Alexander John Paul Lutz

I am an incoming Master of Arts in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (MAERES) student at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. I also hold a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from Harvard Divinity School, where my area of focus was Religion, Ethics, and Politics, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Mercer University, where I majored in International Affairs, Political Science, and History, and minored in Religion and Public Diplomacy.

I am interested in the politics of religious transformation in the post-Soviet space. My research explores how religious actors—be they local or transnational, indigenous or introduced, majority or minority, state-backed or state-repressed—and other important stakeholders in religious affairs within state and society have navigated the labile epistemic and ontological landscape that has emerged in the wake of the collapse of state socialism, adapting to (and actively working to shape) the post-Soviet religio-political order. I am particularly interested in how these processes intersect with—how they inform and are informed by—broader debates and contests over historical memory, national identity, sovereignty, and legitimacy, and even more fundamentally, questions about governance, belonging, meaning, and purpose.

Ultimately, I hope to better understand the religious dimensions of conflict through my work. Doing so will prepare me to serve as a more effective peacebuilder and policymaker in the future.

You can learn more about me here.