ABSTRACT
On the emerging post-Soviet religious spectrum, the Nenets embraced fundamentalist Baptist Christianity over globally popular neo-Pentecostal movements. By choosing a strict, anti-modern path, the Baptist “narrow path” doctrine distinguished Nenets converts both as indigenous people and as believers apart from wider society. This choice resonated with historical experiences and sociocultural anxieties, while the Soviet legacy—embedded in Baptist Brethren discipline, hierarchy, and oppositional stance toward the state—mirrored Nenets colonial histories. Framing religious identity within a Soviet-shaped temporal order, Baptists offered a retrotopian vision where spiritual renewal aligned with continuity, stability, and moral order. Their anti-modern ethos fostered distinct religious and political agency, turning Nenets conversion into a form of “ritualized resistance” against the Russian state and colonial legacy.
