Religious Studies on Nikita Obraztsov

Intergroup Connectivity and Religious Resilience: An Agent-Based Model of an Orthodox Religious Community

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Empty

What Makes Contemporary Atheism Different

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Appearance on 'Fiziki i Liriki' (Scientists and Humanists), Radio Mayak, 17 June 2026.

SPEECH Podcast (Litres): What Is Religion and How to Create One

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Interview for the Litres podcast on the nature of religion, quasi-religions, transhumanism, AI in spiritual life, and what it actually takes to start a new religion.

Does a Secular Course in Religious Studies Affect Religiosity? A Proposed Randomised Experiment

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Does a Secular Course in Religious Studies Affect Religiosity? A Proposed Randomised Experiment

Essay for the course “Introduction to Causality” Nikita Obraztsov, European University at St. Petersburg, 2025

Read the article →

Does Religion Exist? Three Approaches to Studying It

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Realism, phenomenology, and constructivism — three frameworks scholars use when approaching the phenomenon of religion. A breakdown with examples and criticism of each.

Interview for the project 'Where do Religious Scholars Work? Our Alumni'

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I recently gave an interview to my alma mater. We talked about science popularization, changing professions, and good books.

The Main Myth About Religion: Debunking Primordial Monotheism

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0000

What primordial monotheism is, where the idea came from, why it appeals to people, and why ethnographic data refutes it.

Godless: A Brief History of Atheism from Antiquity to the Present

Tue, 21 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

A survey lecture on the history of atheism and freethought: from ancient impiety to the New Atheists of the twenty-first century.

On Religion, Atheism, and Science: Interview for the Trickster Channel

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Interview for Alexander Bydantsev's channel. On religious studies as a science, the Brights movement, agnosticism, scientism, and the limits of the scientific method.

Agnosticism: Between Belief and Unbelief

Sat, 03 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

What agnosticism actually is, how it differs from atheism and scepticism, and why Bertrand Russell called himself an agnostic among colleagues but an atheist for public audiences.

Erasmus of Rotterdam: The Man Who Defined His Age

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

The life and ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam: from illegitimate son of a priest to the intellectual arbiter of Europe. A close reading of The Praise of Folly, the dispute with Luther on free will, and Soviet reception.