Religion and Nationality in Western Ukraine
The Greek Catholic Church and the Ruthenian National Movement in Galicia, 1870-1900
A valuable addition to the study of religion and national movements in East Europe and beyond.
Description
Using Soviet archival materials declassified in the 1980s, John-Paul Himka examines a period during which the Greek Catholic church in Galicia was involved in a protracted, and at times bitter, struggle to maintain its distinctive, historically developed rites and customs. He focuses on the way differing concepts of Rutherian nationality affected the perception and course of church affairs while showing the influence of local ecclesiastical matters on the development and acceptance of these divergent concepts of nationality. The implications and complications of the Galician imbroglio are engagingly explained in this latest addition to Himka's work on nationality in late nineteenth-century Galicia. His analysis of the relationship between the church and the national movement is a valuable addition to the study of religion and national movements in East Europe and beyond.
Reviews
"By thus seeking to reconstruct and detail the immensely complex and constantly changing situation in Galicia Himka attempts to provide an insight into the realities of the construction of a national identity. At the same time he demonstrates clearly the impossibility of disentangling religious and political developments in this context." Richard Greenfield, Department of History, Queen's University. "Religion and Nationality in Western Ukraine is engaging, entertaining, and not without humour. [John-Paul Himka's] style is suitable for the educated non-specialist and non-scholarly reader. He tells a good story." Andrew Sorokowski, St. Basil's College.