|
Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Orthodox Churches
Orthodoxy has achieved a large scale revival in Russia following
the collapse of Communism. However, paradoxically, although there
is a high level of identification with Orthodoxy, there is in fact
a low level of church attendance. This book, based on in depth
ethnographic fieldwork, explores the social background and moral
attitudes of the "little flock" of believers who actively
participate in religious life. It reveals that the complex moral
beliefs of the faithful have a disproportionately high impact on
Russian society overall; that among the faithful there is a strong
emphasis on striving for personal perfection; but that also there
are strong collective ideas concerning religious nationalism and
the synergy between the secular and the religious.
This book analyses the discourses of Orthodox Christianity in
Western Europe to demonstrate the emerging discrepancies between
the mother Church in the East and its newer Western congregations.
Showing the genesis and development of these discourses over the
twentieth century, it examines the challenges the Orthodox Church
is facing in the modern world. Organised along four different
discursive fields, the book uses these fields to analyse the
Orthodox Church in Western Europe during the twentieth century. It
explores pastoral, ecclesiological, institutional and ecumenical
discourses in order to present a holistic view of how the Church
views itself and how it seeks to interact with other denominations.
Taken together, these four fields reveal a discursive vitality
outside of the traditionally Orthodox societies that is, however,
only partly reabsorbed by the church hierarchs in core Orthodox
regions, like Southeast Europe and Russia. The Orthodox Church is a
complex and multi-faceted global reality.Therefore, this book will
be a vital guide to scholars studying the Orthodox Church,
ecumenism and religion in Europe, as well as those working in
religious studies, sociology of religion, and theology more
generally.
Although much has been written on the making of art objects as a
means of engaging in creative productions of the self (most
famously Alfred Gell's work), there has been very little written on
Orthodox Christianity and its use of material within religious
self-formation. Eastern Orthodox Christianity is renowned for its
artistry and the aesthetics of its worship being an integral part
of devout practice. Yet this is an area with little ethnographic
exploration available and even scarcer ethnographic attention given
to the material culture of Eastern Christianity outside the
traditional 'homelands' of the greater Levant and Eastern Europe.
Drawing from and building upon Gell's work, Carroll explores the
uses and purposes of material culture in Eastern Orthodox Christian
worship. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork in a
small Antiochian Orthodox parish in London, Carroll focusses on a
study of ecclesiastical fabric but places this within the wider
context of Orthodox material ecology in Britain. This ethnographic
exploration leads to discussion of the role of materials in the
construction of religious identity, material understandings of
religion, and pathways of pilgrimatic engagement and religious
movement across Europe. In a religious tradition characterised by
repetition and continuity, but also as sensuously tactile, this
book argues that material objects are necessary for the continual
production of Orthodox Christians as art-like subjects. It is an
important contribution to the corpus of literature on the
anthropology of material culture and art and the anthropology of
religion.
This book explores the relationship between Orthodox religion and
politics in Eastern Europe, Russia and Georgia. It demonstrates how
as these societies undergo substantial transformation Orthodox
religion can be both a limiting and an enabling factor, how the
relationship between religion and politics is complex, and how the
spheres of religion and politics complement, reinforce, influence,
and sometimes contradict each other. Considering a range of
thematic issues, with examples from a wide range of countries with
significant Orthodox religious groups, and setting the present
situation in its full historical context the book provides a rich
picture of a subject which has been too often oversimplified.
Starting with the influence of the Philokalia in nineteenth-century
Russia, the book moves through the Slavophiles, Solovev, Florensky
in Russia and then traces the story through the Christian
intellectuals exiled from Stalin's Russia-Bulgakov, Berdyaev,
Florovsky, Lossky, Lot-Borodine, Skobtsova-and a couple of
theologians outside the Russian world: the Romanian Staniloae and
the Serbian Popovich, both of whom studied in Paris. Andrew Louth
then considers the contributions of the second generation Russians
- Evdokimov, Meyendorff, Schmemann - and the theologians of Greece
from the sixties onwards-Zizioulas, Yannaras, and others, as well
as influential monks and spiritual elders, especially Fr Sophrony
of the monastery in Essex and his mentor, St Silouan. The book
concludes with an illuminating chapter on Metropolitan Kallistos
and the theological vision of the Philokalia.
Christos Yannaras is one of the most significant Orthodox
theologians of recent times. The work of Yannaras is virtually
synonymous with a turn or renaissance of Orthodox philosophy and
theology, initially within Greece, but as the present volume
confirms, well beyond it. His work engages not only with issues of
philosophy and theology, but also takes in wider questions of
culture and politics. With contributions from established and new
scholars, the book is divided into three sections, which correspond
to the main directions that Christos Yannaras has followed -
philosophy, theology, and culture - and reflects on the ways in
which Yannaras has engaged and influenced thought across these
fields, in addition to themes including ecclesiology, tradition,
identity, and ethics. This volume facilitates the dialogue between
the thought of Yannaras, which is expressed locally yet is relevant
globally, and Western Christian thinkers. It will be of great
interest to scholars of Orthodox and Eastern Christian theology and
philosophy, as well as theology more widely.
The Radical Orthodoxy Reader presents a selection of key readings
in the field of Radical Orthodoxy, the most influential theological
movement in contemporary academic theology. Radical Orthodoxy draws
on pre-Enlightenment theology and philosophy to engage critically
with the assumption and priorities of secularism, modernity,
postmodernity, and associated theologies. In doing so it explores a
wide and exciting range of issues: music, language, society, the
body, the city, power, motion, space, time, personhood, sex and
gender. As such it is both controversial and extremely stimulating;
provoking much fruitful debate amongst contemporary theologians. To
assist those encountering Radical Orthodoxy for the first time,
each section has an introductory commentary, related reading and
helpful questions to encourage in-depth understanding and further
study.
The expression "churchianity" was coined by C. S. Lewis. It is a
word that describes the parable of Christ-or rather, the event-in
which the Lord Jesus Christ pronounced his condemnation on the
barren fig tree. Had it been barren, leafless, dead, Christ would
not have condemned it. He might even have spoken a word of life and
brought it into newness. But this tree stood there gloriously
adorned with leaves, telling everyone around that that they could
come up to it in order to find a harvest of ripe fruits. But there
was nothing but leaves. The appearance was there; of reality, there
was nothing. The words spoken by Christ are frightening: 'there
will never be a fruit on your branches until the end of the
world.'" In these nine talks, Metropolitan Anthony challenges us to
move beyond mere "churchianity" to a true and living faith. He
helps us to find our lofty calling in the familiar words of the
creed, and he points to a path forward, both for individual
believers and for our communities.
Orthodoxy has achieved a large scale revival in Russia following
the collapse of Communism. However, paradoxically, although there
is a high level of identification with Orthodoxy, there is in fact
a low level of church attendance. This book, based on in depth
ethnographic fieldwork, explores the social background and moral
attitudes of the "little flock" of believers who actively
participate in religious life. It reveals that the complex moral
beliefs of the faithful have a disproportionately high impact on
Russian society overall; that among the faithful there is a strong
emphasis on striving for personal perfection; but that also there
are strong collective ideas concerning religious nationalism and
the synergy between the secular and the religious.
Frederica Mathewes-Green became an unexpected companion on her
husband's pilgrimage into a faith that is as novel to us in the
West as it is ancient in the East. Like many Americans seeking a
deeper faith, Mathewes-Green and her family found in Eastern
Orthodoxy a faith both demanding and offering more in true devotion
and spirituality. In this luminous, affectionate, and deeply
personal account of her pilgrimage, Mathewes-Green reveals a church
strongly rooted in the teachings of its early fathers and a
tradition of principle and great beauty that has endured throughout
the centuries. Following the framework of the Orthodox calendar -
from Lent to Pascha to Nativity, from Vespers to feasts to fasts -
Mathewes-Green chronicles a year in the life of her small Orthodox
mission church. Discovering the splendor and solemnity of Orthodox
ritual, exploring the daunting majesty of Orthodox services and
customs, and sharing their daily anxieties, disappointments, and
delights, the Mathewes-Green family and the members of the Holy
Cross Mission Church reveal both the intricacies of Orthodox belief
and the deep joy they have found in their new faith. At once
entertaining, hilarious, and reverent, Facing East is an
unforgettable portrait of the human vitality and divine essence of
Eastern Orthodoxy.
For centuries, Catholics in the Western world and the Orthodox in
Russia have venerated certain saints as martyrs. In many cases,
both churches recognize as martyrs the same individuals who gave
their lives for Jesus Christ. On the surface, it appears that while
the external liturgical practices of Catholics and Russian Orthodox
may vary, the fundamental theological understanding of what it
means to be a martyr, and what it means to canonize a saint, are
essentially the same. But are they? In Making Martyrs East and
West, Caridi examines how the practice of canonization developed in
the West and in Russia, focusing on procedural elements that became
established requirements for someone to be recognized as a saint
and a martyr. She investigates whether the components of the
canonization process now regarded as necessary by the Catholic
Church are fundamentally equivalent to those of the Russian
Orthodox Church and vice versa, while exploring the possibility
that the churches use the same terminology and processes but in
fundamentally different ways that preclude the acceptance of one
church's saints by the other. Caridi examines official church
documents and numerous canonization records, collecting and
analyzing information from several previously untapped medieval
Russian sources. Her highly readable study is the first to focus on
the historical documentation on canonization specifically for
juridical significance. It will appeal to scholars of religion and
church history, as well as ecumenicists, liturgists, canonists, and
those interested in East-West ecumenical efforts.
This book argues for the inseparability of classical Hellenism from
the Greek patristic tradition from a distinctly Eastern Orthodox
perspective. Postulating a common striving for truth in both
domains, it places emphasis on the contributions of the ancients
and Greek paideia to Christian learning and culture. In the spirit
of the late Werner Jaeger, the essays contained in the volume
provide a fruitful strategy for looking anew at the Greek classical
world and Christianity through the eyes of the Greek Fathers, the
direct inheritors of the ancient Greek worldview. Collectively, the
author and contributors excellently demonstrate that, conflated
with the visionary insights of the Jewish prophets and of Jewish
messianism, the wisdom of the ancients served to pave the way for
the unfolding of the fullness of Christian teaching and its
spiritually enlightening revelation.
First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor &
Francis, an informa company.
This book examines the key 2008 publication of the Russian Orthodox
Church on human dignity, freedom, and rights. It considers how the
document was formed, charting the development over time of the
Russian Orthodox Church's views on human rights. It analyzes the
detail of the document, and assesses the practical and political
impact inside the Church, at the national level and in the
international arena. Overall, it shows how the attitude of the
Russian Orthodox Church has shifted from outright hostility towards
individual human rights to the advocacy of "traditional values."
New Voices in Greek Orthodox Thought brings to the light and
discusses a strand in contemporary Greek public debate that is
often overlooked, namely progressive religious actors of a western
orientation. International - and Greek - media tend to focus on the
extreme views and to categorise positions in the public debate
along well known dichotomies such as traditionalists vs.
modernsers. Demonstrating that in late modernity, parallel to
rising nationalisms, there is a shift towards religious communities
becoming the central axis for cultural organization and progressive
thinking, the book presents Greece as a case study based on
empirical field data from contemporary theology and religious
education, and makes a unique contribution to ongoing debates about
the public role of religion in contemporary Europe.
Church Slavonic, one of the world's historic sacred languages, has
experienced a revival in post-Soviet Russia. Blending religious
studies and sociolinguistics, this is the first book devoted to
Church Slavonic in the contemporary period. It is not a narrow
study in linguistics, but uses Slavonic as a passkey into various
wider topics, including the renewal and factionalism of the
Orthodox Church; the transformation of the Russian language; and
the debates about protecting the nation from Western cults and
culture. It considers both official and popular forms of Orthodox
Christianity, as well as Russia's esoteric and neo-pagan
traditions. Ranging over such diverse areas as liturgy, pedagogy,
typography, mythology, and conspiracy theory, the book illuminates
the complex interrelationship between language and faith in
post-communist society, and shows how Slavonic has performed
important symbolic work during a momentous chapter in Russian
history. It is of great interest to scholars of sociolinguistics
and of religion, as well as to Russian studies specialists.
From 1807, when the first Protestant missionary arrived in China,
to the 1920s, when a new phase of growth began, thousands of
missionaries and Chinese Christians laboured, often under very
adverse conditions, to lay the groundwork for a solid, healthy, and
self-sustaining Chinese church. Following an Introduction that sets
the scene and surveys the entire period, 'Builders of the Chinese
Church' contains the stories of nine leading pioneers: seven
Western missionaries and two Chinese. Here we meet Robert Morrison,
the heroic translator; Liang Fa, the first Chinese evangelist;
missionary-scholar James Legge; J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the
China Inland Mission; converted opium addict Pastor Hsi, Overcomer
of Demons; Griffith John and Jonathan Goforth, both indefatigable
preachers; and the idealistic advocates of education and reform,
W.A.P. Martin and Timothy Richard. Readers will be inspired by
their courage, devotion, and sheer perseverance in arduous work,
and will gain a better understanding of the origins of the two
'branches' of today's Chinese Protestantism.
Although its various bodies boast a combined total of at least 300
million members, the Eastern Orthodox Church is widely perceived
among members of other denominations to be an exotic branch of the
faith, often shrouded in mysticism and misunderstanding that has
been exacerbated by the longstanding Eastern-Western split. In
'Purification of Memory', Ambrose Mong casts light on the true
nature of Orthodox theology, illuminating the thinking of eight
distinguished modern Orthodox theologians who have made important
contributions on topics as ecclesiology, ecumenism, Christology,
and Mariology. Approaching the work of John Meyendorff, Nicholas
Afanasiev, John Zizioulas, Georges Florovsky, Sergius Bulgakov,
Vladimir Lossky, Nicolas Berdyaev, and Jaroslav Pelikan from an
ecumenical standpoint, Mong deftly draws comparisons with the
theology of their Roman Catholic counterparts to reveal points on
which the two traditions have much more in common than either side
will always admit. The author interweaves these comparisons with a
fascinating exposition of the history of the schism between the
Eastern and Western Churches to demonstrate decisively that in
spite of the bitter mistrust dividing them, they share a common
heritage which could, and should, serve as a basis for
reunification. Before old wounds can mend, however, a healing
process of forgetting, characterized by Pope John Paul II as a
'purification of memory', must take place to clear the path towards
a long-awaited return to unity.
The Russian church is central to an understanding of early Russian
and Slav history, but for many years there has been no accessible,
up-to-date introduction to the subject in English - until now. The
late John Fennell's last book, is a masterly survey of the
development, nature and role of the early Church in Russia from
Christianization of the country in 988, through Kievan and Tatar
poeriods to 1448 when the Russian Church finally became totally
independent of its mother-church in Byzantium.
In recent years, the Russian Orthodox Church has become a more
prominent part of post-Soviet Russia. A number of assumptions exist
regarding the Church s relationship with the Russian state: that
the Church has always been dominated by Russia s secular elites;
that the clerics have not sufficiently fought this domination and
occasionally failed to act in the Church s best interest; and that
the Church was turned into a Soviet institution during the
twentieth century. This book challenges these assumptions. It
demonstrates that church-state relations in post-communist Russia
can be seen in a much more differentiated way, and that the church
is not subservient, very much having its own agenda. Yet at the
same time it is sharing the state s, and Russian society s
nationalist vision.
The book analyses the Russian Orthodox Church s political
culture, focusing on the Putin and Medvedev eras from 2000. It
examines the upper echelons of the Moscow Patriarchate in relation
to the governing elite and to Russian public opinion, explores the
role of the church in the formation of state religious policy, and
the church s role within the Russian military. It discusses how the
Moscow Patriarchate is asserting itself in former Soviet republics
outside Russia, especially in Estonia, Ukraine and Belarus. It
concludes by re-emphasising that, although the church often mirrors
the Kremlin s political preferences, it most definitely acts
independently. "
|
|