The Revolutions of 1789 and 1917 were defining moments for religious history in France, Russia, and even in Europe as a whole. Drawing on the self-portrayals of some of the most radical actors, historians have presented revolutionaries as enemies of the church, and men of the church either as counter-revolutionaries or as victims of revolution. Only recently have these conventional patterns of interpretation been questioned. In the French and in the Russian context, revolutions are seen as moments in which the sacred was redefined.
