed this museum for almost 20 years, with which his life destiny is still connected. His support for the initiative of Kyiv colleagues to establish a professional union of religious researchers played an important role, as it expanded the geographical, thematic and sectoral boundaries of (...) scholars' communication, and the May roundtables on the history of religions in Ukraine, founded by V. Haiuk, have become a tradition. 2020 is the year of the 30th International Forum, which for decades brings together and unites researchers from different parts of Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania, other Baltic countries and Europe. (shrink)

In this issue, the founder of the Donetsk regional branch of the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies, theologian, candidate of historical sciences, senior researcher of the Department of Religious Studies of the GS Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, President of the Center for Religious Studies member of the Expert Council on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations under the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, member of the Strategic Council under the Minister of Culture (...) and Information Policy of Ukraine. I. Kozlovsky worked for more than 25 years in the Donetsk Regional State Administration as a chief specialist and head of the department for religions, in the early 1990s he established the College of Religious Studies at Donetsk Open University, which was later transformed into the Faculty of Philosophy and Religious Studies of the State University of Information. intelligence, and has done much to promote interfaith and interreligious dialogue and cooperation in the Donetsk region, whose religious map is very diverse. At the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, I. Kozlovsky became one of the organizers of the interfaith prayer marathon "Prayer for Ukraine", which took place in Donetsk from early March to November 2014, which was attended by members of the Donetsk branch of the UAR. Until 2016, some members of the UAR, led by I. Kozlovsky, who still remained in the occupied territories, collected data on the state of religious freedom in Donetsk and the region. In 2016, I. Kozlovsky was imprisoned by a terrorist group of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" and was held captive for almost 2 years. (shrink)

The ethnology of religion is a relatively young field of religious studies that emerged as a result of an interdisciplinary study of ethnicity and religion. It is she who studies the great variety of aspects of the interaction and combination of these social phenomena, although, as is well known, religion and ethnicity are the object of attention of various branches of science - religious studies, ethnology, anthropology, ethnography, cultural studies, history, etc. Each of them in their context (...) analyzes their essence, functionality, history, even some specific aspect of their interaction. The emergence of the ethnology of religion as a separate sphere of religious science due to the need for a holistic approach to the study of a complex system of relations "religion-ethnos" in all their diversity of forms, types, types. The synthetics of social phenomena that have arisen as a result of the interaction of ethnicities and religions have prompted to life at first comprehensive studies of these phenomena, and later - a synthesis of the sciences that studied them. The latter is a testimony to the further development of human knowledge, a necessary step towards an in-depth understanding of the relationship between ethnic and religious. These social phenomena throughout history are so closely intertwined that during certain periods of social life significantly influenced the tendencies and directions of the world historical process, determined the character of the formation of its laws. (shrink)

Prof. Petro Yarotsky on the UARR questionnaire.

Oksana Horkusha’s article «The World Outlook function of religion and church identity: challenges in the contempopary coordinates of Ukrainian reality» analyzes the world outlook functioning of churches in the events of modern Ukraine. The rhetoric and the activity of church institutions are explored, on the basis of which the 3 levels of perception of reality are distinguished: 1) global 2) "Russko-mirovsky" 3) Ukrainian. Given the characteristic of each of them.

The problem statement is that the understanding of the fullness as a certain state of consciousness is inherent not only in Christianity. An analysis of recent research on the subject involves the consideration of emptiness as fullness in Chinese mysticism. In view of this, the purpose of the article is to highlight the phenomenon of self-sufficiency and finding the similarity of Christianity, Taoism, the religion of ancient Ukrainians and modern mysticism.

Ivan Ogienko, also known as Metropolitan Hilarion, devoted much attention to the role and place of religion in the national life of Ukrainians and their ethnic identity in their scholarly and theological works. Without exaggeration it can be argued that the problem of national unity of the Ukrainian people is one of the key principles of all historiosophical considerations of the famous scholar and theologian. If the purpose of the spiritual life of a Ukrainian, according to his views, is (...) to serve God, then the purpose of state or terrestrial life is the dedicated service to his people. The purpose of heaven and the purpose of the earthly paths, intersecting in the life of a certain group of people through the lives of its individual representatives, give rise to a unique alliance of spiritual unity, the name of which is "people" or "nation." Religion in the process of transforming the anarchist crowd into a spiritually integrated and orderly national integrity serves as the transformer of the imperfect nature of the human soul into perfect. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the problem of the relationship between religion and philosophy in the modern context with its inherent thesis about the incompatibility of faith and reason. The role and subsequent transformation of philosophy is a key factor in the process of secularization. The author examines the change in the social function of religion and its influence on the legitimation of philosophical knowledge in the early modern era, especially in the context of the interaction between the (...) church and the state. The article shows how the change in the social function of religion affects the method of legitimizing knowledge. (shrink)

Patriotic religion reveals a great interest in the problem of the Ukrainian national church, the forms of its implementation in Ukrainian history and modern times. In the field of attention, in particular, the adequacy of the idea of ​​the national church to the historical development and spiritual traditions of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches. At the same time, the Ukrainian mentality of the Protestant churches, their significance as a national preservation factor remains a very controversial issue. Given that (...) Calvinism in Ukraine demonstrated its potential for socio-cultural adaptation in the era of the first national revival, and also witnessed its participation in the socio-political, cultural and educational processes of the modern period, the need to study this denomination in the context of the idea of ​​a national church becomes of some relevance. (shrink)

As already mentioned, based on a number of goals and methods of classification, Ukrainian religious studies have been divided into two disciplines - academic and theological. The former, in particular, is characterized by historicity, tolerance, non-confession, objectivity and pluralism. Instead, theological religious studies, based on the belief in the truth of Divine Revelation and the indisputable authority of Scripture, are characterized by apologetic and confessional aspirations, which are accordingly manifested in affirming the truth of a particular religious doctrine and religious (...) belief. Some peculiarity of this division is the fact that according to which the classification principles of foreign religious studies are shifted into the sphere of internal and external specifics of the study of religious phenomenon, as opposed to domestic religious studies, whose study is often based on the ideological and supernatural components of the worldview what religion. (shrink)

In printed editions and reports at scientific conferences there is sometimes a discussion about the legitimacy of the use of the term "Ukrainian Orthodoxy". It is said, in particular, that the term "Ukrainian Church" should be used, and not "Ukrainian Orthodoxy", because the former is allegedly used by Metropolitan Hilarion and the latter is not. Some consider the use of the term "Ukrainian Orthodoxy" as another manifestation of "Ukrainian nationalism", because, see, Orthodoxy is a universal phenomenon and cannot be stretched (...) "across national apartments". There were also warnings that in the Eastern Slavic territories there was no "proper Ukrainian Orthodoxy" there, but there was "Orthodoxy Russkoe". agree with Arsen Rychinsky's opinion that every nation has its own separate path to God, and only in this way will he find happiness and justification that, by adopting "even one and the same religion, each nation finds in it something most relevant, closest ". (shrink)

The cornerstone of any religion is its anthropological concept, which seeks to determine the essential orientations of man, to outline the ideological framework of its existence, to represent the idea of ​​its essence, purpose in earthly life. The main task of the religious system is the act of involving and subordinating man to the spiritual divine realm as the realm of the transcendental existence of God. Belief in the real presence of the latter implies a new understanding of oneself, (...) which ultimately leads the religious individual to the desire to be involved in this transcendental existence, to have intimate relations with him, to have a consciousness inherent in God. Note that in this context, all human being is interpreted as a certain arena for this realization. Therefore, the religious life of the individual acquires the status of religious activity. (shrink)

The discussion article raises questions about the strategy for the survival and development of contemporary Ukrainian religious studies. The author proposes the author's position on the ways of overcoming the crisis in which the national science of religion is now located.

Any science should not be a thing-in-itself, a closed system of knowledge, which develops only on its own thinking ground and in closed, isolated communities from the realities of life. It should not serve as a field for speculative wits, which nowadays some people prefer, mainly religious youth, arranging online battles, self-defeating while gambling with the ones, that look: he who I am intelligent, how can I deal with even religious authorities and veterans. And the scientific works of such critics (...) have a little and do not even show some of their ability to write them. Is it, and what percentage is the publication of the Department of Religious Studies and what is it is that it is admired by the fact that it is supposedly the only academic institution for religious studies, because, look, in Lviv at the Museum of the History of Religion there is even the Institute of Religious Studies. The religious studies of the area of ​​their publications now often selects only Internet pages, it becomes the path of searching and chewing of what someone has already said. But I note: it's too easy to criticize someone in science, but to create something in it is not simple and not for everyone under their own minds. Maybe therefore, considering the latter, O. Pushkin once more remarked: "Praise and libel are accepted indifferently and do not challenge the fool." We will not! Let them self-sacrifice be satisfied! (shrink)

The attainment of autocephaly by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine intensified the religious transitions of parishes that were preceded by individual parishioners’ switches. The highest dynamics of such transitions occurred in the Volyn Region in the north-western part of Ukraine. These transitions refer exclusively to a switch from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine without affecting other religious communities. Most of the population supported the autocephalous status of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, (...) for they consider granting autocephaly as a major historical event for the Ukrainian nation. The process of active religious transitions was primarily determined by the aptness of each parish community and political climate on a national level. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine was able to maintain its high regard, but with the change of political power in Ukraine in 2019, it lost political support. The process of religious transitions dwindled. (shrink)

The article proposes to deepen and expand the classical methodological approaches formulated at the beginning of the 21st century within the framework of academic religious studies. Based on the methodological works of the founder of modern Ukrainian religious studies, Prof. Kolodnyi, who first clearly defined the principles of the scientific study of religion, in particular objectivity, historicism, worldview neutrality, pluralism, etc., the authors justify the need for contextualization as one of the main methodological approaches in the study of current (...) religious processes. They insist on rethinking not only the universality and effectiveness of some methodological principles in new circumstances — the Russian-Ukrainian war, but also on the actualization of new ones, critically rethinking their neglect in the pre-war period. It is proved that in the hierar- chy of religious principles, the principle of contextuality becomes a particularly sought-after re- ality of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Even the concepts that researchers use describing a new religious situation must be contextualized. The authors remind about those contextual dangers for the life world of Ukraine that exist in its religious segment, highlighting external and internal factors that cannot be ignored when analyzing the contemporary religious situation in Ukraine and in the world. Analyzing the current reality, the authors conclude that contextuality as a methodological approach in religious studies should consider: 1) The event context — Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine — as a condition for the manifestation of religion, which determines its functional and substantive features; 2) Features, depth and intensity of research’s contextual inclusion/exclusion. Tragic changes in the context of the life of Ukrainians — linguistic, cultural, informational, religious, etc. necessarily correct expert neutrality, objectivity, non-involvement. According to the authors, the war situation liberates from an unbiased, out-of-contextual analysis. The admis- sibility of such contextualization is a matter of debate. (shrink)

The problems of the functioning of religion in the countries of the European Union are extremely complex and ambiguous. The EU is primarily political and economic. It is in these areas that active intra-integration processes are observed: introduction of a single currency, single payment system, actual “blurring” of borders between member states, development of the Constitutional Treaty, orientation towards the creation of a common market, a common transport network, harmonization of educational systems, etc.

The article reveals the nature and manifestations of Ukrainian religious pluralism. Despite the constant interest in the topic - the plurality of religious life in Ukraine, science has not yet clarified the causes and roots of this phenomenon. The author analyzes the historical, psychological, socio-political factors that caused the religious diversity of Ukraine. The presence of many religious traditions within one ethnic and state territory promotes tolerant relations between bearers of different religious beliefs. Ukraine's religious plurality distinguishes Ukrainians from other (...) nations. This gives grounds to consider Ukraine a unique religious phenomenon of the European level. Religious plurality is a condition for the establishment of the principles of freedom of religion, freedom of choice. The author derives worldview plurality and polydenominationalism in Ukraine from the history of the Ukrainian people, looking for their origins in the pre-Christian and later early Christian era. The presence of heresy in Ukraine as a generalized form of coexistence of different worldviews explains the current richness of religious traditions, their syncretization. The article makes an intermediate conclusion that the history itself, living conditions, national character of the people formed Ukraine denominationally plural. Based on such a historical foundation, since gaining state independence in 1991, Ukraine has been self-determined in its priorities regarding the country's spiritual / religious development. The Law “On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations” adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine created a legal basis for the equal existence and development of different religions in Ukraine. The plurality of Ukrainian society is enshrined in law. The basic principles of the plurality of religious life are confirmed by specific digital data that illustrate the richness of religious traditions in Ukraine quantitatively and qualitatively. The author provides statistics on all religions and denominations that exist in Ukraine, giving the number of communities, monasteries, schools, priests, publications and more. Detailed information seeks to form a holistic picture of the religious life of Ukraine. The analyzed data give grounds to single out the factors that determine the religious plurality of Ukraine. According to the author, at the beginning of the XXI century the denominational network of Ukraine has largely already formed. The mass emergence of new religious movements is unlikely. Nevertheless, Ukraine has not yet exhausted all the possibilities of religious pluralism. It can grow not only due to the emergence of some exotic, technological, syncretic religions, but also because of intra-confessional division or unity of communities. In Ukraine, there are structures that cultivate interreligious tolerance, which will ensure a high level of religious freedom. However, religious pluralism in Ukraine is periodically threatened by various circumstances - internal and external, general and local, collective and personal. In conclusion, religious pluralism is determined as a guarantor of religious freedom, the right of everyone to profess his chosen system of spiritual values. (shrink)

First of all, it should be noted that one or another religion can play an extremely different role in the formation of nations or state-building. In addition, the criterion for evaluating its role in these processes depends both on the place where it occurs and on the time at which these processes take place.

In the history of Ukrainian sociology of religion, the figure is V.Lipinsky. In this area, his attention was focused on comprehension of the significance of religion in the history of Ukrainian society, the role of various Christian denominations in the development of our culture, in the state and nation-building processes. In this article an attempt is made to investigate the understanding of the essence of religion as such by the Ukrainian thinker. It is known that religious and (...) religious ideas of a sociologist and historian are set out in his book "Religion and Church in the History of Ukraine", based on the analysis of which the conclusions contained in the article are made. (shrink)

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has not only a political, economic, and military component, but also a religious one. These components co-exist and support each other, both in Ukraine and in Russia. Why? In this essay I try to give an answer by analysing the religious elements of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict from a historical and a phenomenological perspective. In doing this I hope to shed light on a situation that worsens day by day.

Investigating religion as a social phenomenon, sociology of religion goes to its communication function, revealing the communicative nature of each of its elements. The V.Dokash's article shows how these questions were solved by the classics of the sociology of religion, in particular E. Durkheim, K. Marx, S. Freud, V. Bryan, O. Kond, P. Berger, C.Glock and others.

The key concept of our study is "religiosity". In scientific literature, it is most often correlated with an individual or a social group, a community and understands a set of certain attributes that are inherent to them and which find expression in faith and worship of supernatural both at the level of consciousness and at the level of behavior. The object of our study is the Ukrainian people. It should be noted that religious studies in Soviet times did not take (...) into account the fact that human existence is possible only in the conditions of a certain ethnic community, an individual is, above all, a certain ethnotype, and, moreover, it does not study the religious dimensions of the ethno-national being of that another people. Religion itself, if considered as a special, long-standing state of consciousness, as a certain system, which is a set of elements that interact with each other and with the environment, form a stable integrity, can be considered an integral part of ethno-national mentality. According to M.Kostomarov, folk religiosity is a special view that the people have in their religion and that it does not constitute any kind of whole religion, nor a certain sect. Today it is universally accepted that the national type of religiosity exists on the ordinary level of consciousness, is a complex syncretic entity. The history of its formation does not coincide with the history of the doctrine of a certain denomination. However, it is clear that the religiosity of Ukrainians, posing an integral part of the mentality and spirituality of the people, has a history of its formation. It is a consequence of the influence of a complex of factors that predetermined the way of life of the Ukrainian people in a certain natural geographic and cultural-historical space. (shrink)

The state and changes in the religiosity of the population of post-Soviet Ukraine, it must be admitted, was studied too superficially by sociological methods. There were virtually no large-scale large-scale projects that purposefully investigated the religiosity of Ukrainians in its dynamics for many years by the standards generally used in modern sociology of religion. But the inclusion of Ukraine in international sociological research programs on the study of values ​​and religious and behavioral orientations, national projects aimed at obtaining a (...) socio-political, socio-demographic, socio-cultural portrait of the population of Ukraine, which would also include the study of his attitude to religion, research represented on the Ukrainian scale, nevertheless give a certain idea of ​​religiosity in Ukraine in recent years and tendencies of its development in comparison with other ymi countries. (shrink)

One of the pressing problems of contemporary Ukrainian religious studies is the study of its own history, some of which were either deformed or silenced in Soviet times. The practice of silence primarily concerned representatives of the Ukrainian revival of the early twentieth century, who, through their socio-political and scientific activities, asserted the right of the Ukrainian nation to independent development. The cohort of these prominent figures included Nikita Shapoval. Studying his religious heritage is important in view of the following (...) points: first, it will make it possible to understand the history of our religious studies in its totality, and secondly, to expand the range of ideas, concepts, provisions for addressing the pressing issues that the national is working on religious studies. One of the most important issues is the nature and functionality of religion. (shrink)

In the article "Сivil religion in the light of a comparative analysis" by T. Zinkevych civil religion is seen as a social and cultural phenomenon in which the light of a kind of religious language and the specific practices of the necessity of origin and the approval of the national state, which has its roots in the community needs to find a sacred transcendental eternity-linear action that is rooted in the history of the area. Substantiated the thesis of (...) the non-identity concept of civil religion concepts of folk religion, ethnic religion, popular Christianity, and others. (shrink)

Changing the worldview and cultural paradigm of the modern world with the inherent transformation of value orientations and the search for the life-meaning foundations of being leads to increased interest in the problems of spirituality. After all, spirituality is the most important pillar of human existence and the highest principle that determines the essence of man and his over-welcoming purpose. In the historical memory of the people, in its cultural traditions, spirituality has been sanctified for millennia by a religion (...) that sought to restrain primitive instincts and affirmation at all levels of being a moral person. Religion, as a spiritual phenomenon, is directly connected with man, with his attachment to the high meanings and the semantic fullness of being in general. The search for meaning promotes a person beyond the limits of the actual being given to him and ensures the integrity of the individual, affirmation of the person as an origin and bringing it to the culture and values. (shrink)

The rethinking of the events of the Soviet past largely concerns the sphere of church-state relations. The significant losses of cultural and architectural heritage during the Soviet period make it expedient to study the mechanisms of liquidation of church buildings in the second half of the 1960s. The purpose and objectives of the article. To determine the principles of state policy in the field of religion and methods of its implementation by party-state structures concerning the church network of the (...) Russian Orthodox Church in the Ukrainian SSR. The research methodology. The research methodology is based on a set of philosophical, general scientific, and historical methods and principles. To solve the specific tasks of the study, the principles of objectivity, historicism, systematicity, and comprehensiveness were also used. Research results. The period of the second half of the 1960s was marked by the liberalization of official views on the religious sphere, the abandonment of repressive methods of fighting religion and the Church, the beginning of the latent destruction of sacred buildings, and the dominance of the Soviet state’s nihilistic attitude toward cultural heritage. The Russian Orthodox Church remained entirely subordinate to the Soviet state, which disregarded its legitimate rights and interests. Discussion. The repressions of the “Thaw“ period and the failure of building a communist society led to a loss of public confidence in the possibility of a just welfare state. It became clear that by practicing persecution, restricting the rights of priests, and banning them from studying in theological schools, the Soviet government was undermining its authority. Therefore, in the 1970s, ideologues of the CPSU Central Committee proposed a new model of churchstate relations — the adaptation to communism. There were no fundamental changes in party policy, as it was based on the Marxist doctrine of religion as the opium of the people. The anti-church orientation of state policy remained, only its forms and methods were transformed. The period of massive closure of Orthodox churches was replaced by a new long-term period, called the period of “streamlining the religious network”. Conclusions. One of the directions of the state’s policy towards religion in the mid-1960s was the targeted liquidation of religious buildings of the Russian Orthodox Church. The main reasons for it were the ideological and political priorities of the state leadership. The closure and destruction of religious buildings were systematic actions of the party-state structures in the process of implementing their policy in the field of religion in the Ukrainian SSR. (shrink)

What does it mean to be religious believers for people whose living conditions are defined by an increasingly secularized environment? Is the common distinction between faith and knowledge valid? The 21 essays cover approaches from various fields of the humanities. Some explore post-Kantian thoughts, discussing, i.a., American Pragmatism, M. Buber, M. Horkheimer, H. Putnam, J. Habermas, Ch. Taylor and variants of deconstruction, while other essays focus on ways in which the conflict between agnostics and seekers is addressed in US literary (...) works, as in Fl. O’Connor, W. Percy, N. Hawthorne, J. Updike and in novels dealing with pandemics, for instance by L. Wright, E. M. Wiseman and R. Cook. Historical studies examine the intermingling of the sacred and the secular in the American South and neo-scholastic objections to modernity. Theological issues are being re-framed in essays discussing the relevance of pluralism, the relation of religious conviction and public opinion, the situation of scientists who believe and the thoughts of N. Frye and M. McLuhan. Finally, essays pay attention to religious aspects in works of art, e.g. in Ukrainian poetry, G. Mahler’s symphonies and in a TV show presenting new “American Gods” of globalization. (shrink)

April 29-30, 1995 in the premises of the Ternopil Medical Institute. Academician I.Ya.Gorbachevsky held an international scientific conference with such a title. In her work participated: A. Kolodny, - deputy director of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, President of the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies; Employees of the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - V.Malakhov, V.Klimov, L.Filipovich, O.Sagan, V.Demian, T.Chaika; Lviv Museum of the History of Religion (...) - G. Skop-Drusyuk, L. Skop, I. Petrov; Ternopil universities and institutions Y.Sudersky, O.Gudim, L. Boytsun, and others. Our fellow countryman, Professor Stepan Yarmus, participated in the conference. (shrink)

The nature of religion, its essence for centuries agitated the minds of many thinkers, theologians and religious scholars. As you know, some people saw in it a fantastic reflection of the abstract individual of his being, while others, especially the theologians, saw in it a certain theurgical power that determines the attitude of man to higher moral will, and so on. In general, these and similar approaches to religion, in the best case, more or less successfully fixing some (...) of its features or parties, do not yet give an idea of ​​its integrity. Today, many of its definitions, formal and logical definitions are known, but for the most part they are not perfect, one-sided or simply false, because they do not rely on the essential in the religious phenomenon. (shrink)

The topic of synthesis or cooperation of science and religion is current in the contemporary intellectual-ideological context. Contrary to popular tendencies to substantiate the necessity and to offer an acceptable model of such synthesis, we will set the goal of determining the degree of correctness and expediency of such attempts.

The religious influence of the United States on Ukraine is not so much written. But this topic constantly evokes interest in scientific circles. Historians and religious scholars study appearance of American religions on the territory of Ukraine, noting that these processes are time coincide with all-European events. In Ukraine, American religions came not directly, but through Holland, Poland, some other European countries. Trade in wealth, plants and other commodities has also become spread of religious ideas, which gives us one more (...) thesis in favor of vitality consumerism. Ukraine felt the influence of the ideas of American federalism and freedom religions, which had an influence on Ukrainian thinkers, in particular T.Shevchenko, who, as is known, expected our Washington "to be a new and righteous law?". (shrink)

The paper states that, in Ukrainian reception of his philosophy, Nietzsche appears to be a highly ambivalent thinker. Nietzsche himself often defined his philosophizing as ambiguous, and so in this article I try to explicate the different fluctuations in the reception of his ideas. I follow the transformation and adaptation of some of Nietzsche’s key ideas which, in Ukrainian context, got unexpected formulations and ideological connotations. Drawing on this, I argue that most significant elements in the Ukrainian reception are connected (...) to the literary reading of Nietzscheanism. Finally, the main topics of Ukrainian Nietzscheanism are related to ‘histo-rical nihilism’ as a diagnosis of culture. The article traces how Nietzsche’s ideas became a powerful tool in critical approach to naturalism, emotional writing and provincialism. The important characteristics that developed the ideas of Nietzscheanism in Ukraine include the following points. The desire to find a strong man. The problem of individual freedom and its place in society, as well as the criticism of obscu-rantism. The understanding of the critical moments in history and actualization of creativity. The openness to interpretation, discussion, and diagnosis of the cultural conditions. The re-evaluation of the role of morality and religion, the awareness of the tragedy of being and finally, the search for the balance between intelligence and voluntarism. (shrink)

Such an international scientific conference took place on May 16-18, 1995 in Kyiv. Its organizers were: the Ministry of Ukraine for Matters of Nationalities, Migration and Cults, the Ukrainian Association of Religious Studies, the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the International Christian University and the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Religion is an important factor in the social interaction of people, which can significantly determine the direction of social development. As a spiritual phenomenon, religion is directly related to man, with his attachment to high spiritual ideals.

I intend to share my thoughts in three parts: to recall some of the great contemporary philosophers of religion and culture; to indicate a new vision of the culture that was born at the Second Vatican Council; focus on some issues in the field of faith and culture on our common path to the third millennium.

Ukraine for the third time in its history is experiencing a process of national revival, which not only intensified the activities of different faiths, but also raised the question of the place of religion in the life of the nation in general. That rehabilitation of religion, which took place in public opinion during the years of Ukraine's independence, changes in social assessments of its role in spiritual and national revival, Ukrainian state building, as we are, is more likely (...) to be a response to propagation of religious spirituality by the mass media, a kind of illusion of the desired, rather than a reflection of the real processes in church and religious life. (shrink)

Whereas some of the critics of Hermann Cohen's strictly rational foundation of religious consciousness promoted a turn to subjectivism, others endorsed an ethicotheology while seeking to revise the "Religion of Reason." Among the latter was the Ukrainian-born social philosopher David Koigen (1877-1933), author of Der moralische Gott. Eine Abhandlung über die Beziehungen zwischen Kultur und Religion/The Moral God: An essay on the relations between culture and religion (Berlin: Jüdischer Verlag, 1922). This article examines Koigen's reevaluation of Jewish (...) monotheism as a culture-forming religion (Kulturreligion) grounded in a religious ethos which integrates the rational will, ethics and emotion. (shrink)