Christianity in the USSR

[ignorantianescia]

Although I am aware that this forum is specialised most in mediaeval history, I have a bit of a large request regarding more modern history.

Does anybody know any reliable books about Christians in the USSR? It doesn't have to be confined to a particular subject, so it could be about general life, persecution, liturgy, relation with foreign churches and various other topics.

I skimmed over the sources of the Wikipedia article and though there seem to be immensely interesting books among them, I am concerned that the academic material will be too tough for me. So a more general introduction may be a good starter. Does anybody know what books are reliable and what are unabashed agitprop?

Edit: This site had a very kind search engine:

A Long Walk to Church - Nathaniel Davis
Aesthetic Face of Being - Victor Bychkov
And God Created Lenin - Paul Gabel
Candles Behind the Wall - Barbara von der Hedyt
Godless Communists - William B. Husband
To Moscow, Not Mecca - Shoshana Keller
A Prodigal Saint - Nadieszda Kizenko
Stalin's Holy War - Steven Merritt Miner
Religious Liberty in Eastern Europe and the USSR Before and After the Great Transformation - Paul Mojzes
Storming the Heavens - Daniel Peris
The Russian Church and the Soviet Regime, 1917-82 - Dimitry Pospielovsky
A Revolution of the Spirit - Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal, Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak
Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution - Vera Shevzov
Rodzianko - Larry Witham
Sacred Stories - Mark D. Steinberg, Heather J. Coleman
Fatima, Russia and Pope John Paul II - Timothy Tindal-Robertson (?)
Power and the Sacred in Revolutionary Russia - Glennys Young
Russia's Lost Reformation - Sergei I. Zhuk

From the look of it, these books seem reliable, many of them coming from university presses.

[humphreyclarke]

Sorry we couldn't help you out. I'm afraid I was always more interested in the 'League of the Militant Godless. One of the best books I read on the subject was 'Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution' by Richard Stites.

[ignorantianescia]

No problem at all, I am glad I found that site and... that post is helpful, really. I mean, didn't the Leage of the Militant Godless participate in persecution or am I confusing them with the youth wing of the USSR Communist party? Reading about them would be informing, too, so thank you.

[acornuser]

I don't know if this helps...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wurmbrand

[humphreyclarke]

Jul 29, 2010 22:19:23 GMT ignorantianescia said:

No problem at all, I am glad I found that site and... that post is helpful, really. I mean, didn't the Leage of the Militant Godless participate in persecution or am I confusing them with the youth wing of the USSR Communist party? Reading about them would be informing, too, so thank you.

No worries. I wrote about them a bit in this post here:

bedejournal.blogspot.com/2008/12/merry-anti-christmas.html

They also held an 'anti-christmas'.

[deef]

Jul 30, 2010 12:42:07 GMT humphreyclarke said:

Jul 29, 2010 22:19:23 GMT ignorantianescia said:

No problem at all, I am glad I found that site and... that post is helpful, really. I mean, didn't the Leage of the Militant Godless participate in persecution or am I confusing them with the youth wing of the USSR Communist party? Reading about them would be informing, too, so thank you.

No worries. I wrote about them a bit in this post here:

bedejournal.blogspot.com/2008/12/merry-anti-christmas.html

They also held an 'anti-christmas'.

Very interesting read, thanks.