![Stalin as a Theological Student](https://politicaltheology.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Stalin-reading-03s-600x600.jpg)
I am in the process of reading carefully through the works of the Joseph Stalin – or the ‘man of steel’, as he became known through his revolutionary code name. When I mention the fact that I am reading Stalin’s rather extensive works, people look surprised – surprised not because I am actually reading Stalin, but because they usually do not realise he wrote anything at all.
![Saint Iosif: Stalin and Religion](https://politicaltheology.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Stalin-icon-04-499x600.jpg)
…Stalin is unique among world communist leaders in at least one respect: he studied theology for five years at the Tiflis Spiritual Seminary, the training college for priests in the Russian Orthodox Church. He did so during a deeply formative time of his life, from the age of 15 to the verge of his 20th birthday (1894-1899). One of the best students, he was known for his intellect and phenomenal memory.