It was the Cambridge philosopher of religion Donald MacKinnon who first introduced me to John Zizioulas’s work, passing to me (some time around 1978) a couple of French offprints. Donald was not someone who handed out praise readily, but he was obviously intrigued and impressed—I suspect because these essays on the eucharist and the bishop…
Continue readingThe “Kairos” of the Late Metropolitan of Pergamon John D. Zizioulas
by Pantelis Kalaitzidis | Русский Originally published in Greek at Polymeros kai Polytropos, a publication of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies “Chronos (chronological or sequential time) is imbued with meaning by kairos (the opportune time), and kairos is nothing more than a stop, a way station, from which we can survey the past and…
Continue readingRacism and Otherness
by Nikolaos Asproulis | български | ქართული | Română | Русский | Српски This essay was first published in Greek at Polymeros kai Polytropos, the blog of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies. In our time, racism has many faces. Sometimes it manifests itself in a more visible way and other times in an invisible way. Whether it is racism…
Continue readingCan Persons Be Saved?
Part Three of an Interim Report on That All Shall Be Saved
by David Bentley Hart Read part one and part two of the series. Before resuming my “itinerary” of the argument of That All Shall Be Saved, one additional point seems worth stressing. Though in the last installment the issue was raised of whether God intends or permits evil, the book’s argument has nothing to do with…
Continue readingMeeting Michelle: Pastoral and Theological Reflections on a Transgender Inmate
by Fr. Richard René This essay is part of a series stemming from the ongoing research project “Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Identity and the Challenges of Pluralism and Sexual Diversity in a Secular Age,” which is a joint venture by scholars from Fordham University’s Orthodox Christian Studies Center and the University of Exeter, funded by the…
Continue readingTaking off the Mask: Love, Truth, and Communion
When we first meet someone, we do not immediately expose to them our deepest secrets, the events in our lives that we are most afraid to reveal, which could include our own actions, something that has been done to us, or something that has happened to which we are indirectly related. We would not reveal…
Continue readingCan Orthodox Support Human Rights?
The Divine Image, the Person, and Human Rights
Patristic anthropology, the theology of the human person and human rights are intimately related. Recognition of the close relationships among these three areas is essential to the elaboration of a sound Orthodox theology concerning the nature and status of human existence in the face of secularism, technology, violence and other challenges to what it means…
Continue readingPerson, Nature, and Personhood Theology
by Doru Costache For contemporary Orthodox theology, irrespective of the terms used throughout the centuries, ecclesial anthropology focuses on the mystery of personhood. This amounts to saying that Orthodox anthropology, with its markedly spiritual and/or ascetic dimension, is person-centered and not nature-centered. Building on the distinction without division between person and nature, this focus shows a…
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