Background
Billington, James Hadley was born on June 1, 1929 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Nelson and Jane (Coolbaugh) Billington.
("A rich and readable introduction to the whole sweep of R...)
"A rich and readable introduction to the whole sweep of Russian cultural and intellectual history from Kievan times to the post-Khruschev era." - Library Journal. Illustrations, references, index.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0844667544/?tag=2022091-20
( This book traces the origins of a faith--perhaps the fa...)
This book traces the origins of a faith--perhaps the faith of the century. Modern revolutionaries are believers, no less committed and intense than were Christians or Muslims of an earlier era. What is new is the belief that a perfect secular order will emerge from forcible overthrow of traditional authority. This inherently implausible idea energized Europe in the nineteenth century, and became the most pronounced ideological export of the West to the rest of the world in the twentieth century. Billington is interested in revolutionaries--the innovative creators of a new tradition. His historical frame extends from the waning of the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the beginnings of the Russian Revolution in the early twentieth century. The theater was Europe of the industrial era; the main stage was the journalistic offices within great cities such as Paris, Berlin, London, and St. Petersburg. Billington claims with considerable evidence that revolutionary ideologies were shaped as much by the occultism and proto-romanticism of Germany as the critical rationalism of the French Enlightenment. The conversion of social theory to political practice was essentially the work of three Russian revolutions: in 1905, March 1917, and November 1917. Events in the outer rim of the European world brought discussions about revolution out of the school rooms and press rooms of Paris and Berlin into the halls of power. Despite his hard realism about the adverse practical consequences of revolutionary dogma, Billington appreciates the identity of its best sponsors, people who preached social justice transcending traditional national, ethnic, and gender boundaries. When this book originally appeared The New Republic hailed it as "remarkable, learned and lively," while The New Yorker noted that Billington "pays great attention to the lives and emotions of individuals and this makes his book absorbing." It is an invaluable work of history and contribution to our understanding of political life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765804719/?tag=2022091-20
(The history of modern revolutions is the story of people ...)
The history of modern revolutions is the story of people in the grip of ideas and beliefs. In this masterful work, James H. Billington traces the course of the revolutionary faith from its earliest origins in occult Freemasonry to the allegedly "scientific" Marxism of today. Through brilliant portraits of the clashing case of characters that populated this centuries-long drama, he shows how two of the three ideals of the French Revolution-equality and fraternity-split apart and became the founding tenets of two separate revolutionary traditions. The first, equality, became the base for the vision of a transnational society free of class distinctions; while the second, fraternity, did the same for the vision-always more powerful and popular-of the nation and its brotherhood of blood. Both had their heroes and madmen, philosophers and adventurers; and both degenerated from their original dream of transcendence and glory to their twentieth-century denouements in totalitarian tyranny. This panoramic history reveals the dynamic role of symbols and songs as well as the surprising origins of words like "communism." The scene moves from the cafes of Paris to the opera houses of Italy and on to a technological institute in St. Petersburg. The key actors include forgotten figures like Bonneville, Barmby, and Radchenko alongside the more familiar Saint-Just, Marx, and Lenin.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/046502405X/?tag=2022091-20
(When the Soviet communist empire was overthrown by the Ru...)
When the Soviet communist empire was overthrown by the Russians themselves in August 1991, the change was more clearly anticipated by humanistic students of creativity than by economic and political scientists surrounded by statistics and information. Does the Russian pattern of creativity provide any hints as to how the Russians might solve problems today? Having borrowed the democratic political model of their erstwhile American enemy, will they be able to create a distinctive Russian variant that can endure? Or will they end up destroying their own experiment at accountable, constitutional government and returning to their long tradition of authoritarianism? The Face of Russia-a companion book to the corresponding PBS series-addresses these questions. This is a dazzling and forward-looking history of the Russian people as told through their art-from one of the world's great experts on Russian culture. The story covers eight hundred years of Russian creativity, and introduces us to the new art forms that burst onto the Russian scene and became the vehicles for expressing the creative aspirations of an age as well as the enduring Russian quest to find salvation and entertainment in art.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1575001047/?tag=2022091-20
( This classic, now in paperback edition, introduces the ...)
This classic, now in paperback edition, introduces the reader to the most distinctive aspect of Pentecostal theology--baptism in the Holy Spirit. James Dunn sees water-baptism as only one element in the New Testament pattern of conversion and initiation. The gift of the Spirit, he believes, is the central element.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0840130651/?tag=2022091-20
( This classic, now in paperback edition, introduces the ...)
This classic, now in paperback edition, introduces the reader to the most distinctive aspect of Pentecostal theology--baptism in the Holy Spirit. James Dunn sees water-baptism as only one element in the New Testament pattern of conversion and initiation. The gift of the Spirit, he believes, is the central element.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0840130651/?tag=2022091-20
Billington, James Hadley was born on June 1, 1929 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of Nelson and Jane (Coolbaugh) Billington.
Bachelor with highest honors, Princeton University, 1950. Doctor of Philosophy, Oxford University, 1953. Doctor of Letters (honorary), Oxford University, 2002.
Doctor of Letters (honorary), Lafayette College, 1981. Doctor of Letters (honorary), University Pittsburgh, 1988. Doctor of Letters (honorary), Duke University, 1995.
Doctor of Letters (honorary), William & Mary, 2005. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Le Moyne College College, 1982. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Rhode Island College, 1982.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Catholic University America, 1983. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), New York University, 1987. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Virginia Theological Seminary, 1990.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Williams College, 1991. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Hood College, 1992. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), University Scranton, 1992.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), University Albany, 1993. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Georgetown University, 1993. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Bates College, 1993.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), American University, 1995. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Mount Holyoke College, 1995. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), University San Diego, 1998.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Lawrence University, 1999. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Washington College, 1999. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), University South, 1999.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Quinnipiac University, 2000. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Carthage College, 2002. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), St. Norbert College, 2003.
Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Jewish Theological Seminary, 2005. Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), St. Mary's College, 2005. HHD (honorary), Furman University, 1986.
HHD (honorary), Ball State University, 1988. HHD (honorary), Russian State University Humanities, 2001. Doctor in Public Service (honorary), George Washington University, 1990.
Doctor of Laws (honorary), Dartmouth College, 1990. Doctor of Laws (honorary), University Notre Dame, 1995. Doctor in Humane Sciences (honorary), University Tblisi, Georgia, 1999.
Doctor of Education (honorary), Montreat College, 2000. Doctor (honorary), Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow, 2001. Master of Business Administration (honorary), Jones International University, 2005.
Instructor history Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1957-1958, fellow Russian Research Center, 1958-1959, assistant professor history, 1958-1961. Associate professor history Princeton University, New Jersey, 1962-1964, professor, 1964-1973. Director Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, 1973-1987.
Library. of Congress, since 1987. Chairman Board Foreign Scholarships (Fulbright program), 1971-1973, member 1973-1976. Vice-chairman Atlantic Council's Working Group on the Successor Generation, 1982-1986.
Trustee St. Alban's School, 1979-1982. Director American Association for Advancement of Slavic Studies, 1968-1971. Special consultant to Chase Manhattan Bank on East-West Matters, 1971-1973.
Visiting research professor to Institute History of Academy of Sciences of Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics in Moscow, 1966-1967, University Helsinki, 1960-1961, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1985, 88. Visiting lecturer to various universities in Europe and Asia. Founder Woodrow Wilson Quarterly, 1976.
1st lieutenant United States Army, 1953-1956.
(When the Soviet communist empire was overthrown by the Ru...)
( This classic, now in paperback edition, introduces the ...)
( This classic, now in paperback edition, introduces the ...)
("A rich and readable introduction to the whole sweep of R...)
(The history of modern revolutions is the story of people ...)
(Biography As Theology: How Life Stories Can Remake Today'...)
( This book traces the origins of a faith--perhaps the fa...)
Author: Mikhailovsky and Russian Populism, 1958, The Icon and the Axe: An Interpretive History of Russian Culture, 1966, (Serbian translation, 1988, Japanese translation, 2000, Russian translation, 2001), The Arts of Russia, 1970, Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, 1980, (Italian translation, 1986), Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope, Moscow, August 1991, 1992, The Face of Russia, 1998 (Russian translation, 2001). Writer, host: (3-part television series) The Face of Russia, 1998. Member advisory board Foreign Affairs, 1974-1992, Theology Today, 1974-1984.Script writer and host of Humanities Film Forum, 1973. Contributor chapters to books, numerous articles to professional journals.
Trustee John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Center Theological Inquiry, National Building Museum, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, American Folklife Center. Board regents The National Library Medicine. Member American Philosophical Society, American Academy Arts & Sciences, Russian Academy Sciences, Cosmos Club, Phi Beta Kappa.
Married Marjorie Anne Brennan, June 22, 1957. Children: Susan Billington Harper, Anne Billington Fischer, James Hadley, Junior, Thomas Keator.