Religion and identity in modern Russia

"Focusing on the roles of Russian Orthodoxy and Islam in constituting, challenging, and changing national and ethnic identities in Russia, this study takes Tsarist and Soviet legacies into account, paying special attention to the evolution of the relationship between religious teachings and political institutions through the late 19th and 20th centuries. The volume explicitly discusses and compares the role of Russia's two major religions. Orthodoxy and Islam, in forging identity in the modern era and brings an innovative blend of sociological, historical, linguistic, and geographic scholarship to the problem of post-Soviet Russian identity." -- BOOK JACKET.