On the border of the religious and the secular: Russian tolkienism as a fictional religion

The paper treats the phenomenon of so-called fictional religions in the context of contemporary post-secularism theories. Particular attention is paid to M.A. Davidsen's concept of commentitious (fictional) religion, which serves as a methodological basis for considering the Russian role-playing movement of Tolkienists as a fictional religion. The paper analyzes M.A. Davidsen’s concept of post-traditional religious field and fictional religions as its typical feature. A brief history of Russian Tolkienism is given in the paper, its peculiarities are studied in the context of both sociological, psychological and religious theories. It is argued in the paper that Russian Tolkienism can be considered a fictional religion because, based on the literary text, it goes far beyond it, begins to fulfill a number of functions of religion and brings invented ritual practices into reality.