ABSTRACT
In 1989, the Russian Patriarchate had secured permission to import one million New Testaments legally, the biggest such shipment ever, and he was now making further arrangements with the church leaders for shipping and distribution. The Russian Orthodox Church was cooperating with a western Protestant, primarily Pentecostal, mission society. This chapter shows the way in which the ongoing development of theological education is circumscribed by context, hence placing Russian theological education developments somewhat outside the framework of comparison for our own experts. In the new Russia of today, theological education illustrates both strongly negative and positive elements. The rapidly expanding system of theological schools promises more for the future than at any time since the mid-nineteenth century. Yet the problems are immense. What remains to be seen is the degree to which Protestant schools, now so heavily reliant on Western resources, can be contextually Slavic.
