Creating an Evangelical self: an analysis of narratives of conversion to Evangelicalism in post-Soviet St Petersburg. Issue 2 (2nd April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Penttilä, Maija
• Is Part Of: Religion, state & society. Volume 44:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 111
• Page End: 131
• Publication Date: 2016-04-02
• Subjects: Evangelicalism -- conversion -- identity -- Russia; Communism and religion -- Periodicals; Europe, Eastern -- Religion -- Periodicals; Former Soviet republics -- Religion -- Periodicals; 306.6
• DOI: 10.1080/09637494.2016.1175156
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0963-7494

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article I analyse the narratives of conversion to Evangelical churches in St Petersburg by inquiring how Russians engage with the Evangelical churches and how they construct a meaningful conversion identity. My analysis shows how the social and political changes of post-Soviet Russia are experienced in religious terms and whether they have social implications that are reflected in identity-building as both Russian and Evangelical. Individual identity always reflects time and place, and the social and societal context in which an individual lives. Through this route I also broaden the understanding of Russian societal attitudes towards present-day 'religious dissidents'. My research is based on 19 thematic interviews and participant observations in church meetings in St Petersburg between 2006 and 2009. Most of the interviewees belonged to communities that could be categorised as neo-Pentecostal. The study revealed that both a personal religious quest, especially during the societal turmoil that existed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the influence of friends or relatives were significant impulses for conversion. The resources sustaining the conversion as an ongoing process are communal, but also involve an individual self-improvement project within the construction of a new Evangelical self.