From syncretism to Christianization: Historiography approaches to the religiosity of the early medieval Bulgars

Abstract

It is a review of the book «Religions in Pagan Bulgaria (Historiographical Approaches 1980–2015)» by the Bulgarian medievalist Tsvetelin Stepanov (Stepanov, Tsvetelin. Religii v ezicheska Bălgariya (Istoriografski podhodi 1980–2015). Sofiya: Paradigma Publ., 2017. 255 p.). Ts. Stepanov’s new work represents the religious situation in the early medieval Bulgaria through the analysis of the Bulgarian historiography of 1980–2015 on a broad comparative historical background and in the light of modern methodological approaches. The reviewer considers Ts. Stepanov’s book as an indicator of the methodological transition from the «revolutionary» model of knowledge development according to T. Kuhn to the «program» model of its growth following I. Lakatos. The reviewer believes that such a transition is necessary for the research of the religious situation in the territory where in the 7th–9th centuries there was a complex interaction between the remnants of the autochthonous and alien population groups, including the early Bulgars and Slavs, which resulted in the creation of the early medieval Bulgarian state.