"From Orthodox Christianity to "Jewish Law
Unusual Conversion in the Russian Empire of the Early 19th Century
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3429628 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tatiana Khizhaya (0000-0003-1846-5060, Vladimir State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 717 |
| Publication date | 2022-08-08 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel13080717 |
| OpenAlex | W4292452124 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
This article is a piece of microhistorical research of a court case investigating religious conversion in Russia in the 1820s. It presents the story of an Orthodox Christian girl who adopted "Jewish law" and married a Jewish man. The article attempts to define the background and peculiarities of the conversion and clarify the context in which this was taking place. The work uses various methods: narrative, comparative, contextual analysis, text interpretation, etc. Analysis of the court case establishes that the girl's change of faith was the result of: (1) close contacts with the Jews and lack of social ties within the Christian community; (2) poverty and extremely low social status; (3) lack of "religious capital". Jewish social assistance practices, ways to legalize a new status, finding a job, and personal freedom turned out to be attractive to the serf woman. The novelty of this study involves the introduction of a previously unknown archival source representing a very rare phenomenon of conversion to Judaism in imperial Russia. In addition, the article presents the paradoxical case of an attempt at re-socialization by transitioning from the dominant confession to the faith of a religious minority and integration into a community whose rights in Russia were heavily curtailed
Christianity · Empire · Faith · Judaism · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Archaeology and Historical Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |