12 May 2023
The REFORC Book Award 2023 was won by Nataliia Sinkevych. Who is she and where is her book about? You can read it in the interview we had with her.
Nataliia, can you tell us about the book you wrote?
This book is a publication of a doctoral thesis “The Religiosæ Kijovienses Cryptæ by Johannes Herbinius (1675): A Description of Kyiv and Its “Sacral Space” in Early Modern Multiconfessional Discourse”, defended 17 November 2020 at the Karl Eberhard University of Tübingen (Germany). Before get started to write my doctoral thesis, I had for a long time been working at Kyiv-Pechersk Museum in Kyiv (Ukraine). Thus, I had already defined research questions and even drown answers to some of them. My previous knowledge of the Kyivan Orthodox tradition helped me a lot. However, I was really impressed how it was transformed by Johannes Herbinius to reach the German Lutheran audience. The field of knowledge transfer was completely new to me and I am very grateful to my doctoral supervisors for discovering it.
What was you going to discover while doing research?
The Religiosæ Kijovienses Cryptæ is examined within three relevant historical contexts: confessional tolerance in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, knowledge transfer in early modern Europe, and the rise of the Ruthenian national and confessional identity. Research belongs to a field that is at the junction of church and interconfessional relational history; social, political, and intellectual history; comparative theology; regional studies; and cultural anthropology.
One of your conclusions is: “Herbinius’ book is the best possible proof that interconfessional relations concerned not only conflicts, but also a mutual interest in the religion of others.” Could you elaborate on this?
One of the specific features of Ukrainian history is the interaction of this country of several religions and Christian denominations. Such situation is especially actual for XVII century, when on the territory of Ukraine coexisted Catholic, Uniate, Orthodox, Protestant, Judaic and Muslim religions. The reality of nowadays is even richer and more complex: Ukraine is a multireligious state that has even been called the “laboratory of Oikumene”. My book has demonstrated it vividly. Despite the author’s clear Lutheran self-identification, the Religiosæ Kijovienses Cryptæ contains very little religious polemic. Herbinius, being deeply connected with the Protestant world while at the same time living in multi-cultural and multi-religious Vilnius, tried to maneuver between religious tolerance and confessional loyalty, and adherence to the ideas of the German Reformation and a personal friendship with the Ruthenian Orthodox clergy. He demonstrated his readiness for theological discussion on the articles of faith, but also his deep interest in Orthodox rites, Church customs, and sacral life.
Who is Nataliia Sinkevych?
I have been raised scholarly in both academical milieus: German and Ukrainian and am a classical example of a “mixed identity.” Working at the Univesrsity of München, I am very troubled by the war in Ukraine and the fate of scholarly institutions there. Most of them are continuing to work in the awful circumstances of war and Russian atrocities. Keeping that in mind, I am very thankful to the “Kyivan Christianity” publishing house, its coordinator Ivan Almes, the proof-readers, and the chief editor Liliya Berezhnaya. This book would also not have been possible without the years of support by my family. I sincerely thank all of them.
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Thank you very much for the interview, Nataliia! Wishing you all the best for your continued research.
