Converging Worlds Religion and Community in Peasant Russia, 1861-1917 Book

This was a very interesting read. As a lifetime atheist I have read a lot of Christian texts which attempt to come to terms with the theory of religion in contrast to its reality with its inherent intolerance and brutality. I was given C. S. Lewis' "The Problem of Pain" by a Christian friend a few years ago and was appalled by its hypocrisy, lack of logic and poor scholarship. This on the other hand was well researched and well argued. I found it s sections on the mythology of redemptive violence fascinating and the loss of connection between religion and education intriguing. This is an abridged version of a four volume study but there is enough here to make it well worth reading. I particularly liked the analysis of the nature of fundamentalism. This was better than so much Christian literature that I have read because of its academic approach. A far cry from the mindset that one of the authors commented on which was summed up by a bumper sticker that he saw that said, "God said it, I believe it, that settles it".