I would like to present to your attention the contemporary work of Ukrainian scholars in religious studies — the research staff of the Department of Religious Studies at the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
AN OPEN LETTER TO FOREIGN COLLEAGUES IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Dear Colleagues!
I would like to present to your attention the contemporary work of Ukrainian scholars in religious studies — the research staff of the Department of Religious Studies at the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other members of the Ukrainian Association of Researchers of Religion. For us, it is vital not only that you become acquainted with our academic achievements, but also that you understand why, how, and for what purpose we work.
What does it look like, to perform the academic work of a religious studies scholar in Ukraine during the war? This Letter will not be about casualties and traumas, fear and pain, losses and stresses, anger or hatred. Not because none of us experience them, but because we possess something else — something that allows us to work not less, but more, and with even greater inspiration.
We conceptualize the phenomenon at the core of our academic productivity as "Yara Syla" (Vital Power) — a constructive energy of creating life, senses, and beauty, which is stronger than the forces of destruction. This vital power is inherent, although to varying degrees, to many people, and not only to Ukrainians, as has been repeatedly demonstrated, especially by the history of the Euro-Atlantic cultural and civilizational space, particularly in times of challenges and upheavals. It just so happened that Ukrainians are currently at the epicenter of the struggle for the preservation and adequate development of their socio-cultural space as a part of this civilization. Therefore, many Ukrainians (though not everyone) realize this vital power within ourselves and we know that it is also inherent to our colleagues who share common civilizational values, and we hope for the actualization of this power within them. Today, the embodiers of this vital power — from representatives of the Ukrainian academic community to millions of Ukrainians in their places, at the front and in the rear — have formed that critical mass which successfully resists Russian military aggression. This vital power, creative and life-affirming, inspires us to defend justice and restore the violated legal order. It is precisely this impulse that transforms the challenges of war for us into inspiration.
For us, as academics, our research work is our "Srodna Pratsia" (Congenial Labor) according to H. Skovoroda. It is impossible to grow weary of the work one loves — it is not a remedy for stress, but the ultimate preventative measure against it. Our congenial labor elevates and multiplies the vitality of our vital power for the sake of preserving and creating senses. Skovoroda’s concept of "srodna pratsia" is fundamentally democratic: it is inherent to every individual who has found inner harmony with his or her calling — from an academic researcher to a farmer. During the war, this phenomenon has operated through so many of our people and colleagues who identified themselves deeply with their professional roles, supplementing them with heartfelt volunteering and transforming resilience into a daily norm.
Ukrainian religious studies scholars are particularly fortunate, as we are not "shoemakers who go without shoes." Our profession has provided us with a religious studies lens — a profound understanding of how faith, values, and senses sustain an individual in times of upheavals. Instead of wasting resources on destructive emotions, we perceive threats rationally, preserving our potential for useful creativity. Studying the religious experience of humanity allows us to apply constructive life strategies, guided by a principle that we, as researchers, observe at the intersection of rational effort and purposeful trust: "Do everything possible from your side. God will do the impossible." Our analysis is precisely that "possible" which we perform professionally and with genuine satisfaction.
The result of relying on such a triad (vital power, congenial labor, religious studies lens) is dozens of our published scientific studies dedicated to the research of the contemporary religious and church history of Ukraine, which unfolds in the confrontation of ideologies and armies, the decolonization efforts of our state, and the aggression of the "Russian World," as well as to the research of the potential of the heritage of our religious and legendary traditions, which are actualized as factors of protective psychological self-regulation and strategic informational agency of society. These works are a real-time fixation and analysis, utilizing personal field observations, of the place and role of the objects of religious research in the military-political and cultural-civilizational processes where Ukraine is on the frontier.
First and foremost, this includes a collective monograph “The discourse of war in the doctrines and practices of religious institutions: a contemporary Ukrainian context” by the research staff of the Department of Religious Studies, which identifies the attitude, including its practical manifestations, of various religious institutions and environments toward the Russian-Ukrainian war and the defense of the Motherland, and an individual monograph “Kyiv religious and ceremonial traditions, beliefs and amulets of the city for its protection: religious studies essays” dedicated to the research of Kyiv religious and ritual traditions, religious and legendary heroes, which in contemporary discourse are "called upon" to defend the city, Ukrainian identity, and the very existence of Ukrainians. To ensure the authentic and verified integration of these our works into the global scientific space, we have developed digital passports for them: “Digital Passport of the Collective Monograph ‘The discourse of war in the doctrines and practices of religious institutions: a contemporary Ukrainian context’” and “Digital Passport of the Scientific Publication ‘Kyiv religious and ceremonial traditions, beliefs and amulets of the city for its protection: religious studies essays’”. Our works are a living empirical base. We wrote them using the methodological technique of contextualization.
We propose that the international community view these works — as well as the phenomena of religious life in various existential circumstances — precisely through the prism of contextuality. Such an approach allows for the evaluation of phenomena taking into account the realities of their origin, current existence, and possible prospects. Our scientific achievements can help foreign colleagues form an objective understanding of the conditions under which religious processes in Ukraine unfold, how and for what purpose we study them, and what exactly provides us with the internal resource for active scientific search.
Sincerely,
Olga Nedavnya, Senior Researcher of the Department of Religious Studies at the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, UARR member, ORCID 0000-0003-4634-1137, Kyiv.
This Letter represents the leading experience of our academic community during the war. In view of wartime risks and the academic summer recess, the Letter is so far published on the author's own initiative, but it is open for signing by other Ukrainian religious studies scholars, as well as for expressions of solidarity from foreign colleagues via comments to this publication or any other public way during the distribution of this Letter.