Тhe History of the Early Christianity in B. F. Porshnev’s Works: An Attempt for the Analysis

Abstract

The article analyzes B. F. Porshnev’s approach to the history of Early Christianity. Based on the study of the published and unpublished works of the Soviet scientist, the author establishes that B. F. Porshnev had a goal to add the history of Early Christianity into the general context of the class struggle, considering it the ideological basis of the anti-slavery revolution that shook the Roman Empire in the first centuries of CE. However, the attempt to present Christianity as a revolutionary force and its founder as a hero of a people’s movement contradicted the general Soviet approach to the history of this religion. In the 1960s, B. F. Porshnev questioned the version of the dating of the “Apocalypse” that dominated Soviet historiography and criticized the theory of the anti-slavery revolution. B. F. Porshnev heavily relied on R. Yu. Wipper and A. Robertson’s ideas, which other Soviet scientists criticized. For the above reasons, B. F. Porshnev’s articles on the history of Early Christianity were banned from publishing, and colleagues criticized his conclusions. After 1965, he lost interest in the history of Early Christianity due to the completion of his goal to build a theory of the development of the class struggle from antiquity to the present and add the history of Early Christianity to this grand scheme.