The Eastern Christian Tradition in Modern Russian Thought and Beyond PDF Download

Author: Teresa Obolevitch
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004521828
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
In The Eastern Christian Tradition in Modern Russian Thought and Beyond, Teresa Obolevitch elucidates the main philosophical and theological ideas of the Eastern Christian tradition of neo-patristic synthesis and considers them in comparative philosophical context.

Author: Rowan Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472989228
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In many ways, we seem to be living in wintry times at present in the Western world. In this new book, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and a noted scholar of Eastern Christianity, introduces us to some aspects and personalities of the Orthodox Christian world, from the desert contemplatives of the fourth century to philosophers, novelists and activists of the modern era, that suggest where we might look for fresh light and warmth. He shows how this rich and diverse world opens up new ways of thinking about spirit and body, prayer and action, worship and social transformation, which go beyond the polarisations we take for granted. Taking in the world of the great spiritual anthology, the Philokalia, and the explorations of Russian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discussing the witness of figures like Maria Skobtsova, murdered in a German concentration camp for her defence of Jewish refugees, and the challenging theologies of modern Greek thinkers like John Zizioulas and Christos Yannaras, Rowan Williams opens the door to a 'climate and landscape of our humanity that can indeed be warmed and transfigured'. This is an original and illuminating vision of a Christian world still none too familiar to Western believers and even to students of theology, showing how the deep-rooted themes of Eastern Christian thought can prompt new perspectives on our contemporary crises of imagination and hope.

Author: Michael Plekon
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0742531627
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Michael Plekon's Tradition Alive presents a collection of essays highlighting not only the vibrant tradition of 20th century Eastern Orthodox thought, but also the necessity of its inclusion in the theological canon constructed mainly by Western Christian thinkers. Ranging from the thought of the first generation of Russian émigrés to contemporary Eastern Orthodox theologians, the essays in Tradition Alive point toward a positive theology that is convinced of the immanence of the holy spirit despite a world torn apart by revolution, violence, and despair. The contributors profess their faith in the transforming presence of Christ and the divine dimensions of the church by looking to the meaning and power of tradition in the practices of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. By focusing on the Orthodox Church's ecclesial and liturgical character, the authors emphasize the living character of the Christian tradition. With many contributions difficult, if not impossible, to access until now, Tradition Alive presents a brave and distinctive effort to enliven Western theology by looking to the theology of the East.

Author: Teresa Obolevitch
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198838174
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Faith and Science in Russian Religious Thought provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between science and faith in Russian religious thought. Teresa Obolevitch offers a synthetic approach on the development of the problem throughout the whole history of Russian thought, starting from the medieval period and arriving in contemporary times. She considers the relationship between science and religion in the eighteenth century, the so-called academic philosophy of the 19th and 20th century, the thought of Peter Chaadaev, the Slavophiles, and in the most influential literature figures, such as Fedor Dostoevsky and Lev Tolstoy. The volume also analyses two channels of the formation of philosophy in the context of the relationship between theology and science in Russia. The first is connected with the attempt to rationalize the truths of faith and is exemplified by Vladimir Soloviev and Nikolai Lossky; the second wtih the apophatic tradition is presented by Pavel Florensky and Semen Frank. The book then describes the relation to scientific knowledge in the thought of Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdyaev, Sergius Bulgakov, and Alexei Losev as well as the original project of Russian Cosmism (on the examples of Nikolai Fedorov, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and Vladimir Vernadsky). Obolevitch presents the current state of the discussion on this topic by paying attention to the Neopatristic synthesis (Fr Georges Florovsky and his followers) and offers the brief comparative analyse of the relationship between science and religion from the Western and Russian perspectives.

Author: Petre Maican
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900454710X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 138

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Book Description
Modern Orthodox identity is deeply interwoven with the notion of deification or union with God. For some theologians, deification represents the lens through which most, if not all, theological questions should be engaged. In this volume, Petre Maican undertakes the task of critically examining the extent to which deification informs the main debates inside Orthodox theology, focusing on four essential loci: anthropology, the Trinity, epistemology, and ecclesiology. Maican argues that while deification remains central to anthropology and the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity, it seems less relevant in the areas of ecclesiology and complexifies the Orthodox approach to Scripture and Tradition.

Author: Artur Mrowczynski-Van Allen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 149820399X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Contemporary philosophy and theology are ever more conscious of the fact that the model of relations between religion and culture developed in modernity is fundamentally flawed. The processes of the secularization of society, culture, and even religion are rooted in the dualistic vision of religion and culture introduced in the late Middle Ages. In seeking a way out, we need to explore domains of culture unaffected by Western European secular thinking. Russian thought is remarkably well prepared to formulate an alternative to secular modernity. Indeed, in Russian culture there was neither a Renaissance nor an Enlightenment. Eastern Christianity retained an integral patristic vision of human nature that had not been divided into separate "natural" and "supernatural" elements. These pre- and non-modern visions are now gaining exceptional value in the postmodern reality in which we find ourselves. The heritage of Russian Christian thought may serve as a source of inspiration for alternative approaches to religion and culture. In this respect, Russian thought may be compared with nouvelle theologie, Radical Orthodoxy, and other recent movements in Christian postsecular thought. For this reason it remains astonishingly contemporary.

Author: Ernst Benz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351304755
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Western European Christendom finds it difficult to comprehend the Eastern Orthodox Church because it knows little about the practice and doctrines of Orthodoxy. Even what is known is overlaid by many strata of prejudices and misunderstandings, partly political in nature. One of the obstacles has been the natural tendency to confound the ideas and customs of the Orthodox Church with familiar parallels in Roman Catholicism. To escape this tradition pitfall, Ernst Benz focuses on icon painting as a logical place to begin his examination of the Orthodox Church. Beginning with a brilliant discussion of the importance of icons in the Eastern Church--and the far-reaching effects of icons on doctrine as well as art--Benz counteracts the confusion, explaining simply and clearly the liturgy and sacraments, dogma, constitution and law of Eastern Orthodoxy. In brief history, he describes the rise of Orthodox national churches, schismatic churches, and churches in exile; the role of monasticism and its striking differences from Roman Catholic monasticism; the missionary work of the Orthodox Church; and the influence of Orthodoxy on politics and culture. The role of the church can be defined in terms of the image. Benz writes that the church exists so that "members may be incorporated into the image of Jesus Christ a in that individual believers are aechanged into his likeness'" as Paul writes in the second letter to the Corinthians. Thus, Orthodox theology holds up the icon as the true key to the understanding of Orthodox dogma. The Eastern Orthodox Church will be valuable to anyone interested in learning more about the church, its thought, its life, and its ideals.

Author: Tobias Köllner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429755589
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
Based on extensive original research at the local level, this book explores the relationship between Russian Orthodoxy and politics in contemporary Russia. It reveals close personal links between politicians at the local, regional and national levels and their counterparts at the equivalent level in the Russian Orthodox Church – priests and monks, bishops and archbishops – who are extensively consulted about political decisions. It outlines a convergence of conservative ideology between politicians and clerics and also highlights that, despite working closely together, there are nevertheless many tensions. The book examines in detail particular areas of cooperation and tension: reform to religious education and a growing emphasis on traditional moral values, the restitution of former church property and the introduction of new festive days. Overall, the book concludes that there is much uncertainty, ambiguity and great local variation.

Author: Vladimir Lossky
Publisher: James Clarke & Company
ISBN: 0227905083
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
Lossky's great work on Eastern Orthodoxy covers the whole range of its spirituality and theology. Combining careful theology with the warmth of the deep personal devotion of the author, 'The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church' is the best introduction to Orthodox teaching and theology available. It provides a reliable and informative presentation of the theological spirit of the Eastern Church. His account makes clear the profound theological differences underlying the practices of the East and West, and yet it is also an important contribution to ecumenism and to the life of Christian devotion. It brings together subjects that are more usually separated, asserting that there is no true mysticism that is not firmly rooted in theology, and no true theology that is not experienced, and therefore mystical. The tradition of the Eastern Church is presented as a mystical theology with doctrine and experience mutually conditioning each other.

Author: Diana Gasparyan
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004465820
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 186

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Book Description
This is an in-depth investigation into the life and work of one of the most prominent philosophers of Russian and Russian-Soviet history, Merab Mamardashvili, all of whose ideas are collected here in one book. However, each of his ideas leads much further - deep into philosophy itself, its cultural origins, and to the basis and roots of all human thought.