Self-Education vs Extracurricular Reading: Secular Literature in Orthodox Theological Seminaries after the Reform of 1867

Abstract

The paper discusses the reading practices in Orthodox theological schools after the educational reform of 1867. Analyzing the conflict over the reading of secular books by students of the Arkhangelsk Theological Seminary, the author questions the historiographical thesis about the existence of a profound gap between school practices and the reading program of progressive youth involved in the political protests of the 1870s. The article analyzes the infrastructure of extracurricular reading overseen by the seminary teachers in accordance with the Charter of Orthodox Theological Seminaries (1867). Catalogues of the student and fundamental libraries, rules governing reading and reporting on what was read, and extracts from student reading reports make it possible to conclude that secular and even democratic literature was not banned in theological seminaries during the first half of the 1870s. On the contrary, such types of reading—provided it was overseen by teachers—was considered to be a way to prepare future pastors for debates about materialism and positivism, defending the dogmas of the Orthodox Church. To illustrate this thesis, the paper considers the status of Draper’s History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, ranging from it serving as a philosophy textbook to being a forbidden work, a source of anti-religious ideas. In conclusion, the author suggests the existence of a significant convergence between the self-development program of the 1870s generation and pedagogical experiments of that time—which similarly required the reading of serious literature, writing reports, and making independent judgments about texts.