VERA SHEVZOV

Vera Shevzov, Associate Professor of Religion, began teaching at Smith College in 1994. She received her B.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Yale University. Supported at various stages by the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, the National Endowment of the Humanities, and the Social Science Research Council, her research has focused on issues related to the notions of sacred community and collective religious identity, lived Christianity, women in Christianity, Christianity and visual culture, Christianity and historical memory, as well as Christianity and ethnic and national identities. The geographic area of research—Russia—is a region where western and eastern forms of Christianity have historically met (and sometimes collided). Her book, Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution (Oxford, 2004), was awarded the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize of the American Society of Church History. Currently, she is writing a book on the image of Mary in modern and contemporary Russia. Recent publications include contributions to volume six of A People’s History of Christianity (Augsburg Fortress Press, 2007), Sacred Stories: Religion and Spirituality in Modern Russia (Indiana University Press, 2007), and Letters from Heaven: Popular Religion in Russia and the Ukraine (Toronto University Press, 2006).   

Professor Shevzov teaches courses in Christian Studies and regularly participates in team-taught departmental courses on World Religions and Approaches to the Study of Religion.  Offerings have included:

• The Making of Christianity
• Christianity and Culture, 1000-1800
• The Image and Body of Christ, East and West
• Mary: Images and Cults
• Eastern Christianity
• Contemporary Christianity: Crisis and Reflection
• Russian Religious Thought and Spirituality
• Christianity and Visual Culture

Phone: 413-585-3686

Building: Neilson Library 4/04

E-mail: vshevzov@email.smith.edu