Since I am teaching away once more here in Moscow I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what is happening to Protestant Christianity in this country— namely that it is spreading like kudzu in all directions. It is especially gratifying to see so many of my students over here leading the charge. I have time to speak of only one example.
In 1995 Alexander Tsouserov and his wife Natasha came to Asbury Seminary to study and prepare to go be an important teacher and now the dean of Moscow Biblical Seminary. He was converted in a remarkable fashion in 1992 having been a former KGB agent here in Russia. He was an exceptional student at Asbury and I along with others persuaded him that he needed to do doctoral work in NT. We sent him to St. Andrews in Scotland where he did a top drawer degree, graduating last summer in 2004. He is now deaning and training many for minister here in Moscow, and his wife is leading the charitable arm of the seminary. It is amazing to see the transformation of Moscow and the church here, formerly dominated by the Orthodox Church with all its political connections and long coattails.
The other interesting thing to report is my discovery of so much remarkable Russian Christian Art— no not icons. I am talking about the art of 19th century and early 20th century Russian painters like Ge, Ivanov, Pollenov, and Kramskoi. There paintings of Jesus and the Gospel scenes rival anything in Western art, but their work is hardly known in North America. I would commend their work and recommend the large book on Three Centuries of Russian Art— which is in English/ The rest of the good books on these artists are in Russian.