<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In my paper I discuss alcoholics in the Russian Baptist rehabilitation ministry by comparing them to drug addicts. In the outside world, as well as in the early stages of the rehabilitation program, alcoholics and illicit drug abusers are perceived as different cultural groups. However, during the program, rehabilitants learn Russian Baptist dogma and theology, and soon afterwards the distinction becomes obsolete for them. I address narratives of distinction and the Russian Baptist response to them. Then I reconstruct the Russian Baptist theory of addiction to demonstrate why alcoholism and substance dependence are not regarded as a problem, but rather as consequences of the real problem, which is a life in sin.</p></abstract>

In my paper I discuss alcoholics in the Russian Baptist rehabilitation ministry by comparing them to drug addicts. In the outside world, as well as in the early stages of the rehabilitation program, alcoholics and illicit drug abusers are perceived as different cultural groups. However, during the program, rehabilitants learn Russian Baptist dogma and theology, and soon afterwards the distinction becomes obsolete for them. I address narratives of distinction and the Russian Baptist response to them. Then I reconstruct the Russian Baptist theory of addiction to demonstrate why alcoholism and substance dependence are not regarded as a problem, but rather as consequences of the real problem, which is a life in sin.

“I’m Not Like Most of You Here, I’m Just an Alcoholic”: A Russian Baptist Theory of Addiction

Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 35, Helsinki 00014,

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In my paper I discuss alcoholics in the Russian Baptist rehabilitation ministry by comparing them to drug addicts. In the outside world, as well as in the...

“I’m Not Like Most of You Here, I’m Just an Alcoholic”: A Russian Baptist Theory of Addiction

Published Online: Dec 30, 2016

Page range: 19 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0008

Keywords
alcoholism, addiction, rehabilitation, Russian Baptist Church

© 2016 Igor Mikeshin, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

“I’m Not Like Most of You Here, I’m Just an Alcoholic”: A Russian Baptist Theory of Addiction

Published Online: Dec 30, 2016

Page range: 19 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jef-2016-0008

Keywordsalcoholism, addiction, rehabilitation, Russian Baptist Church

© 2016 Igor Mikeshin, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
alcoholism, addiction, rehabilitation, Russian Baptist Church