New University Course “History of Religions in Russia": Not Only a General Educational Discipline, But Also an Element of Cultural, Educational and Scientific Diplomacy” (Analyzing First Results of Teaching the Course in English to Foreign Students)

Stenko Aleksandr Ivanovich ORCID: 0000-0002-0951-7597 Assistant; Department of History of Philosophy; P. Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 6 Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russia stenko-ai@rudn.ru Other publications by this author

Stenko Irina Aleksandrovna ORCID: 0009-0005-7296-5359 Assistant; Department of Foreign Languages; Higher School of Management; P. Lumumba Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 111550, Russia, Moscow, Miklukho-Maklaya str., 6 irinastenkosocial@mail.ru

Introduction

As in many universities of the Russian Federation, in compliance with the relevant orders of the relevant state bodies of the Russian Federation on the basis of the RUDN.Patrice Lumumba has started teaching the course "History of Religions of Russia" (IRR) since September 2024. At the same time, RUDN to a certain extent became a pioneer in terms of introducing the IRR into the outline of the compulsory general education program of Russian higher education, since a new discipline is taught at this university, including for foreign students studying according to the English-language curricula of the university.

The development and implementation of any new course (and the "History of Religions of Russia" with its English-language version "History of Religions in Russia" were no exception in this context) is inevitably accompanied by a number of difficulties: methodological, methodological, organizational, logistical, etc. Following the results of the first months of conducting this program, the authors in the proposed work plan to share their experience gained so far in preparing and conducting lectures and seminars for foreign groups with a special focus on non-humanitarian educational areas. The focus of priority attention in the study is aimed at studying methodological and methodological issues related to the teaching of the subject “History of Religions in Russia". Special attention is paid to the problems of the correctness of the transmission of key terms, the search for English-language analogues of the conceptual apparatus of the discipline in order to accurately convey to foreign students the meaning and meaning of the course, its ideological guidelines. A separate emphasis is placed on the revision of the original objectives and goals of the discipline with an eye to their possible adaptation to the audience of foreign students who do not speak Russian.

The background of the course development and implementation

The need to introduce some kind of religious and educational discipline into the higher education program of the Russian Federation has been overdue for a long time due to the historical, unique ethno-confessional diversity of the population of our country and was seriously actualized against the background of current demographic trends in the Russian Federation, migration processes in the post-Soviet space and in conditions of a sharp increase in the political importance of strengthening spiritual and moral values in the state. Thus, a socio-political request for a course was formed, designed to give students adequate and relevant knowledge about the religious traditions of the peoples of the Russian Federation in the context of the formation of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values ^[1].

The first practical steps in this direction can be considered the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 11/19/2022 No. 809 "On approval of the Foundations of State Policy for the preservation and strengthening of traditional Russian spiritual and moral values" and the instructions of the head of state dated 12/11/2024 following a meeting with historians and representatives of traditional religions of Russia. Based on this regulatory framework, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, together with the Interdepartmental Commission on Historical Education, the Association "Russian Historical Society" and with the participation of interested federal executive authorities, was instructed to consider the development and implementation of the educational course (module) "History of Religions of Russia" in higher education programs.

In an unprecedented short time – almost within a year – the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation developed and approved a standard program of a new educational course for universities "History of Religions of Russia" ^[2]. The program was prepared by historians, religious scholars and philosophers of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the Russian State Social University. Already in the 2023-2024 academic year, testing of a new discipline was launched at 28 universities in Russia. The experiment was recognized as successful, therefore, in the next academic season 2024-2025, in accordance with the decision of the Ministry of Education and Science, the new course was supposed to be launched in most Russian universities, primarily in socio–humanitarian areas of training, and in "non-core" specialties, its integration was envisaged in the form of a separate educational module ^[1].

RUDN named after him.Patrice Lumumba was no exception in this context and, in accordance with the recommendations of relevant government agencies, from September 1, 2024, he began conducting an IRR course in most bachelor's degree programs. In accordance with the approved standard program of the course "History of Religions of Russia" by the Ministry of Education and Science, the scientific and pedagogical staff of the Department of History of Philosophy of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the RUDN carried out work on developing their own approach adapted to the specifics of the university to the implementation of IRR based on the recommended meaningful method. In particular, the volume of lectures and seminars (36 hours each, respectively) remained unchanged, as well as the ideological guidelines of the discipline, which consist in forming students' awareness of belonging to Russian society, developing their citizenship, understanding the peculiarities of the historical path of the state, the originality of its political structure ^[3].

The specifics of the audience of foreign students of the course

Without going into particular the individual nuances of developing an adapted discipline program based on unified thematic plans for the three main blocks of the introduced discipline (historical and religious studies section, aspects of the formation of statehood, within which a multi-confessional map of the country was created, as well as religious traditions and legal aspects of modernity) ^[2], we will focus on the general complicating aspects, in particular which were fully identified after the launch of the course in English.

One of the main features that RUDN specialists have encountered is the fact that the university has 72 bachelor's degree programs conducted in foreign languages for students who absolutely do not speak Russian. It is also noteworthy that, due to the current demand in the market of international educational services, most of these programs represented areas of non–humanitarian specialties (among the most in demand by foreign students in 2023 - "Medicine", "Oil and Gas business", "Management") ^[4].

Taking into account such specifics, practice has shown the presence of three key points requiring special attention. Firstly, first-year undergraduate students of non-humanitarian specialties, as a rule, do not have a high degree of basic training in philosophy, religious studies, etc. This, among other things, makes it difficult to convey to them the basic concepts and definitions for the course, for example, related to the disclosure of the historical and philosophical evolution of the concept of religion.

Secondly, foreign students currently studying in Russia, even if they are proficient in English, are often not native speakers. Having different levels of language training, they often face difficulties in perceiving terminology core to the discipline – from, for example, specialized theological concepts sacrament (sacrament), covenant (covenant) to more common lexical units such as parish (parish), belfry (bell tower) ^[5].

Also, when organizing the teaching of the course, it turned out to be important to take into account such a disciplinary and psychological aspect as the frequent presence in study groups of students from countries in conflict, including for religious reasons (Israel - Lebanon, Iran or Azerbaijan - Armenia). This circumstance, at a minimum, requires additional communicative and pedagogical skills from the teacher in order to discuss religious issues with an audience of students who have only recently arrived from other socio-cultural realities, despite the complexity of the political situation in the world.

Features of the methodological and methodological base

The most problematic and, by and large, unresolved situation at the moment is around the identified shortage of English-language methodological materials corresponding to the goals and objectives of the IRR. The vast majority of the currently available sources in English (from reference books, textbooks, manuals to video and audio materials) are posted on Western digital platforms and created in countries unfriendly to Russia.

This circumstance determines that most of the methodological materials available in a foreign language are directional and value-oriented, often distorting the history and current situation in the religious sphere of the Russian Federation. The theses promoted in these sources (especially those published over the past few years) not only distort the overall picture of the history of religions in Russia, but also often have an openly false Russophobic character and contradict the goals and objectives of the course itself.

Especially disturbing in this context is the fact that it is impossible for teachers and students to use the research results of the most reputable, but currently biased, theological institutes and religious studies think tanks, such as, for example, the well-known American analytical bureau Pew Research Center, for educational purposes.

The specifics of the translation of the terminological and conceptual apparatus

The above circumstances, coupled with the fact that there is currently a shortage of modern works of Russian theologians and religious scholars that have been qualitatively translated into English, create serious difficulties in systematizing the terminological and conceptual apparatus of the History of Religions in Russia course in English. Thus, the terms and concepts developed in Russian and embedded in the discipline require careful search for an exact analogue in English. It is important to take into account that translations made by tracing paper often do not correspond, and periodically and radically mistakenly convey the meaning originally inherent in the Russian version. Just one example is if in the English–speaking segment of academic scientific publications you try to find a generally accepted English analogue of the term "all-Russian civil identity", then the most common proposed result will look like "All-Russian Civic Identity” ^[6]. However, such a translation seems inaccurate, since the adjective "Russian" in this case will be perceived by the foreign recipient as "Russian" (nationality), and not as "Russian" (nationality) ^[7].

In addition, the English-language terms generally accepted in the Western scientific school do not always correspond to Russian religious terminology. This is due, among other things, to the frequent discrepancy between socio-cultural and socio-political contexts. As a result, for example, the term "(native)tribal", which is more common in Russian scientific religious studies ^[8] religions in the English-speaking academic environment at the present stage has an analogue of "indigenous religions" ^[9]. However, it seems inappropriate to give students this term as part of the course "History of Religions in Russia", since it primarily covers "native", "indigenous" cultural, religious and ethno-confessional groups in the regions of North and South America, Africa, Australasia and does not correspond to Russian historical and cultural realities, since in To a greater extent, it was formed under the influence of the colonial historical heritage of Western European countries.

Identified new goals and objectives of the course "History of Religions of Russia"

In accordance with the statutory normative documents of the course "History of Religions of Russia", including the work plans adopted at the RUDN on the basis of a standard program, the initial goals and objectives of the discipline are to provide knowledge, skills and abilities to understand the historical foundations of the formation and development of religious traditions in Russia, education in the field of interfaith situation and state-religious relations in the Russian Federation, strengthening traditional Russian spiritual and moral values ^[3]. That is, they all have a fairly obvious "internal Russian socio-political" functionality aimed at the "internal addressee" in the person of Russian youth.

However, in the case of teaching IRR to foreign students in English, the discipline has at least one new task and one new goal. The course “History of Religions in Russia” in our case is obviously aimed at introducing foreign students to the culture and mentality of Russian society. At the same time, among the priorities of the discipline, the goal of forming the image of the Russian Federation as a country historically open to interfaith and intercultural dialogue is put forward in the first place.

It is curious that this situation with the transformation of the goal-setting of the IRR course has already taken place in similar circumstances, when several years ago the course "Fundamentals of Russian Statehood" began in English in Russian universities. As practice shows, both new disciplines have not only an educational function, but also become an instrument of cultural and scientific and educational diplomacy ^{[10, 11]}.

Key research results

Based on the analysis of the above-mentioned first empirical results of teaching the course "History of Religions of Russia" in English for foreign students, it is possible to come to an unambiguous conclusion about the importance of continuing work on improving the educational and methodological complex of the IRR in order to adapt it for foreign-speaking listeners.

In this series, special attention should be paid to the adaptation of course materials, taking into account the language level and the humanitarian or technical profile of students. At the same time, with the appropriate "simplification" of the terminological apparatus, it is critically important to preserve the ideological guidelines of the discipline. In this regard, it is also advisable to continue the consistent search for English-language analogues for the key concepts of the course.

The task of selecting, as well as developing a correct, unbiased educational and methodological illustrative and other auxiliary material for the English version of the discipline is particularly significant, but at the same time quite costly and difficult.

It is also necessary to revise and search for additional formulations in determining the goals and objectives of the IRR in the case of conducting this program for foreign students, and not students who are citizens of the Russian Federation.

Conclusion

Summing up, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the course "History of Religions of Russia" carries an extremely important educational function with both Russian and foreign students. Careful study of the English version of the discipline can create a basis for expanding in the future the geographical coverage of the content of this course from a predominantly intra-Russian interfaith aspect to the study of the problems of interreligious relations in other countries, especially from among the neighboring countries, micro and macro regions of the world. This would be particularly useful in the framework of the current aspirations of Russian universities to stimulate the export of domestic education abroad.

Accumulated at the RUDN.Patrice Lumumba and the experience of practical testing of the History of Religions in Russia course in English summarized in this article can be used by other Russian educational institutions in order to improve the quality of educational services, provide affordable and continuing education in Russia, in particular within the framework of programs conducted in foreign languages aimed at an audience of foreign-speaking listeners.