RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE COURSE FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS AT THE PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT OF PFUR

The author shares the experience of teaching Russian literature to foreign students at the beginning of the Russian language studying. The specificity of students in PFUR consists in the fact that there are taught students who belong to cultures with different religious backgrounds.The article considers one of the teaching aspects - the introduction of the concepts of the Orthodox religion, required for the understanding of the literary process in Russia, the works by Russian writers according to the curriculum of the preparatory course in Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia. The author analyzes the religious paradigm in the Russian literature at different stages - beginning from Old Russian literature up to the second part of the XIXth century including the explanation of such notions as “hell” and “paradise”, the system of Christian mythology and «theomachy». Besides, the author offers the analyses of works by Russian writes citing some examples. The article will help the teacher to better explain the significance of the religious phenomena in literature in particular and in art in general.

religion, church, Orthodoxy, patriotism, official doctrine of patriotism, decembrism, atheism, Old Russian literature, «theomachy», secularism