Conversions in Central and Eastern Europe: The Politics of Religion and Nonreligion across the 20th Century (Routledge Religion, Society and Government in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet States)

This interdisciplinary volume explores religious conversion and nonreligion in 20th-century Central and Eastern Europe, examining how emerging nations, empire inheritors, and socialist projects mobilized religious politics to manufacture consent while destabilizing the very communities they sought to control. Drawing on original archival research and fieldwork, the book analyzes the interdependence of collective and individual identities, integrating state-driven atheization into the study of conversion.It traces conviction-driven, coercive, strategic, and nonreligious shifts, situating them within broader processes of state formation, social engineering, and political power.Rich in empirical material, the volume offers conceptual tools and comparative frameworks to understand the entanglement of religion, nonreligion, and power during political upheaval. Intended for scholars and practitioners in history, religious studies, anthropology, sociology, political science, and related field