THE EARLY RUS BOOKMEN’ MENTALITY: NEW FOCUSES
The author uses the monograph by A.V. Laushkin on ethnoconfessional ideas concerning the peoples neighboring to pre-Mongol and early Mongol Rus as occasion for his own reflections. The article examines the concepts regarding the use of church precepts in the area of interconfessional contacts of that time, the vocabulary of self-identification and separation from “strangers” inherent in the original Russian texts, providential models of describing relations with other peoples in these texts and their biblical parallels. The article characterizes the techniques employed by the author of the monograph for his analysis of the language of conceptualization of the early Russian chroniclers, in particular, the use of the “vocabulary of rejection” applied to neighbors of other faiths, and the “vocabulary of self-identification” opposite to the “vocabulary of rejection” in terms of its evaluative content and applicable to compatriots. Close attention is given to the assessment of Laushkin’s approach to the study of the religious imagery of the chroniclers’ language, its inherent eschatological dimension and providentialism, allusions to the Old Testament history (in particular, the Babylonian captivity). In his study, A.V. Laushkin provides a detailed gradation of the nuances of providential interpretations of Russian relations with neighboring cultures. This systematization is perceived as justifying itself while analyzing the Russian medieval mentality. The main critical point is the overloaded structure of the book. Its problematicthematic systematization overlaps with chronological one, and this overlapping considerably complicates the perception of the material and makes it accessible to a rather small circle of scholars. The apparent advantages of the book are two principal conclusions convincingly proved on the basis of extensive primary sources. The first conclusion is that the way neighboring peoples were presented in the Russian chronicles depended on the Russian relations with them and there were no stereotypes associated with their religions or life’s particularities. The second one is that the mentality of medieval Russian intellectuals was based on the providential understanding of the past, present, and future.