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Article: Czarist missionary contact with central Asia: models of contextualization?(influence of Russian Orthodox Eastern Chruch over Muslims)(Case study)
- Article from:
- International Bulletin of Missionary Research
- Article date:
- April 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Overseas Ministries Study Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Years ago I asked field-workers from the central Asian publics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics why there was not greater cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church in attempts to establish indigenous churches among the Muslim peoples of these regions. Their immediate reply was that the Orthodox were too heavily enmeshed with czarist imperial policies. (1) Orthodox involvement would be too great a liability. Memories of Orthodox priests marching before the czar's armies were still too vivid for many central Asian Muslims.
The czars had pursued aggressive expansion projects; the Orthodox Church acquiesced to the imperial will. This was a simple ...