Islam, Christianity, and Secularism in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe: The Last Half Century

Description

Bulgaria’s entangled Muslim and Orthodox Christian pasts still shape contemporary notions of identity, religion, and politics—and secularism—in unexpected ways. This book freshly looks at how these vital traditions come up against one another and the challenges of the world today. Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Note on Transliteration List of Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction: On the Eastern Edge of Europe: Christianity, Islam, and the Bulgarian Political Imagination 1 Historical and Religious Underpinnings of a Secular Modernity 2 At the Crossroad of Entangled Regions and Religions 3 Religion and the Political Imagination: Structure of the Book Acknowledgments References Cited Part 1 Secularism in Bulgaria and Its Region Chapter 1 Byzantine and Ottoman Pasts, Modern Politics: Religious Belongings and Balkan Secularities 1 Balkan Secularities: Religion, State Atheism, and Public Space 2 Transnational Religious Identities and Ethno-Religious Belonging 3 Agency and Structure, Divergence and Convergence 4 Conclusion References Cited Chapter 2 Regulating Religious Freedoms in the 21st Century: Nationality, Religion, and Symphonic Secularism 1 Talal Asad’s Critique 2 Symphoneia in Bulgaria in Historical Perspective 3 Religion and the Bulgarian Political Scene after 1989 4 Postsocialist Schisms in the Muslim Religious Denomination 5 Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Metropolitan Inokentiy) v. Bulgaria 6 Conclusion References Cited Chapter 3 Salafism Is Coming: “Balkan” versus “Arab” Islam in Bulgaria under Milletic Secularism 1 Introduction: The Spread of a Dichotomy 2 The Neo-Millet Pattern and Milletic Secularism 3 What Is Salafism? A Very Short Definition of a Contested Concept 4 Ribnovo and Madan: Glimpses of Traditional “Balkan” and “Arab” Islam 5 At the Court: Defending “Traditional Islam” against “Salafī ideology” 6 Conclusion References Cited Part 2 Christian and Muslim Men and Women under State Atheism and Postsocialist Secularism Chapter 4 Symbols and Identity in Bulgaria: Parallels between Communist Atheism and Western Secularism 1 Atheism as an Imitation of Modernization 2 Practical Applications of the Policy of Atheism 3 Who Implemented These Policies and How? 4 Symbols and Identity References Cited Chapter 5 Caesar and God in the Public Sphere: Religious and Secular Discourse in Post-Atheist Bulgaria 1 A New Wave of Restitution 2 Towards a Revision of the Religious Denominations Act 3 The Ownership Debate 4 Conclusions References Cited Chapter 6 The Hijab in Contemporary Bulgaria: Muslim Views on Veiling 1 Veiling as Public Performance of Faith according to the Mainstream Islamic Tradition 2 Muslim Veiling in the Bulgarian Context 3 Return to the “True” Rights, Duties, and Responsibilities of Women in Islam 4 Public Perceptions: Religious Requirements vis-à-vis the Secular Rules 5 Conclusion References Cited Chapter 7 Fasting and Aging in a Bulgarian Muslim Community 1 The Community 2 Ramadan: Who Fasts and Why 3 The Ramazanlii and the Rest: Daily Rhythm 4 Among the Ramazanlii 5 Ramadan as the Public Sphere in Skrebatno References Cited Part 3 Religion, Publicity, and Concealment in Orthodox-Majority Societies Chapter 8 Parallel Paths: Christian-Muslim Symbiosis and Religious Education in Greece 1 Τheoretical Approaches to Religion and the Public Sphere 2 European Public Spaces and the Role of Religious Education 3 Ideological Controversies: “Religion vs. Secularism and Secularism vs. Religion” 4 Islamic Religious Education and a Program on Intercultural Religious Education in Western Thrace 5 Implementation and Prospects 6 Religions, Secularism, Ethnicities and Politics in Western Thrace 7 Conclusion References Cited Chapter 9 The Russian Orthodox Church: Federal Visibility Versus Local-Level Concealment 1 Introduction 2 Orthodox Pro-Life13 Organizations in Russia. A Sociological Analysis 3 Research Methodology: Sources of the Data 4 Orthodox Pro-Life Movement in Russia: Dynamics of the Number of Organizations 5 Organizations Manifesting Their Religious Identity 6 Organizations Concealing Their Religious Identity 7 Conclusion References Cited Chapter 10 Religion and the Challenges of Public Legitimization: The Bulgarian Orthodox Church 1 The Model 2 Religious Groups as Publics 3 Case Studies 3.1 Methodology 3.2 The Two Criteria 3.3 Gay Parades 3.3.1 The Institutional Discourse 3.4 The Informal Discourses 3.5 The Debate on the Advanced Methods of Human Biological Reproduction 3.5.1 The Institutional Discourse 3.5.2 The Informal Discourses 3.6 The Debate on the Teaching of Religion at School 3.6.1 The Institutional Discourse 3.6.2 The Informal Discourses 4 Conclusion References Cited Index