Seminar – 18 May – James Meador

ALL WELCOME 

James Meador

University of Michigan

Orthodox Christianity in Chinese-Russian Contact

For more than three centuries, Orthodox Christianity has mediated connections between China and Russia. From language school to emigre enclave, colonial mission to cultural diplomacy, Orthodoxy has served in many guises to selectively temper and reinforce the barriers that divided Russian and Chinese worlds. The talk provides background for the ongoing revival of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church through a selective introduction to Chinese Orthodox's complex legacy of interaction with Inner Asian empire, religious proselytism, diasporic nostalgia, and socialist internationalism. Across China's early modern, late imperial, modern, and contemporary eras, Orthodoxy offers a window onto the lives of people who found themselves caught between two powerful states. These stories testify to the fact that even though Orthodoxy cannot be reduced to politics, it has often had trouble transcending it. Please email miasu-admin@socanth.cam.ac.uk to book a space.