Abstract
The aim of the paper is an attempt to problematise the concept of Bulgarian Orthodox identity in relation to the national “great narrative” and the role of literature and literary studies, and as a result, to go beyond the traditional research approach to the notion of Bulgarian religiosity. Two observations serve as a starting point: 1) the idea of religion / religiosity is one of the main themes of the discourse of the national elite; 2) Bulgarians commonly declare attachment to the Orthodox tradition, but the percentage of believers is low; therefore, the sociological conceptualisations based on the famous phrase “believing without belonging” (G. Davie) seem accurate. The paper raises the question of the ideological foundations of perceiving and explaining religious phenomena in Bulgaria, and the emphasis is on the local meaning of the religious and its crypto-theological entanglements as captured and manifested in local literary studies.
Published Version
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