Federico Ruozzi - Böcker

Religious and Identity-Based Roots of the War in Ukraine critically analyses the religious and identity-based roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War from a long-term historical perspective.The book traces the elements that render this war not only geopolitical but also a conflict in which religion is instrumentalized to serve narratives of state power and identity formation in both post-soviet Russia and Ukraine. It explores the interplay between Church and State, the ‘imperial’ concept of Russkyi Mir (Russian world), and the dichotomy of traditional Slavic values versus modern Western globalisation. The book also examines the process that impacted the narrative of Orthodox identity after the Soviet Union, and its connection to the war. Furthermore, it explores the use of public history throughout the hostilities, offering a detailed analysis of the cultural aspects of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the construction of identities through monumentalisation and the role of art in engaging with the past. The perspectives of religious agents during the conflict are discussed, such as Patriarch Kirill’s narrative of the gay parade as a threat to the Russian world, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s declaration of independence from the Moscow Patriarchate, the peace mission of the Vatican and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s defence of the right to recognise the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Additionally, providing a long-term perspective, the book explores Church-State interplay in Russia from Nicholas II to El’tsin, as well as the consequences of the fall of the Soviet Union and possibilities for a dialogue of peace.Religious and Identity-Based Roots of the War in Ukraine will be of great interest to advanced students and scholars of Contemporary History, Religious Studies, History of Christianity, Political Science, Russian Studies and Ukrainian Studies.

As soon as Jubilees, or Holy Years, appeared on the 14th century historical stage, they became the papal monarchy’s most relevant political and economic instruments. Since the 20th century, jubilee celebrations have also proved to be extraordinary moments of confrontation, though not always easy or unambiguous, between the papacy and the rapidly developing mass audiovisual media. On the one hand, the jubilees have served as catalysts for attention towards the Vatican, amplifying the traditional reasons behind the attraction of the Eternal City as a destination for imposing pilgrimages and as a theater for spectacular liturgical ceremonies. On the other hand, the Holy Years have provided the opportunity for the Holy See to experiment through audiovisual media with new ways of interpreting and unfolding the universal mission of the papacy, finally freed from temporal concerns.This volume aims to reconstruct this complex and little-investigated connection by drawing on a variety of sources from the Vatican archives as well as little-known audiovisual sources. Focusing on one hundred years of history (1900–2015), the events of both ordinary and extraordinary jubilees are analyzed from the perspective of each of the audiovisual mass media: cinema, radio, and television.