However, what interested me most was not the fact that conservative Christians engage in ‘puritan’ dating practices. My interviewee realized how odd this might sound to my secular ear. There was him, his fiancée, and me there. My friend actually invited me the other day, so I went. “They often ask someone, their friend, to go on a date with them,” Aleksei explained, “so that lukavyi doesn't tempt them.
To illustrate what he meant by proper courtship, my interlocutor mentioned that although he and his fellow Baptists believe that sex and intimacy are permissible only within marriage, dating of engaged couples is seen as a good thing. My interviewee, a middle-aged man named Aleksei, 1 who was one of the leaders of the rehabilitation ministry and an ‘ex-addict’ ( byvshii narkoman) himself, was telling me about his views on the differences between men and women, their roles in the church and family, and the ‘proper’ Christian marriage. Petersburg, Russia, in a peaceful suburb with three big lakes. I was sitting for an interview in the beautiful verdant yard of the biggest Baptist church in St.
