The issue of Christianity's origin in Soviet historiography of the 1940s: the interaction of "old" and "new" classics

The article focuses on the problem of interaction between "old" and "new" classics in the field of Soviet History through the example of A. B. Ranovich and R. Ju. Vipper's strategies of appropriation. The author shows interaction strategies of the historians in the intellectual and socio-cultural context of the epoch. The concept of "a classic" allows to determine the position of those historians in the structure of academic networks of the period. The author concludes that the historians tried to legitimize their views by using the authority of each other and strengthening their positions as scholars. A. B. Ranovich as a “classic” of Soviet school of Ancient History admitted the ideas of pre-revolutionary scholars which allowed the Soviet model of early Christianity's history to strengthen its position and the status of its creator. In turn the recognition of Soviet ideas by R. Ju. Vipper allowed him as a former emigrant to become stronger in the framework of Soviet academic space. Archive sources have particular importance for this research because they allow to draw conclusions about the relationship between A. B Ranovich and R. Ju. Vipper, which could not be obtained through the analysis of their published works.