Eugene Clay
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Phone: 480-965-1982
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Coor Hall PO BOX 874302 TEMPE, AZ 85287-4302
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Mail code: 4302Campus: Tempe
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Having been raised in New Orleans and Boston, Eugene Clay taught Russian history for several years at universities in Illinois and Colorado. In 1993 he began teaching religious studies at Arizona State University, where he writes and lectures about religious movements in Russia and Eurasia, the relationship between religion and nationalism, and the encounters of the world religions. He has received honors, grants, and awards from the Social Science Research Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Slavic Honors Society, and the International Research and Exchanges Board. He has served as president of the Association for the Study of Eastern Christian History and Culture. He also is an affiliate of the Melikian Center, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict.
Professor Clay’s research program, focused on the significance of religion in Russia and the former USSR, seeks to integrate Eurasia into the broader scholarly conversation about religion by addressing three major themes. First, he explores the religious vision that animates ordinary people and the ways that they express their faith in art, poetry, and social action. His work has focused on the activities of dissenters and virtuosi, who often advance new ideas or new practices into the religious field. Second, he analyzes the ways religious institutions (such as the Russian Orthodox Church) constantly define and redefine themselves, especially when they become deeply involved in advancing or resisting an imperial enterprise. Finally, he is especially interested in religious encounters between radically different societies on geographical and theological frontiers.
- Ph.D. History, University of Chicago 1989
- A.M. History, University of Chicago 1982
- A.B. History, University of Chicago 1981
EDITED VOLUME
Clay, J. Eugene, ed. Beasts, Humans, and Transhumans in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2020.
SPECIAL JOURNAL ISSUES
Clay, J. Eugene, ed. Contact, Conflict, and Crisis in Eastern Christianity. Special Issue of Canadian American Slavic Studies. 2019.
Clay, John Eugene; Martin, Russell E.; Skinner, Barbara, eds. Centers and Peripheries: Interaction and Exchange in Eastern Christianity. 2 vols. Special Issue of Russian History/ Histoire Russe. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES
“The Beast Computer of Brussels: An American Invention That Conquered the World.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfae071
“Power, Freedom, and Modernity: Spiritual Christian Molokans in Russia and the United States in the Early Twentieth Century.” In Religion and Secular Modernity in Russian Christianity, Judaism, and Atheism, edited by Ana Siljak. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2024. https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501778162/.
“Buddhism in the Post-Soviet Religious Marketplace.” Journal of Church and State 65, no. 2 (Spring 2023): 175–96. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csac099.
“Folklore and Conspiracy Theories of a COVID Dissenter: The Life and Sermons of Father Sergii (Romanov)”. FOLKLORICA - Journal of the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association 24 (July 2020):135-62. https://doi.org/10.17161/folklorica.v24i.15693.
“Космополитика харизматического православия: Стефан (Василий Карпович Подгорный) и его последователи [The Cosmpolitics of Charismatic Orthodoxy: Stefan (Vasilii Karpovich Podgornyi) and His Followers].” Государство, религия, церковь в России и за рубежом [State, Religion, Church in Russia and Abroad]. №1-2 (2019): 249-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2019-37-1/2-249-271.
“The Apocalyptic Legacy of Pseudo-Ephraem in Russia: The Sermon on the Antichrist.” In Catastrophes and the Apocalyptic, ed. Robert Bjork, 181-198. Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2019.
“Religious Liberty in the Russian Federation after 1997.” In Minority Religions in Europe and the Middle East, ed. George D. Chryssides, 142-61. INFORM Series. London: Routledge, 2018. ISBN 978-1472463609.
“Religious Freedom, the Religious Market, and Spiritual Entrepreneurship in Russia after 1997.” In Religious Freedom in Modern Russia, ed. Randall A. Poole and Paul W. Werth, 182-213. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018. ISBN: 9780822945499
“Drama in the Service of Orthodoxy: Dimitrii of Rostov’s Theatrical Investigation of the Schism.” In Performance and Theatricality in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. Mark I. Cruse, 189-207. Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and Renaissance 41. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2018. ISBN 978-2-503-57987-0.
“Marian Revelations in the Russian Context: The Cosmopolitics of Blessed John,” Nova Religio 21, no. 2 (November 2017): 26-42. DOI: 10.1525/nr.2017.21.2.26
“The ‘Quaker Heresy’ in Siberia.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies 51, no. 1 (2017): 122-136. DOI: 10.1163/22102396-05101005.
“Three Perspectives on Russian Pilgrims.” Modern Greek Studies Yearbook 30/31 (2014-2015): 373-81.
“Multiculturalism and Religious Education in the Russian Federation: The Fundamentals of Religious Cultures and Secular Ethics.” State, Religion, and Church (March 2015): 44-74, http://srch.ranepa.ru/node/482.
“A Religious Innovator in Paris: Mother Maria (Skobtsova, 1891-1945).” Women in French Studies (2014): 179-89.
“Jewish Studies in Contemporary St. Petersburg.” Scripta Judaica Cracoviensia 11 (2013): 47-53. http://doi.org/10.4467/20843925SJ.13.005.1301.
Martin, Russell E.; Skinner, Barbara J.; Clay, J. Eugene; "Centers and Peripheries in Eastern Christianity: An Introduction." Russian History: Histoire russe 40, no. 1 (2013): 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763316-04001001.
“Russian Spiritual Christianity and the Closing of the Black-Earth Frontier: The First Heresy Trials of the Dukhobors in the 1760s.” Russian History 40 (2013): 221-43. https://doi.org/10.1163/18763316-04002005.
“Traders, Vagabonds, Incarnate Christs, and Pilgrims: The Religious Network of Danilo Filippov, 1650-1850.” Poverty and Prosperity in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. Anne Scott and Cynthia Kosso, 225-39. Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Turnhout: Brepols, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1484/M.ASMAR-EB.1.101064.
“The Woman Clothed in the Sun: Pacifism and Apocalyptic Discourse among Russian Spiritual Christian Molokan-Jumpers.” Church History 80, no. 1 (March 2011): 109-138. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0009640710001587.
“The Predecessors of Patriarch Aleksandr (Kalinin) of the Russian Ancient Orthodox Church: Archbishops Nikola (Pozdnev) and Stefan (Rastorguev).” Gumanitarnye issledovaniia Vnutrennei Azii [Humanities Research of Inner Asia], no. 2-3 (2008): 90-98.
“Mapping the Limits of Orthodoxy: Russian Orthodox Missionary Encounters in Perm' Diocese, 1828-1912.” Russian History/Histoire Russe 35, no. 1-2 (2008): 113-28. https://doi.org/10.1163/187633108X00201.
"An Old Believer Monastery on the Volga: The Cheremshan Monastic Complex, 1820-1925." Slavonica 7, no. 2 (2001): 9-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/sla.2001.7.2.9.
"The Church of the Transfiguring Theotokos and the Discourse of Russian Nationalism, 1984-99." Nova Religio 3, no. 2 (April 2000): 320-49. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2000.3.2.320.
"Russian Israel." Communal Societies 18 (1998): 81-91.
"Apocalypticism in the Russian Borderlands: Inochentie (Levizor, 1875-1917) and His Moldovan Followers." Religion, State and Society 26, nos. 3/4 (1998): 251-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09637499808431829.
"Literary Images of the Russian 'Flagellants,' 1861-1905." Russian History/ Histoire russe 24, no. 4 (Winter 1997): 425-39. https://doi.org/10.1163/187633197X00212.
"The Theological Origins of the Christ-Faith [Khristovshchina]." Russian History, 15, no. 1 (Spring 1988): 21‑41. https://doi.org/10.1163/187633188X00032.
"God's People in the Early Eighteenth Century: The Uglich Affair of 1717." Cahiers du Monde russe et soviétique, 26, no. 1 (January-March 1985): 69-124. https://doi.org/10.3406/cmr.1985.2034.
Professor Clay’s research program, focused on the significance of religion in Russia and the former USSR, seeks to integrate Eurasia into the broader scholarly conversation about religion by addressing three major themes. First, he explores the religious vision that animates ordinary people and the ways that they express their faith in art, poetry, and social action. His work has focused on the activities of dissenters and virtuosi, who often advance new ideas or new practices into the religious field. Second, he analyzes the ways religious institutions (such as the Russian Orthodox Church) constantly define and redefine themselves, especially when they become deeply involved in advancing or resisting an imperial enterprise. Finally, he is especially interested in religious encounters between radically different societies on geographical and theological frontiers.
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 405 | Problems in Religious Studies |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 301 | Comparative Mysticism |
REL 301 | Comparative Mysticism |
REL 493 | Honors Thesis |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 501 | The Study of Religion I |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
REL 492 | Honors Directed Study |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 371 | New Testament |
REL 371 | New Testament |
REL 405 | Problems in Religious Studies |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 501 | The Study of Religion I |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 371 | New Testament |
REL 371 | New Testament |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
REL 307 | Religion: Theory and Practice |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
2021 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
SGS 107 | Religion and Globalization |
REL 379 | Rel/Nationalism/Ethnic Conflct |
REL 379 | Rel/Nationalism/Ethnic Conflct |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 501 | Research Mthds-Religious Study |
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
2020 Summer
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 493 | Honors Thesis |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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REL 100 | Religions of the World |
REL 792 | Research |
REL 799 | Dissertation |
REL 599 | Thesis |
REL 107 | Religion and Globalization |
REL 492 | Honors Directed Study |