Аннотация

The only subjects of recent Russian studies in U.S. religious history were Freemasons, Eastern Orthodoxy, and the civil religion. The absence of attention to mainstream religious bodies (besides Baptists and Mormons) seems to be the main challenge. The author proposes to distinguish between «self-sufficient» religious bodies, like Episcopalians, Baptists, Lutherans; «symbiotic», like Quakers and Mennonites, and «marginal», like Jehowa Witnesses. From his viewpoint, the main task for Russian experts in this field is to compose a comprehensive religious history of the United States – the «Russian Ahlstrom», for the young scholar's orientation in basic topics.