School of History

 

profile image for Dr Philip Boobbyer

Dr Philip Boobbyer

Senior Lecturer

History (Rutherford S4.N1)

Philip Boobyer is a historian of 20th century Russia who specialises in the history of ideas, and in religious and moral experience in historical context.

Philip Boobbyer read Modern Languages at Trinity College Cambridge (1982-86), before doing an MA in Russian Areas Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC (1986-88), and a PhD in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics (1989-1992). After temporary appointments at the University of Westminster and the LSE, he came to the University of Kent in 1995. 

He is particularly interested in the history of ideas, and in religious and moral experience in historical context. His main research has been on 20th century Russian history, and his publications include S.L.Frank: The Life and Work of a Russian Philosopher 1870-1950 (Athens, Ohio, 1995; Moscow 2001) and Conscience, Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia (London, 2005). In the last of these, he argued that an alternative moral and spiritual culture emerged in late Soviet Russia that contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. He has also worked on aspects of 20th century religious history.

Dr Boobbyer teaches courses on European, Russian and Cold War history. He has an interactive approach to teaching in which students are encouraged to contribute to seminars as much as possible. He would be interested in supervising PhD students on Russian and European (including British) intellectual and religious history.

Alongside his involvement in the School of History, Boobbyer is an active member of the University of Kent’s Centre for the Study of Politics and Spirituality. Outside the university, he is involved in the international charity Initiatives of Change. He attends an Anglican church in Canterbury. To relax he plays 5-aside football, goes fishing (occasionally), enjoys reading (fiction and biography) and follows current affairs. He is married to Laura, and has a young son.

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Selected Publications

Books
Chapters in Books
  • ‘Moral Re-Armament in Africa in the Era of Decolonisation’, in B.Stanley (ed.) Missions, Nationalism and the End of Empire (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2004), p. 212-236.
  • ‘Russian Liberal Conservatism’, in G.Hosking and R.Service (eds) Russian Nationalism Past and Present (London, 1998), p. 35-55.
  • (Seminar report) ‘The Moral Lessons of Soviet History: the Experience of Opposition to Evil’. Religion, State and Society, 21, 3 & 4, 1993, pp. 357-361. Published in Russian in V.A.Kruglikov (ed.) Kongenial'nost' mysli, (Moscow, 1994) pp. 220-226.

Articles

  • 'B.H.Streeter and the Oxford Group', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 61, 3, 2010, pp. 541-567. [Download]
  • ‘Faith for an Ideological Age: The Moral and Religious Ideas of Semyon Frank and Frank Buchman’, in Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, 1/2, 2009. Also published in Russian. [Download] [Download Russian]
  • ‘Vladimir Bukovskii and Soviet Communism’, Slavonic and East European Review, 87, 3, 2009, pp. 452-487. [Download]
  • ‘The Cold War in the Plays of Peter Howard’, Contemporary British History, 19, 2, 2005, pp. 205-222.
  • ‘Dreams, reality and the price of dreaming: Reflections on Russia’s troubled transition to democracy’, The Way, 40, 1, January 2000, pp. 7-18. Published in Russian in Aktual’nye problemy Evropy/ Urgent Problems of Europe, No. 1. (Moscow, 2002), pp. 293-307.
  • ‘Moral Judgements and Moral Realism in History’, Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions, 3, 2, 2002, pp. 83-112.
  • ‘Truth-Telling, Conscience and Dissent in Late Soviet Russia: Evidence from Oral Histories’, European History Quarterly, 30, 4, 2000, pp. 553-585.
  • ‘Religious Experiences of the Soviet Dissidents’, Religion, State and Society, 27, 3/4, 1999, pp. 373-390.
  • ‘The Two Democracies: Semen Frank's Interpretation of the Russian Revolutions of 1917’, Revolutionary Russia, 6, 2, 1993, pp. 193-209.
  • ‘Soviet Perceptions of the South Pacific in the 1980s’, Asian Survey, XXVIII, 5, May 1988, pp. 573-593.

Short Articles and Reflections

  • ‘Prophets who saw through Lenin’, The Church Times, 4 December 2009, pp 19-20.
  • ‘Purity, freedom and the imagination’ (web commentary); http://www.iofc.org/node/42305.
  • ‘Stalin and the Terror’, new perspectives on Modern History, 12, 1, September 2006, pp. 16-19.
  • ‘Answering Dresden’s Call’, For a Change, August-September 2006, pp. 4-6; http://www.forachange.net/browse/article/2156.html.
  • ‘R.C.Mowat - Prophetic historian’ (obituary), The Independent, 10 May 2006, p. 45.
  • ‘Crisis of Civilisation in Europe’, For a Change, December/January 2005, pp. 20-21; http://www.hopeinthecities.org/node/24356.
  • ‘Where Eagles and Nightingales Dare: Does Doing God’s Will mean Losing Your Identity?’, For a Change, February/March 2004, p. 16-17.
  • ‘Red, Blue and Green’ (on Russian media), Times Higher Education Supplement, October 15, 1993, p. 18.

Compilations and Documents

  • 'Jack Winslow, The Morning Quiet Time (Arundel, 2005; reprint of When I Awake, London, 1938); introduction by Philip Boobbyer. pp. 4-7. Published in Russian as Utro s Bogom (Moscow, 2009) introduction pages 13-17.
  • Henry Drummond, Evangel’skie propovedi (Moscow, 2002); compiled and with an introduction by Philip Boobbyer, pp. 10-20.
  • Henry Drummond, The Changed Life (Guildford, 2000); compiled and with an introduction by Philip Boobbyer, pp 11-26.
  • Henry Drummond, The Greatest Thing in the World (Guildford, 1997); compiled and with an introduction by Philip Boobbyer, pp. 5-12.
  • ‘Perepiska P.B.Struve i S.L.Franka (1922-1925)’ (‘The correspondence of P.B.Struve and S.L.Frank’), Voprosy filosofii, 2, 1993, pp. 119-136.
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Last Updated: 01/02/2012