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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Orthodox Churches
In this groundbreaking, interdisciplinary study, Andrew Walker
White explores the origins of Byzantine ritual - the rites of the
early Greek Orthodox Church - and its unique relationship with
traditional theatre. Tracing the secularization of pagan theatre,
the rise of rhetoric as an alternative to acting, as well as the
transmission of ancient methods of musical composition into the
Byzantine era, White demonstrates how Christian ritual was in
effect a post-theatrical performing art, created by intellectuals
who were fully aware of traditional theatre but who endeavoured to
avoid it. The book explores how Orthodox rites avoid the aesthetic
appreciation associated with secular art, and conducts an in-depth
study (and reconstruction) of the late Byzantine Service of the
Furnace. Often treated as a liturgical drama, White translates and
delineates the features of five extant versions, to show how and
why it generated widely diverse audience reactions in both medieval
times and our own.
A refereed journal published annually by the Canadian Society for
Syriac Studies. This volume includes articles by Robert Kitchen,
Khalid Dinno, Nima Jamali, Amir Harrak, Vincent van Vossel and Tala
Jarjour.
An English translation of Arman Akopian's comprehensive
Introduction to Aramean and Syriac Studies, from the earliest
appearances of Arameans in the historical record, through to the
modern day.
Icons and the Liturgy, East and West: History, Theology, and
Culture is a collection of nine essays developed from papers
presented at the 2013 Huffington Ecumenical Institute's symposium
"Icons and Images," the first of a three-part series on the history
and future of liturgical arts in Catholic and Orthodox churches.
Catholic and Orthodox scholars and practitioners gathered at Loyola
Marymount University to present papers discussing the history,
theology, ecclesiology, and hermeneutics of iconology, sacred art,
and sacred space in the Orthodox and Catholic traditions. Nicholas
Denysenko's book offers two significant contributions to the field
of Eastern and Western Christian traditions: a critical assessment
of the status of liturgical arts in postmodern Catholicism and
Orthodoxy and an analysis of the continuity with tradition in
creatively engaging the creation of sacred art and icons. The
reader will travel to Rome, Byzantium, Armenia, Chile, and to other
parts of the world, to see how Christians of yesterday and today
have experienced divine encounters through icons. Theologians and
students of theology and religious studies, art historians,
scholars of Eastern Christian Studies, and Catholic liturgists will
find much to appreciate in these pages. Contributors: Nicholas
Denysenko, Robert Taft, S.J., Thomas M. Lucas, S.J., Bissera V.
Pentcheva, Kristin Noreen, Christina Maranci, Dorian Llywelyn,
S.J., Michael Courey, and Andriy Chirovsky.
The diaspora of scholars exiled from Russian in 1922 offered
something vital for both Russian Orthodoxy and for ecumenical
dialogue. Liberated from scholastic academic discourse, and living
and writing in new languages, the scholars set out to reinterpret
their traditions and to introduce Russian Orthodoxy to the West.
Yet, relatively few have considered the works of these exiles,
particularly insofar as they act as critical and constructive
conversation partners. This project expands upon the relatively
limited conversation between such thinkers with the most
significant Protestant theologian of the last century, Karl Barth.
Through the topic and in the spirit of sobornost, this project
charters such conversation. The body of Russian theological
scholarship guided by sobornost challenges Barth, helping us to
draw out necessary criticism while leading us toward unexpected
insight, and vice versa. This collection will not only illuminate
but also stimulate interesting and important discussions for those
engaged in the study of Karl Barth's corpus, in the Orthodox
tradition, and in the ecumenical discourse between East and West.
How do space and architecture shape liturgical celebrations within
a parish? In Theology and Form: Contemporary Orthodox Architecture
in America, Nicholas Denysenko profiles seven contemporary Eastern
Orthodox communities in the United States and analyzes how their
ecclesiastical identities are affected by their physical space and
architecture. He begins with an overview of the Orthodox
architectural heritage and its relation to liturgy and
ecclesiology, including topics such as stational liturgy, mobility
of the assembly, the symbiosis between celebrants and assembly,
placement of musicians, and festal processions representative of
the Orthodox liturgy. Chapters 2-7 present comparative case studies
of seven Orthodox parishes. Some of these have purchased their
property and built new edifices; Denysenko analyzes how
contemporary architecture makes use of sacred space and engages
visitors. Others are mission parishes that purchased existing
properties and buildings, posing challenges for and limitations of
their liturgical practices. The book concludes with a reflection on
how these parish examples might contribute to the future trajectory
of Orthodox architecture in America and its dialogical relationship
with liturgy and ecclesial identity.
The first critical editions and English translations of the two
Syriac recensions of a fascinating text which narrates the story of
a young Jewish child, Asher. After converting to Christianity and
taking the name 'Abda da-Msiha ('slave of Christ'), he is martyred
by his father. In a detailed introduction, Butts and Gross
challenge the use of this text by previous scholars as evidence for
historical interactions between Jews and Christians, reevaluating
its purpose and situating the story in its Late Antique Babylonian
context.
Over the last two decades, the American academy has engaged in a
wide-ranging discourse on faith and learning, religion and higher
education, and Christianity and the academy. Eastern Orthodox
Christians, however, have rarely participated in these
conversations. The contributors to this volume aim to reverse this
trend by offering original insights from Orthodox Christian
perspectives that contribute to the ongoing discussion about
religion, higher education, and faith and learning in the United
States. The book is divided into two parts. Essays in the first
part explore the historical experiences and theological traditions
that inform (and sometimes explain) Orthodox approaches to the
topic of religion and higher education-in ways that often set them
apart from their Protestant and Roman Catholic counterparts. Those
in the second part problematize and reflect on Orthodox thought and
practice from diverse disciplinary contexts in contemporary higher
education. The contributors to this volume offer provocative
insights into philosophical questions about the relevance and
application of Orthodox ideas in the religious and secular academy,
as well as cross-disciplinary treatments of Orthodoxy as an
identity marker, pedagogical framework, and teaching and research
subject.
This Introduction aims to provide basic guidance to important areas
of Syriac studies. The relevance of Syriac studies to a variety of
other fields is explored. A brief orientation to the history of
Syriac literature is offered, and Syriac is set within the context
of the other Aramaic dialects. A thorough discussion on important
tools (Instrumenta Studiorum) is presented; topics include
grammars, dictionaries, the Bible in Syriac, histories of Syriac
literature, bibliographical aids and relevant series, periodicals,
and encyclopedias. This Introduction should prove useful both for
the student beginning Syriac studies and for scholars working in
adjacent fields.
During Russia's late imperial period, Orthodox churchmen,
professionally trained theologians, and an array of social
commentators sought to give meaning to Russian history and its
supposed backwardness. Many found that meaning in asceticism. For
some, ascetic religiosity prevented Russia from achieving its
historical destiny. For others, it was the means by which the
Russian people would realize the Kingdom of God, thereby saving
Holy Russia and the world from the satanic forces of the West.
Patrick Lally Michelson's intellectual history of asceticism in
Russian Orthodox thought traces the development of these competing
arguments from the early nineteenth century to the early months of
World War I. He demonstrates that this discourse was an imaginative
interpretation of lived Orthodoxy, primarily meant to satisfy the
ideological needs of Russian thinkers and Orthodox intellectuals as
they responded to the socioeconomic, political, and cultural
challenges of modernity.
Surrounded by steep escarpments to the north, south and east,
Ethiopia has always been geographically and culturally set apart.
It has the longest archaeological record of any country in the
world. Indeed, this precipitous mountain land was where the human
race began. It is also home to an ancient church with a remarkable
legacy. The Ethiopian Church forms the southern branch of historic
Christianity. It is the only pre-colonial church in sub-Saharan
Africa, originating in one of the earliest Christian kingdoms-with
its king Ezana (supposedly descended from the biblical Solomon)
converting around 340 CE. Since then it has maintained its long
Christian witness in a region dominated by Islam; today it has a
membership of around forty million and is rapidly growing. Yet
despite its importance, there has been no comprehensive study
available in English of its theology and history. This is a large
gap which this authoritative and engagingly written book seeks to
fill. The Church of Ethiopia (or formally, the Ethiopian Orthodox
Tewahedo Church) has a recognized place in worldwide Christianity
as one of five non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches.As Dr Binns
shows, it has developed a distinctive approach which makes it
different from all other churches. His book explains why this
happened and how these special features have shaped the life of the
Christian people of Ethiopia. He discusses the famous rock-hewn
churches; the Ark of the Covenant (claimed by the Church and housed
in Aksum); the medieval monastic tradition; relations with the
Coptic Church; co-existence with Islam; missionary activity; and
the Church's venerable oral traditions, especially the discipline
of qene-a kind of theological reflection couched in a unique style
of improvised allegorical poetry. There is also a sustained
exploration of how the Church has been forced to re-think its
identity and mission as a result of political changes and upheaval
following the overthrow of Haile Selassie (who ruled as Regent,
1916-1930, and then as Emperor, 1930-74) and beyond.
"A History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria" presents a series of
biographies of the Coptic patriarchs from the beginning (St Mark)
to 849 AD. Ascribed to Sawirus b. Al-Muqaffa (died 987), Bishop of
Hermopolis Magna in Upper Egypt, many are in fact older Coptic
works translated into Arabic and edited by Sawirus. The events
recorded, which include the Muslim conquest of Egypt, the overthrow
of the last Umayad ruler Marwan II, Arab-Christian relations,
histories of the various countries, are often based upon eyewitness
accounts by contemporary authors. As such they provide an essential
source for the religious, economic and social life of Egypt in the
early Islamic period. This important text remains unavailable even
in many libraries. This edition contains both the Arabic text and
the English translation of B. Evetts, together with an Introduction
by leading contemporary scholar Hugh Kennedy.
An English translation of Andre Scrima's 1952 work on Apophatic
Anthropology. Pascalian in essence, the approach departs from the
Augustinian roots of Western Christian theology and develops a
Christian anthropology based on Eastern Orthodoxy. The endeavor of
a human being to understand oneself does not lead, as in the case
of Pascal, to identification with Jesus Christ's suffering, but
further, to an attempt of deification, theosis, in which the main
concept is Incarnation. This attempt opens to man the possibility
to conceive himself as interior to God. Man becomes therefore the
physical and metaphysical bridge between creation and the
uncreated, the only creature that bears the image of God.
Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, formerly Timothy Ware, is
unquestionably the best-known Orthodox theologian in the Western
world today. The papers collected in this volume are designed to
demonstrate the spread of his own interests and concerns and
therefore range from the Desert Fathers to modern church dialogue,
from patristics to church music, from the Philokalia to human
"priesthood". In the course of a long career he has touched the
lives of many people and there is a section of tributes concerned
with his role as spiritual father, teacher, writer, pastor,
theologian, and monk. In the epilogue the Metropolitan himself
reflects on his many years as a pilgrim to Mount Athos. Most of the
papers included in this volume were delivered at a conference
convened by the Friends of Mount Athos at Madingley Hall,
Cambridge, in 2015 in honour of Metropolitan Kallistos's eightieth
birthday.
It is October 1592. Christopher Marlowe, the most accomplished
playwright in London, has written The Massacre at Paris for his
company, the Lord Admiral's Men. Bubonic plague has hit outlying
parishes, forcing theaters to close and postponing the season.
Ordinarily, the Rose Theatre would debut Marlowe's work, but its
subject-the St. Bartholomew Day's Massacre-is unpleasant and
mightinflame hostilities against Catholics and their sympathizers,
such as merchants on whom trade depends. A new company, the Lord
Strange's Men, boasts a young writer, William Shakespeare, who is
said to have several barnburners in the queue. A competition is
called to decide which company will reopen the theaters. Who will
most effectively represent the nation's ideals and energies, its
humor and grandeur? One troupe will gain supremacy, primarily for
literary but also for cultural, religious, and political reasons.
Orthodox Christian theology is often presented as the direct
inheritor of the doctrine and tradition of the early Church. But
continuity with the past is only part of the truth; it would be
false to conclude that the eastern section of the Christian Church
is in any way static. Orthodoxy, building on its patristic
foundations, has blossomed in the modern period. This volume
focuses on the way Orthodox theological tradition is understood and
lived today. It explores the Orthodox understanding of what
theology is: an expression of the Church's life of prayer, both
corporate and personal, from which it can never be separated.
Besides discussing aspects of doctrine, the book portrays the main
figures, themes and developments that have shaped Orthodox thought.
There is particular focus on the Russian and Greek traditions, as
well as the dynamic but less well-known Antiochian tradition and
the Orthodox presence in the West.
Orthodox Christians today have no lack of resources on monastic
spirituality. And yet startlingly little has been done to
critically engage the monastic tradition and adapt its ancient
wisdom for the Orthodox faithful living in today's complex society.
A Layman in the Desert aims to bridge this crucial gap. Working
with the Conferences of St John Cassian, Opperwall constructs a
kind of relationship handbook that shows us how the desert saints
of old can help us build healthy, Christ-centered relationships
with our spouses, children, friends, and coworkers.
St. Porphyry, one of the best known elders in modern Greece, having
direct experience of God and a whole life devoted to the guidance
of his spiritual children, left precious speeches. The present
edition offers important excerpts along with notes that explain
Porphyry's thinking. Porphyry emphasizes the secrecy that fits the
divine love, the sensitivity and confidence, the awareness,
devoutness, freedom and mildness of faith, when life becomes a
prayer, realizing the identity of Christ, that "He is our friend,
our brother, He is everything good and nice. He is Everything, but
He is a friend and he shouts... 'we are brothers... I'm not holding
hell in my hand, I'm not threatening you, I love you, I want you to
enjoy life together with me."
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