Xenia HübnerRussisches Christusnarrentum heute

About this book deutschenglish

Jurodstvo, the Foolishness for Christ, is one of the most significant phenomena in the Russian culture and Orthodoxy. Even though its status in the atheist Soviet Union was one of forced taboo for many years the phenomenon has been extremely fertile in post-soviet Russia.

The content of the study at hand describes and analyses jurodstvo as a specific historical phenomenon and its contemporary characteristics represented in literature, art and film. The focus of interest lies on the inevitable long-term processes of transformation and conversion tendencies of the jurodstvo-phenomenon. The characteristics of the jurodstvo which are predominantly revised and re-revised in certain historical periods are scrutinized extensively.

The conclusion of the study shows that different manifestations and facets of the phenomenon are significant for particular historical periods and specific forms of media.

However, the jurodstvo-phenomenon has been proven especially productive in the context of the debate of identity in contemporary Russia.