Russian Baptists and Spiritual Revolution, 1905-1929. By Heather J. Coleman. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2005. 304pp.
Heather J. Coleman has written a well-crafted volume on a tumultuous but yet dynamic period of Russian Baptist history. The work focuses on the Russian Baptists and Evangelical Christians (two very similar bodies), treating them as one movement, while excluding non-Slavic Baptists except in cases of historical reference. The author interweaves her narrative with the political and social milieu of the time.
About 50 percent of the work deals with the Baptists as they confront the Czarist regime, beginning with the euphoria of toleration in 1905 but facing increasing restriction and attack before and during World War I. About 12 percent of the volume is concerned with the revolutionary year of 1917, beginning with the expectations of freedom under the provisional government but ending with the Communist seizure of power. The final third of the work deals with the Communist period, again beginning with euphoria but leading to repression.
As the title of the book suggests, Russian Baptists conducted a "Revolution of the Spirit" against Czarist and Communist society, not of class warfare nor, by and large, through party politics. In their commitment to evangelism, Baptists sought the conversion of the individual, believing that spiritual regeneration would bring social change. By championing the independence of the local church from the state, freedom of conscience, and the right of religious propagation, Baptists were at the same time propounding democratic principles which challenged both the Czarist autocracy and its alliance with the national Orthodox Church and the Communist regime which was determined to develop a new socialist man free from the trammels of all religion.
The author carefully balances her statements, sensitive to the views of all parties. She is able to do this, at least in part, because of her extensive use of primary and secondary sources in Russian and English. She used materials of evangelicals and their opponents available in the West and also exploited numerous archives in Russia, which are much more available since the fall of the Soviet Union. Her use of denominational statistics is also judicious.
The volume is valuable in delineating the problems Russian Baptists faced in relations between church and state and is also an example of how an evangelical body that stressed conversion, as was also the case with Baptists in America, can affect social policy. The work, which also includes a chapter on conversion narratives, helpfully provided a picture of the inner spiritual dynamic of Russian Baptist life. On the other hand, for fuller treatment of Russian Baptist theology and ecclesiology, one should consult doctoral dissertations written by Paul D. Steeves, "The Russian Baptist Union" (University of Kansas, 1976) and Samuel John Nesdoly, "Evangelical Sectarianism in Russia" (Queen's University, Kingston, 1971).--Reviewed by Albert W. Wardin, Jr., professor emeritus of history, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee.