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 and other key stakeholders have navigated the labile epistemic and ontological landscape that has emerged in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rather than resigning themselves to this uncertainty, many of these actors—whether local or transnational, majority or minority, state-backed or state-repressed—have, varyingly, adapted to and actively worked to shape the post-Soviet religio-political order in ways that reflect their interests, commitments, and imaginaries. I am particularly interested in how such instances of religious transformation intersect with broader contests over historical memory, national identity, sovereignty, and legitimacy. These intersections, in turn, bring into focus fundamental questions about how societies reconstitute conceptions of belonging, meaning, and purpose in the long shadow of imperial and ideological collapse. 

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.