This review discusses a 2018 collection of Vladimir Bogoras's works on shamanism, prepared by Marianna Shakhnovich and Ekaterina Teryukova. It summarizes the book's contents and examines its design, focusing on the scholars who compiled the archival materials. The discussion covers Bogoras's main ideas about the religious consciousness of Siberia's indigenous population. A comparative analysis of his early and later works shows that his core concept of animism remained unchanged, though his later writings show traces of political pressure and Marxist censorship.
Secular Buddhism is a contemporary movement that blends Western humanism, atheism, agnosticism, and scientific rationalism with Buddhist philosophy and meditation. It emerged from 20th-century dialogues between Buddhism and Western scientific and philosophical thought. Key figures include Robert Wright, Sam Harris, Dana Nourie, and Stephen Batchelor. The movement is contrasted with positions of other Buddhist schools, as seen in debates and open correspondence. Secular Buddhism is still forming its core ideas, apologetics, and applications, ranging from popularizing secular meditation (mindfulness) to developing humanist-oriented value systems in Western Buddhism.