John Witte

Michael Bourdeaux

Few of the struggles Russia has undergone since the fall of Communism have been fiercer than that being fought between the long-repressed Russian Orthodox Church and a host of groups seeking to evangelize the Russian people. This volume assesses the legitimacy of the Orthodox attempt to reclaim the spiritual and moral heart of the Russian people and to retain their adherence in a new, pluralistic world where many Christians and followers of other traditions seek the right to establish themselves. Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia also brings together the latest scholarship on the new Russian laws regarding religion as well as suggesting guidelines for foreign missionaries in Russia.

The New War for Souls

Proselytism and Orthodoxy in Russia

'Suffering deepens and refines faith.' When this suffering goes on across the population of a whole vast modern conglomerate of nations it can lead to a faith with a totally unexpected power and freshness. That is what Michael Bourdeaux believes is happening in Russia and he believes the rest of the world can learn much from it. He writes: 'When I was a student in Moscow, Russia felt to me an alien land at first. Through my contact with Christians there during that year and on many other visits over the last twenty-three years, I have come not only to love Russian Christians, but to realize that the whole world has a lesson to learn from them. This book does not deal with persecution as such, but with the example of the suffering church from which the whole world can draw inspiration. Suffering deepens and refines faith. Out of it has come a joy and a commitment which Christians elsewhere so often lack. The worse the suffering, the more intense their experience.' Book jacket.

Michael Bourdeaux

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