The phenomenon of historical and confessional study of the peoples in the middle volga region, the urals and Siberia in Kazan theological academy (the second half of the xix - The beginning of the XX centuries)

Abstract

© Serials Publications.The topical character of the theme under investigation is determined by aspiration of the local and foreign researchers for studying problems having great importance for the investigation of the origin of modern international and inter-confessional relations in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation and Europe as a whole. The object of the paper is to investigate a unique phenomenon of historical and confessional study of the peoples in the Middle Volga region, the Urals and Siberia in Kazan Theological Academy in the second half of the XIX-The beginning of the XX centuries. A leading approach of this research is to present the teachers-missionaries as scientists who had contributed much to the study of history, culture, ethnography and the language of the Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Mongolian peoples. The authors managed to reveal the scientific and educational activities of the missionary department of Kazan Theological Academy, the only one of its kind in Russia, to find out the contribution of its teachers to the study of the peoples in the Middle Volga region, the Urals and Siberia, to find out in the archives different documents (historical, linguistic, ethnographic) concerning the Tatars, the Mari, the Chuvash, the Bashkirs, the Udmurts, the Mordovians, and Siberians. The materials of the paper can be beneficial for anyone interested in the empire, nation, religion and Orthodox missionary policy phenomenon and modern ethno-political processes in the Russian Federation and Europe.