THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN THE POSTCOMMUNIST UKRAINE: History, Modern Status, Perspectives

Abstract

AbstractPost-Soviet Ukrainian society has gone through drastic changes that have to be considered both at a secular and a theological level; the same can be said of Ukrainian society's attitude toward religion. The secular analysis of religion, including its individual and social dimensions, is now taking place within the framework of religious studies, the human sciences approach to religion being somewhat new in Ukraine. On the other hand, the theological interpretation of traditional and nontraditional religion is undergoing a reawakening. The causes for the undeveloped status of religious studies and theology have to do with the absence of Ukrainian statehood and Ukrainian churches, due to the domination of foreign and communist regimes. This domination led to the prohibition of religion as well as of its study; in present-day Ukraine, however, theology and religious studies appear as specific forms of knowledge about religion, and as subjects taught at schools and universities.