The Russian-Orthodox Tradition and Modernity (Numen Book Series): 100 - Hardcover

Buss, Andreas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004133240 ISBN 13: 9789004133242

Publisher: Brill, 2003

Synopsis

The book attempts to identify the uniqueness of the Russian-Orthodox religious tradition and to contrast it with two of the characteristics of modern Western society: its particular economic ethics and individualism. Max Weber and Louis Dumont provide the theoretical framework. The first part of the analysis is concerned with the economic ethics among Orthodox Russians, Old Believers and the adherents of various sects in the historical context of Russian society. The second part centres on the place and the kind of individualism in the Orthodox tradition since its beginnings in early monasticism and up to the twentieth century. The comparative perspective does not only shed new light on Russia but also on the development of Western individualism and on the Janus-like features of a traditional culture exposed to modernization.

About this title

Synopsis:

This groundbreaking volume opens a new window on both modern and traditional Chinese literature, history and popular culture, demonstrating how a new style of reading brings us-the modern reader-closer to understanding how Chinese citizens perceived their world and what their writings reveal about the culture that produced them. Following the pioneering work of Professor Glen Dudbridge, this book brings together eight studies that develop a new style of reading Chinese sources by exploring the dynamics of discourse across open boundaries: those of fiction and history, literary and non-literary sources, official and vernacular culture, prose and poetry, records past and present, lost and extant, vernacular and classical, traditional and modern. Each chapter discusses how authors, editors and publishers use representation, editing and selection as means of self-fashioning and political propaganda.

About the Author:

Andreas E. Buss, Doctorate (1967) in Comparative Sociology, University of Paris, is Research Professor at University Sainte-Anne in Canada. He has published extensively on ancient India, Max Weber and development in Asia and, more recently, Russia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brill
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 9004133240
• ISBN 13: 9789004133242
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248