Roland Clark wins George Blazyca Prize for 'Sectarianism and Renewal in 1920s Romania: The Limits of Orthodoxy and Nation-Building'
BASEES is delighted to announce that Roland Clark (University of Liverpool) has won the George Blazyca Prize 2021 for his work Sectarianism and Renewal in 1920s Romania: The Limits of Orthodoxy and Nation-Building (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).
Roland Clark's Sectarianism and Renewal in 1920s Romania presents a compelling case study of nation-building and both organized and "unofficial" religious faith in a country developing its own identity in the post-First World War period. The judges felt that Clark knitted together the changes in Romanian civil society with an expansion of sectarianism in religion, encompassing schisms within the Romanian Orthodox Church and influences of Protestantism and Catholicism outside it. The author paints a vivid picture of vibrancy and variety, and his argument that the Orthodox Church could only ‘renew’ by taking on the ideas of its critics is well made. The effective and engaging style of this work leads the reader through the different sects, influences and personalities involved, from the Repenters and Missionaries to The Lord’s Army and The Stork’s Nest, offering a spiritual panorama across a multiplicity of sects more variegated than the well-known dominance of the Orthodox Church and its proximity to government would lead one to expect. The judges felt that this was a scholarly, well-researched and well-written work, and a worthy winner of the Blazyca Prize.