The Woman Clothed in the Sun: Pacifism and Apocalyptic Discourse among Russian Spiritual Christian Molokan-Jumpers

摘要

WITH its violent images of heavenly and earthly combat, the book ofnRevelation has been criticized for promoting a vengeful andndistorted version of Christ’s teachings. Gerd Lüdemann, fornexample, has attacked the book as part of the “dark side of the Bible,” andnJonathan Kirsch believes that the pernicious influence of Revelation “can bendetected in some of the worst atrocities and excesses of every age, includingnour own.”n1nYet, surprisingly, nonviolent pacifists have also drawn on thenApocalypse for encouragement and support. This was especially true forngenerations of Russian Spiritual Christians (dukhovnye khristiane), ansignificant religious minority whose roots trace at least as far back as then1760s, when the first “spirituals” (dukhovnye) were arrested and tried innRussia’s southern provinces of Tambov and Voronezh. Although they drewnupon apocalyptic martial imagery, the Spiritual Christians were pacifists,nsome of whom came to identify themselves with the Woman Clothed in thenSun of Revelation 12.