This book gathers a wide range of theological perspectives from Orthodox European countries, Russia and the United States in order to demonstrate how divergent the positions are within Orthodox Christianity. Orthodoxy is often considered to be out-of-sync with contemporary society, set apart in a world of its own where the church intertwines with the state, in order to claim power over the populace and ignore the individual voices of modern societies.
As a collective, these essays present a different understanding of the relationship of Orthodoxy to secular politics; comprehensive, up-to-date and highly relevant to politically understanding today's world. The contributors present their views and arguments by drawing lessons from the past, and by elaborating visions for how Orthodox Christianity can find its place in the contemporary liberal democratic order, while also drawing on the experience of the Western Churches and denominations. Touching upon aspects such as anarchism, economy and political theology, these contributions examine how Orthodox Christianity reacts to liberal democracy, and explore the ways that this branch of religion can be rendered more compatible with political modernity.
Introduction Part I: Orthodox Political Theology and Modernity 1. Political Theologies and Modernity, Kristina Stoeckl (University of Innsbruck, Austria) 2. Orthodoxy and Modernity, Vasilios Makrides (University of Erfurt, Germany) 3. Political Theology Under the Conditions of Modernity, Ingeborg Gabriel, (University of Vienna, Austria) 4. European Religious Freedoms Norms as a Challenge to Orthodox Churches, Effie Fokas (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy [ELIAMEP], Greece) Part II: Prophetic Political Theology 5. Politics as a “Weak Force”, Athanasios N. Papathanasiou (The Greek Theological Quarterly Sinaxis, Greece) 6. Orthodox Political Theology: An Anarchist Perspective, Davor Dzalto (American University of Rome, Italy) 7. Eschatological Anarchism: Eschatology and Politics in Contemporary Greek Theology, Brandon Gallaher (University of Exeter, UK) 8. Towards An Orthodox Political Theology: The Church's Theological Foundations and Public Role in the Context of the Greek Economic Crisis, Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Volos Theological Academy, Greece) Part III: Ecclesial Political Theology 9. On the Possibility or Impossibility of an Eastern Orthodox Political Theology, Alexander Kyrlezshev (Post-Graduate School of the Moscow Patriarchate, Russia) 10. Eucharistic Ecclesiology in the Context of Contemporary Political Theology, Andrej Shishkov (Post-Graduate School of the Moscow Patriarchate, Russia) 11. ‘Revolt against the Modern World’: Theology and the Political in the Thought of Justin Popovic,Bogdan Lubardic (Theological Faculty, Belgrade, Serbia) Part IV: Civil Political Theology 12. Whose Public? Which Ecclesiology?, Aristotle Papanikolaou (Fordham University, USA) 13. Orthodoxy Facing the Modern Secular State, Konstantin Delikostantis (University of Athens, Greece) 14. Civil Religion in the Orthodox Milieu, Cyril Hovorun (Yale University, USA) Part V: Symphonic Political Theology 15. Orthodox Theology: Politics and Power, Elena Namli (Uppsala University, Sweden) 16. Political Theology in the Romanian Context, Radu Preda (Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj, Romania) 17. The Church and the Bulgarian Modernities, Mariyan Stoyadinov (University of Veliko Trnovo, Bulgaria) Bibliography Index
Kristina Stoeckl is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Ingeborg Gabriel is Full Professor in the Institute of Social Ethics, Faculty of Roman-Catholic Theology, at the University of Vienna, Austria. Aristotle Papanikolaou is Professor of Theology at Fordham University, USA.
Reviews for Political Theologies in Orthodox Christianity: Common Challenges - Divergent Positions
Deserve[s] wide attention from all theologians and scholars of religion who wish to understand how Orthodoxy is speaking to issues of politics today. * Journal of Church and State *
