John D. Basil, Distinguished Professor of History, retired but still active. PhD granted at the University of Washington (1966), passing written and oral examinations in Medieval and Modern Russian History, Modern Chinese History and Western Medieval Legal History. A doctoral dissertation and first published book were written on the Menshevik Movement during the revolutionary events in Petrograd, Russia, in 1917. A second book was published on church-state relations in late imperial Russia in 2005 following research in Russia, Italy, Germany and the United States. A vita listing all other publications, as well as academic and administrative activities, can be obtained from the Department of History, University of South Carolina.

Present research interest is church-state relations in post-Soviet Russia. Two articles and various reviews on the topic have been published since 2004. Additional research topics are in the general area of religious ideas in Europe and the United States since the French Revolution. Principle academic hobbies are American politics and Classical Latin.

Professor Basil no longer teaches on a regular basis but would be willing to work with students who are reading or conducting research in most areas of Russian History (since the reign of Peter the Great), in the History of Religion, and in some topics in the History of Law.