Under the Sign of the Cross: The People’s Salvation Cathedral and the Church-Building Industry in Postsocialist Romania (Space and Place Book 18)

Based on extensive ethnographic research, this book delves into the thriving industry of religious infrastructure in Romania, where 4,000 Orthodox churches and cathedrals have been built in three decades. Following the construction of the world's highest Orthodox cathedral in Bucharest, the book brings together sociological and anthropological scholarship on eastern Christianity, secularization, urban change and nationalism. Reading postsocialism through the prism of religious change, the author argues that the emergence of political, entrepreneurial and intellectual figures after 1990 has happened ‘under the sign of the cross'. "Based on extensive ethnographic research, this book investigates the construction of the world's highest Orthodox cathedral in Bucharest, Romania. Through the notion of re-consecration, the book brings together sociological and anthropological scholarship on eastern Christianity, secularization, post-socialist urban change and nationalism in a vivid account of societal transformation. The book identifies the structures of political and economic power, which allowed its fast construction, and why the state wanted such a religious revival of the urban space"-- Provided by publisher Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Notes on the Text Abbreviations Introduction Part I — The Cathedral Chapter 1 — The Cathedral and the People around It Chapter 2 — The Actors Chapter 3 — Controversies and Predicaments Chapter 4 — Clergymen’s Authority and the Rise of Anticlericalism Part II — Churches, Crosses and a Mosque Chapter 5 — Why and How Orthodox Churches Multiply in Bucharest and in Romania Chapter 6 — One Symbol, Many Meanings: The Political Life of the Cross Conclusion Appendix 1 Appendix 2 References Index