Pussies Rioting and Indecent Praying: Transforming Orthodoxy in the Company of Marcella Althaus-Reid

Abstract

This article proposes to engage Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayer in light of Marcella Althaus-Reid’s Indecent Theology and in dialogue with Orthodox theology and the prison letters exchanged by Nadhezhda Tolokonnikova, and Slavoj Zizek. First, there is a discussion of aspects of Althaus-Reid’s theology: caminata, libertinaje, and la vida loca. Second, the Punk Prayer – what I will call an Indecent Prayer – is presented in dialogue with Althaus-Reid’s theology and Orthodox theology. Third, the prison letters between Nadya and Slavoj are discussed in light of Althaus-Reid’s Indecent theology and Nadya Tolokonnikova’s Sly Christianity.