CHRISTIE'S PROGRESS JOURNAL: JANUARY 2005

All of this month, I worked from home on my Independent Research 398, called Nature Theology within Russian Orthodox Christianity. Marc Robinson was my overseer and Bryn Geffert as my reference librarian. I consulted Bryn for references to resources and writers that were relevant to my research. And I kept in touch weekly with Marc, informing him of my progress with my research. I read much about the role of the nartural environment within Russian Orthodox Christian theology, in both the past and the present, to get a glimpse into Russian Orthodox views of nature and God's role within it. I explored questions like: Does a nature theology actually exist within Russian Orthodox Christianity? How does this affect Russian Orthodox Christians’ view of God? Did/do Russian Orthodox clergy authenticate or condemn seeing God in/through nature? Does Russia have an adequate environmental protection plan? Are Russian environmental initiatives formed due to Russian Orthodox Christian belief? What must be done for Russians to become/remain connected with nature? How resilient is nature in Russia? Click here to read the research paper I wrote at the end of the course. The paper includes a bit about the integration of pre-Christian Russian folk belief with modern Russian Orthodox Christianity, this is known as dvoeverie or dual faiths.