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Tamara Prosic

Monash University, SOPHIS, Faculty Member

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University of Nottingham

University of Washington

Pauline Taubach

University of Aberdeen

Rafał Włodarczyk

University of Wroclaw

Tampere University

University of Lapland

Teppo Eskelinen

Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

Dilek Çetinkaya

Istanbul Technical University

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Papers by Tamara Prosic

Religious Utopianism: From Othering Reality to Othering People

Religions, 2024

This paper intends to make an important contribution to the studies of religious utopianism by co... more This paper intends to make an important contribution to the studies of religious utopianism by considering religions as comprehensive utopian systems which have an ontological and a social utopian mode. It argues that the ontological mode/utopia is related to human finality and that its fantastical content, abstractness and ontological Othering undermine the transformative powers of left religious social utopianism, while it encourages pernicious social Othering in religious fundamentalism. The article has four sections. In Section 1, it clarifies the definition of utopia on which the paper relies and the reasons for this particular choice. Section 2 discusses the religious ontological utopia and religions as utopian systems and utopian programs. Section 3 utilises E. Bloch’s considerations about concrete and abstract utopias to explain the reasons for the incapacity of politically left orientated religious utopianism to function as a revolutionary force. Finally, the Section 4 discusses the way religious fundamentalism employs social Othering as a way of defending the universality of its ontological vision against competing religious and pseudo-religious universals.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Utopian Dystopian Dialectics in Christian Responses: Between Ethics and Ontology

Christianity is a religion with deep utopian undercurrents that find their articulation in narrat... more Christianity is a religion with deep utopian undercurrents that find their articulation in narratives about a utopian past, a dystopian present and a utopian future. The natural world is also part of this utopian trend, most prominently in the form of the lost Garden of Eden. While both Western and Eastern Orthodox Christianity recognize nature as part of this past utopia, their views regarding its role in the dystopian present, the future utopian condition as well as the path toward it, significantly differ, leading to quite different responses to the current ecological crisis. For Western Christianity, ecological questions are a matter of ethics, while for the Eastern Orthodox they are an ontological issue. Utilizing Bloch's ideas about "educated hope" and the distinction between abstract and concrete utopias, the article discusses these different positions and their possibility to change believers' attitudes toward nature and align their behavior with that of environmentalism and ecology.

Cultural Hegemony, Religion and the 1917 Russian Revolution

State Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide, 2019

The ambition of this article is to initiate an understanding of the Russian Orthodox Christianity... more The ambition of this article is to initiate an understanding of the Russian Orthodox Christianity at the time of the revolution in a way that is different from the classical approach which is often focused on its institutional side and limited to historical facts. Its main thesis is that rather than being an obstacle, Orthodox Christianity to some extent contributed to the revolution's success by providing familiar semantic background against which the majority of Russians interpreted, accepted and fought for the socialist ideals. It argues that Orthodoxy was the source of hegemonic cultural values and that it functioned as dominant, yet circuitous, semantic filter through which ideas surrounding the revolution were understood and appropriated by the masses. In constructing its argument the discussion relies on Antonio Gramsci's ideas about cultural hegemony, Iurii Lotman's concept of semiosphere and Ernest Bloch's theory about utopianism as a necessary element of radicalism.

“Elective Affinities” Between Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the 1917 Russian Revolution1

Religion in Rebellions, Revolutions, and Social Movements, Mar 30, 2022

Культурная гегемония, религия и Русская революция 1917 года

The Development of Symbolism of Passover Until 70CE

Sheffield Academic Press, 2005

Theosis: between personal and universal utopia

Hegemony, religion, revolution

The 'threshing floor' as sacred space in the Hebrew Bible: A spatial and anthropological perspective

Cultural Hegemony, Sobornost, and the 1917 Russian Revolution

The 1917 Russian Revolution and Eastern Orthodox Christian Utopianism

Utopian Studies, 2017

This article attempts to open an alternative perspective in thinking about the role Eastern Ortho... more This article attempts to open an alternative perspective in thinking about the role Eastern Orthodox Christianity played in the 1917 Russian revolution by challenging the prevailing paradigm that it was a conservative cultural element resisting social change. Weber claimed that Calvinism managed to turn a particular conception of the world into a corresponding practical norm that aided the development of capitalism. This article proposes a similar thesis regarding the Russian revolution, but utilizing as its theoretical framework Gramsci's ideas on cultural hegemony and Bloch's view about the role of utopian thinking. It argues that Orthodox Christianity was the source of hegemonic cultural values and as such was the familiar semantic background against which the majority of Russians interpreted, accepted, and fought for the socialist ideals of the revolution. In constructing its argument the article provides a critique and a corrective of Gramsci's understanding of cult...

Schizoid Coitus: Christ and the Feminine

Marxist feminist criticism of the Bible, 2008

Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three... more Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three dangerous prescriptions as to regimen: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence—but without its being possible to determine with certainty which is cause and which is effect or IF any relation at all of cause and effect exists there.—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. Interest in the treatment and role of women within Christianity seems to be increasing exponentially. The scope of that interest is very diverse, ranging from serious analytical studies to those that belong more to the sphere of the popular, artistic and obscure. It is enough just to mention the recent mega-success of the popular crime novel, The Da Vinci Code which, because of its accent on the feminine and the role women might have played in the life of Jesus, stirred up so much dust that even the Vatican found it necessary to comment on it. There is no doubt that this wide interest in the role of women in establishing one of the cornerstones of Western civilization, Christianity, owes its emergence mainly to the development of feminism and feminist thought in the twentieth century. On the other hand, if we take into consideration that feminism made its historical debut as an offshoot of Marxism, it can be stated that in its core feminist discourse revolves around two ideas: one is alienation, the process of objectification of biological sex differences and the ways that objectification reflects on the socio-cultural position of women; another concerns the methods of overcoming the consequences of that objectification. Like The Da Vinci Code, this essay is also built around Jesus, women and sex, but rather than chasing blood lines it attempts to interpret the myth of Jesus from the perspective of sexual and gender emancipation. Like other feminist writings, this essay is also concerned with alienation, but unlike the majority of feminist texts which concentrate on the socioeconomic sphere, its focus is mainly on biological and sexual alienation and the missed/suppressed historical potentiality of the Jesus Christ myth to become—at least in these terms—a truly liberating myth.

Experimental Pesah or, How do you Eat a Lamb while Holding a Staff in your Hand?

Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, 2019

The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural i... more The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural identity was expressed in antiquity, critiques the traditional prioritising of the story of exodus over its biblical ritual expression in understanding ancient Jewish identity and explores various Pesah sacrifice instructions in Exodus 12 as an implicit polemical ritual discourse engaged in constructing a ritual of cultural distinction. The article pays close attention to the tension between the invented and the real of the instructions, and attempts to identify the possible cultural other against whom some of the Exodus instructions were constructed.

Speaking of the Unspoken ( of )

There is no other ritual in Jewish liturgy that commands so much awe and that has provoked so muc... more There is no other ritual in Jewish liturgy that commands so much awe and that has provoked so much controversy over the centuries as the chanting of Kol Nidre. Performed as an introduction to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the most solemn occasion in the Jewish calendar of annual festivals, a day of forgiveness and repentance, Kol Nidre consists of a very short declaration which grants the congregation an all-inclusive absolution of solemn vows. It is mostly recited in Aramaic, the vernacular of Talmudic times, with the only exception of some Italian and Balkan communities which recite it in Hebrew, the standard liturgical language. The declaration in Aramaic goes as follows:

The theological possibilities of communism: A comparison between the utopias of Eastern and Western Christianities

Critical Research on Religion

The 1917 Russian Revolution and Eastern Orthodox Christian Utopianism

Utopian studies, 2017

Experimental Pesah or, How do you Eat a Lamb while Holding a Staff in your Hand?

JSOT, 2019

The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural i... more The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural identity was expressed in antiquity, critiques the traditional prioritising of the story of exodus over its biblical ritual expression in understanding ancient Jewish identity and explores various Pesah sacrifice instructions in Exodus 12 as an implicit polemical ritual discourse engaged in constructing a ritual of cultural distinction. The article pays close attention to the tension between the invented and the real of the instructions, and attempts to identify the possible cultural other against whom some of the Exodus instructions were constructed. cultural identity ever since the Old Testament got the form it has today. This ar-1. Introduction Passover has been the key ritual of Jewish identity ever since Exodus 12, where we encounter Passover in the Old Testament for the first time, got the form we know. Many other biblical texts mention Passover, but none of them are as important as Exodus 12, which explains the reasons for the festival, declares its future purpose and sets out the rules for its performance. Its ideological underpinnings were noticed long ago by Julius Wellhausen, 1 but despite this early recognition, studies about Passover have mainly abstained from more probing analysis of this particular aspect. Wellhausen's proposition that Exodus 12 appropriates preexisting rituals into Yahwistic histori-cized theology gained a general consensus and the subsequent research on Passover has mainly revolved around the chronology of the festival's development , the causes for perceived changes, the periods when these changes

The Threshing Floor as Sacred Space in the Hebrew Bible A Spatial and Anthropological Perspective.pdf

Schizoid Coitus: Christ and the Feminine

Marxist Feminist Criticism of the Bible, ed. by Roland Boer and Joprunn Okland, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008

Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three... more Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three dangerous prescriptions as to regimen: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence—but without its being possible to determine with certainty which is cause and which is effect or IF any relation at all of cause and effect exists there.—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Interest in the treatment and role of women within Christianity seems to be increasing exponentially. The scope of that interest is very diverse, ranging from serious analytical studies to those that belong more to the sphere of the popular, artistic and obscure. It is enough just to mention the recent mega-success of the popular crime novel, The Da Vinci Code which, because of its accent on the feminine and the role women might have played in the life of Jesus, stirred up so much dust that even the Vatican found it necessary to comment on it. There is no doubt that this wide interest in the role of women in establishing one of the cornerstones of Western civilization, Christianity, owes its emergence mainly to the development of feminism and feminist thought in the twentieth century. On the other hand, if we take into consideration that feminism made its historical debut as an offshoot of Marxism, it can be stated that in its core feminist discourse revolves around two ideas: one is alienation, the process of objectification of biological sex differences and the ways that objectification reflects on the socio-cultural position of women; another concerns the methods of overcoming the consequences of that objectification. Like The Da Vinci Code, this essay is also built around Jesus, women and sex, but rather than chasing blood lines it attempts to interpret the myth of Jesus from the perspective of sexual and gender emancipation. Like other feminist writings, this essay is also concerned with alienation, but unlike the majority of feminist texts which concentrate on the socioeconomic sphere, its focus is mainly on biological and sexual alienation and the missed/suppressed historical potentiality of the Jesus Christ myth to become—at least in these terms—a truly liberating myth.

Of Bodies and Souls: Ecology and Orthodox Christianity Of Bodies and Souls: Ecology and Orthodox Christianity

Religious Utopianism: From Othering Reality to Othering People

Religions, 2024

This paper intends to make an important contribution to the studies of religious utopianism by co... more This paper intends to make an important contribution to the studies of religious utopianism by considering religions as comprehensive utopian systems which have an ontological and a social utopian mode. It argues that the ontological mode/utopia is related to human finality and that its fantastical content, abstractness and ontological Othering undermine the transformative powers of left religious social utopianism, while it encourages pernicious social Othering in religious fundamentalism. The article has four sections. In Section 1, it clarifies the definition of utopia on which the paper relies and the reasons for this particular choice. Section 2 discusses the religious ontological utopia and religions as utopian systems and utopian programs. Section 3 utilises E. Bloch’s considerations about concrete and abstract utopias to explain the reasons for the incapacity of politically left orientated religious utopianism to function as a revolutionary force. Finally, the Section 4 discusses the way religious fundamentalism employs social Othering as a way of defending the universality of its ontological vision against competing religious and pseudo-religious universals.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

Utopian Dystopian Dialectics in Christian Responses: Between Ethics and Ontology

Christianity is a religion with deep utopian undercurrents that find their articulation in narrat... more Christianity is a religion with deep utopian undercurrents that find their articulation in narratives about a utopian past, a dystopian present and a utopian future. The natural world is also part of this utopian trend, most prominently in the form of the lost Garden of Eden. While both Western and Eastern Orthodox Christianity recognize nature as part of this past utopia, their views regarding its role in the dystopian present, the future utopian condition as well as the path toward it, significantly differ, leading to quite different responses to the current ecological crisis. For Western Christianity, ecological questions are a matter of ethics, while for the Eastern Orthodox they are an ontological issue. Utilizing Bloch's ideas about "educated hope" and the distinction between abstract and concrete utopias, the article discusses these different positions and their possibility to change believers' attitudes toward nature and align their behavior with that of environmentalism and ecology.

Cultural Hegemony, Religion and the 1917 Russian Revolution

State Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide, 2019

The ambition of this article is to initiate an understanding of the Russian Orthodox Christianity... more The ambition of this article is to initiate an understanding of the Russian Orthodox Christianity at the time of the revolution in a way that is different from the classical approach which is often focused on its institutional side and limited to historical facts. Its main thesis is that rather than being an obstacle, Orthodox Christianity to some extent contributed to the revolution's success by providing familiar semantic background against which the majority of Russians interpreted, accepted and fought for the socialist ideals. It argues that Orthodoxy was the source of hegemonic cultural values and that it functioned as dominant, yet circuitous, semantic filter through which ideas surrounding the revolution were understood and appropriated by the masses. In constructing its argument the discussion relies on Antonio Gramsci's ideas about cultural hegemony, Iurii Lotman's concept of semiosphere and Ernest Bloch's theory about utopianism as a necessary element of radicalism.

“Elective Affinities” Between Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the 1917 Russian Revolution1

Religion in Rebellions, Revolutions, and Social Movements, Mar 30, 2022

Культурная гегемония, религия и Русская революция 1917 года

The Development of Symbolism of Passover Until 70CE

Sheffield Academic Press, 2005

Theosis: between personal and universal utopia

Hegemony, religion, revolution

The 'threshing floor' as sacred space in the Hebrew Bible: A spatial and anthropological perspective

Cultural Hegemony, Sobornost, and the 1917 Russian Revolution

The 1917 Russian Revolution and Eastern Orthodox Christian Utopianism

Utopian Studies, 2017

This article attempts to open an alternative perspective in thinking about the role Eastern Ortho... more This article attempts to open an alternative perspective in thinking about the role Eastern Orthodox Christianity played in the 1917 Russian revolution by challenging the prevailing paradigm that it was a conservative cultural element resisting social change. Weber claimed that Calvinism managed to turn a particular conception of the world into a corresponding practical norm that aided the development of capitalism. This article proposes a similar thesis regarding the Russian revolution, but utilizing as its theoretical framework Gramsci's ideas on cultural hegemony and Bloch's view about the role of utopian thinking. It argues that Orthodox Christianity was the source of hegemonic cultural values and as such was the familiar semantic background against which the majority of Russians interpreted, accepted, and fought for the socialist ideals of the revolution. In constructing its argument the article provides a critique and a corrective of Gramsci's understanding of cult...

Schizoid Coitus: Christ and the Feminine

Marxist feminist criticism of the Bible, 2008

Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three... more Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three dangerous prescriptions as to regimen: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence—but without its being possible to determine with certainty which is cause and which is effect or IF any relation at all of cause and effect exists there.—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil. Interest in the treatment and role of women within Christianity seems to be increasing exponentially. The scope of that interest is very diverse, ranging from serious analytical studies to those that belong more to the sphere of the popular, artistic and obscure. It is enough just to mention the recent mega-success of the popular crime novel, The Da Vinci Code which, because of its accent on the feminine and the role women might have played in the life of Jesus, stirred up so much dust that even the Vatican found it necessary to comment on it. There is no doubt that this wide interest in the role of women in establishing one of the cornerstones of Western civilization, Christianity, owes its emergence mainly to the development of feminism and feminist thought in the twentieth century. On the other hand, if we take into consideration that feminism made its historical debut as an offshoot of Marxism, it can be stated that in its core feminist discourse revolves around two ideas: one is alienation, the process of objectification of biological sex differences and the ways that objectification reflects on the socio-cultural position of women; another concerns the methods of overcoming the consequences of that objectification. Like The Da Vinci Code, this essay is also built around Jesus, women and sex, but rather than chasing blood lines it attempts to interpret the myth of Jesus from the perspective of sexual and gender emancipation. Like other feminist writings, this essay is also concerned with alienation, but unlike the majority of feminist texts which concentrate on the socioeconomic sphere, its focus is mainly on biological and sexual alienation and the missed/suppressed historical potentiality of the Jesus Christ myth to become—at least in these terms—a truly liberating myth.

Experimental Pesah or, How do you Eat a Lamb while Holding a Staff in your Hand?

Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament, 2019

The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural i... more The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural identity was expressed in antiquity, critiques the traditional prioritising of the story of exodus over its biblical ritual expression in understanding ancient Jewish identity and explores various Pesah sacrifice instructions in Exodus 12 as an implicit polemical ritual discourse engaged in constructing a ritual of cultural distinction. The article pays close attention to the tension between the invented and the real of the instructions, and attempts to identify the possible cultural other against whom some of the Exodus instructions were constructed.

Speaking of the Unspoken ( of )

There is no other ritual in Jewish liturgy that commands so much awe and that has provoked so muc... more There is no other ritual in Jewish liturgy that commands so much awe and that has provoked so much controversy over the centuries as the chanting of Kol Nidre. Performed as an introduction to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the most solemn occasion in the Jewish calendar of annual festivals, a day of forgiveness and repentance, Kol Nidre consists of a very short declaration which grants the congregation an all-inclusive absolution of solemn vows. It is mostly recited in Aramaic, the vernacular of Talmudic times, with the only exception of some Italian and Balkan communities which recite it in Hebrew, the standard liturgical language. The declaration in Aramaic goes as follows:

The theological possibilities of communism: A comparison between the utopias of Eastern and Western Christianities

Critical Research on Religion

The 1917 Russian Revolution and Eastern Orthodox Christian Utopianism

Utopian studies, 2017

Experimental Pesah or, How do you Eat a Lamb while Holding a Staff in your Hand?

JSOT, 2019

The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural i... more The Passover festival has been the ritual expression of Jewish ticle looks at the ways cultural identity was expressed in antiquity, critiques the traditional prioritising of the story of exodus over its biblical ritual expression in understanding ancient Jewish identity and explores various Pesah sacrifice instructions in Exodus 12 as an implicit polemical ritual discourse engaged in constructing a ritual of cultural distinction. The article pays close attention to the tension between the invented and the real of the instructions, and attempts to identify the possible cultural other against whom some of the Exodus instructions were constructed. cultural identity ever since the Old Testament got the form it has today. This ar-1. Introduction Passover has been the key ritual of Jewish identity ever since Exodus 12, where we encounter Passover in the Old Testament for the first time, got the form we know. Many other biblical texts mention Passover, but none of them are as important as Exodus 12, which explains the reasons for the festival, declares its future purpose and sets out the rules for its performance. Its ideological underpinnings were noticed long ago by Julius Wellhausen, 1 but despite this early recognition, studies about Passover have mainly abstained from more probing analysis of this particular aspect. Wellhausen's proposition that Exodus 12 appropriates preexisting rituals into Yahwistic histori-cized theology gained a general consensus and the subsequent research on Passover has mainly revolved around the chronology of the festival's development , the causes for perceived changes, the periods when these changes

The Threshing Floor as Sacred Space in the Hebrew Bible A Spatial and Anthropological Perspective.pdf

Schizoid Coitus: Christ and the Feminine

Marxist Feminist Criticism of the Bible, ed. by Roland Boer and Joprunn Okland, Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008

Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three... more Wherever the religious neurosis has appeared on the earth so far, we find it connected with three dangerous prescriptions as to regimen: solitude, fasting, and sexual abstinence—but without its being possible to determine with certainty which is cause and which is effect or IF any relation at all of cause and effect exists there.—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.
Interest in the treatment and role of women within Christianity seems to be increasing exponentially. The scope of that interest is very diverse, ranging from serious analytical studies to those that belong more to the sphere of the popular, artistic and obscure. It is enough just to mention the recent mega-success of the popular crime novel, The Da Vinci Code which, because of its accent on the feminine and the role women might have played in the life of Jesus, stirred up so much dust that even the Vatican found it necessary to comment on it. There is no doubt that this wide interest in the role of women in establishing one of the cornerstones of Western civilization, Christianity, owes its emergence mainly to the development of feminism and feminist thought in the twentieth century. On the other hand, if we take into consideration that feminism made its historical debut as an offshoot of Marxism, it can be stated that in its core feminist discourse revolves around two ideas: one is alienation, the process of objectification of biological sex differences and the ways that objectification reflects on the socio-cultural position of women; another concerns the methods of overcoming the consequences of that objectification. Like The Da Vinci Code, this essay is also built around Jesus, women and sex, but rather than chasing blood lines it attempts to interpret the myth of Jesus from the perspective of sexual and gender emancipation. Like other feminist writings, this essay is also concerned with alienation, but unlike the majority of feminist texts which concentrate on the socioeconomic sphere, its focus is mainly on biological and sexual alienation and the missed/suppressed historical potentiality of the Jesus Christ myth to become—at least in these terms—a truly liberating myth.

Of Bodies and Souls: Ecology and Orthodox Christianity Of Bodies and Souls: Ecology and Orthodox Christianity

Review of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners by Roland Boer

Friends of Socialist China, 2021