russian spiritual tradition through the conception of «the confessionalization field»

Confessionalization theory appeared in the second half of the twentieth century to describe the history of the German Protestantism in XVI-XVII centuries. The theory infers the gradual isolation of the denomination religiously, culturally, socially and politically. Later, this same theory was used to describe the same process in the catholic countries. Today, the scientific community is actively discussing the possibility of an «orthodox» confessionalization. Further to this discussion, the author tries to clarify this theory. Firstly, if the straight and narrow sense the process of «confessionalization» (especially in the sense of «a new symbiosis between church and state institutions») is a particular modern history process and the product of modernization, then in a broader sense, in the sense of a strong commitment to the breeding of the traditions (not at all possible levels, but only on the mental or cultural), this process can be extended to other periods, and other denominations. Secondly, the very need of confessionalization (no matter how consistent is its realization), arises only in the common cultural fi eld where the borders should be raised. The need for this is confessionalization. The above mentioned theory is presented in this article on the example of the Russian Church tradition. Particularly, the confessionalization concept can explain the emergence of theological and philosophical ideas introduced by the fi rst Slavophiles.