The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (6)

In his longstanding classic introduction to Orthodoxy, The Orthodox Church,

Kallistos Ware, whom it will be my joy at long last finally to meet in Washington in June at the Orientale Lumen Conference, offers a list of authoritative texts for Eastern Christianity. These "chief doctrinal texts," as he calls them (sometimes referred to as "symbolical books") are overwhelmingly (11 out of 13) products of post-schism, and especially post-Reformation polemics.

By contrast, the list of authoritative texts offered in the appendix to John McGuckin, ed.,  The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, on which I have commented previously, confines itself to the first eight centuries.This lengthy appendix (171pp.) contains the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed, the statements of faith of the remaining five ecumenical councils properly so called, the famous five theological orations of St. Gregory the Theologian, and excerpts from St. John of Damascus' brilliant synthesis, "An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith."

In his very winsome preface to these documents, McGuckin notes that the appendix does not by any means include all authoritative documents for Orthodoxy, but that he wanted to get away from more apologetical or polemical literature, especially that generated in the 17-19th centuries. This list is but a "representative sample" whose purpose is to offer "the main historical line of 'dogmatic' literature" (648). None of these, McGuckin rightly insists, are the exclusive property of Orthodoxy: "anyone interested in understanding the foundations of the Christian Church ought to be familiar with this material" (650). Most of this material is available elsewhere (especially through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library), but not all of it is extant in good, modern English, and so McGuckin has "thoroughly modernized all of them" in order that "their (very) elegant Greek" might shine through.

McGuckin includes a helpful though very brief comment about the nature of the rhetoric in these documents: they are all, he says, full-blooded dogmatic statements that offer "ancient teaching (didache)...with a rhetorical thump on the table" (650). That is all to the good. We live in an age parched for straight-talk and dying under various politically correct euphemisms. (When the Catechism of the Catholic Church first appeared in 1992 it was a run-away best-seller because people want the straight goods. In the Roman Church since the 1970s, catechesis has so often been an exercise in shiftless dissembling that many people today are clueless about their faith.)

Still, as lovely as the translations are, and indisputably important as the documents may be, I do wonder if this appendix was the most judicious use of space in the encyclopedia when most of these texts are available elsewhere. I ask that because, for all its myriad wonderful riches, there are a number of surprising lacunae in The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. I will return to these later.

The Triune God: Oxbridge Contributions

To my mind the finest metered hymn in English on the Trinity comes from, or is certainly attributed to, him whom many Christians (not excluding Eastern Christians--some of whom have produced rather jejune icons of him--and many others besides) celebrate today, viz., St. Patrick: St. Patrick's Breastplate is a majestic and fulsome piece of music.

More recently, another Celt, the great moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, author of many works, but none so important or so influential as After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, rather drolly observed (in a wonderfully ecumenically splenetic essay in which he excoriated the banality, vacuousness, and narcissism of modern theological ethics, both Catholic and Protestant) that "the rumor that the 'members' of the Trinity speak Irish among themselves, although highly plausible, has never been confirmed."* Prescinding from the question of the language the Persons speak en famille, we can turn our attention to the language that we humans speak when trying to discuss this great mystery, a task perhaps greatly to be aided by the forthcoming publication of two books of similar conception, both to be released later this year by those two ancient academic rivals, Oxford and Cambridge:

The first of these, slated for July release, is

The Cambridge Companion to the Trinity (Cambridge Companions to Religion).

 
This volume, under Peter Phan's editorship, contains a number of interesting essays, including:

• "The Trinity in the Greek Fathers" by John McGuckin 

• "Sophia, Apophasis, and Communion: the Trinity in Contemporary Orthodox Theology" by Aristotle Papanikolaou

Towards the end of the year--currently projected to appear in October--we have a similar type of volume set to appear under the editorship of the Swiss Dominican Gilles Emery and the young (and astonishingly prolific) American theologian Matthew Levering, whose Christ and the the Catholic Priesthood: Ecclesial Hierarchy and the Pattern of the Trinity I reviewed earlier.

Their forthcoming contribution to a renewal in Triadology is The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity. This Oxford volume will have even more articles of great interest to Eastern Christians, including:

• "The Canonization of Scripture in the Context of Trinitarian Doctrine" by the Athansius scholar Khaled Anatolios, himself the author of a forthcoming work in this vein: Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine 
• "The Trinity in the Ante-Nicene Fathers" by Stephen M. Hildebrand, author of a recent work on St. Basil the Great's Trinitarian theology
• "Late Patristic Developments on the Trinity in the East" by Andrew Louth, author of many important works, editor and translator of others still 
• "The Development of the Trinity Doctrine in Byzantium (9th-15th Centuries)" by Karl Christian Felmy
• "Contemporary Orthodox Currents on the Trinity" by Aristotle Papanikolaou 
• "The Trinity and Feminism" by Nonna Verna Harrison  

Look for both The Cambridge Companion to the Trinity and The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity to be reviewed in 2012 in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies.

_______________________
* "Theology, Ethics, and the Ethics of Medicine and Health Care: Comments on Papers by Novak, Mouw, Roach, Cahill, and Hartt," The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 4 (1979): 435-443.

Byzantine Iconoclasm

As I have remarked before, books on icons continue to pour forth from all manner of publisher today. Books on iconoclasm have not followed at quite so brisk a clip, nor certainly in a "popular" format. Iconoclasm remains the province of scholars such as Thomas Noble, whose book Images, Iconoclasm, and the Carolingians I have commented on earlier.

Now a massive new book is forthcoming to give us a renewed study of this phenomenon--which, far from being confined to the seventh, eighth, or ninth centuries, is alive and well today:

Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon, Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c.680-850: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2011), 942pp.


About this book, the publisher tells us:

Iconoclasm, the debate about the legitimacy of religious art that began in Byzantium around 720 and continued for nearly one hundred and twenty years, has long held a firm grip on the historical imagination. This is the first book in English for over fifty years to survey this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history. It is also the first book in any language to combine the expertise of two authors who are specialists in the written, archaeological and visual evidence from this period, a combination of particular importance to the iconoclasm debate. The authors have worked together to provide a comprehensive overview of the visual, written and other materials that together help clarify the complex issues of iconoclasm in Byzantium. In doing so they challenge many traditional assumptions about iconoclasm and set the period firmly in its broader political, cultural and social-economic context.

 I look forward to having this book reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies.

Kyivan Monasticism

Harvard University's famed Ukrainian Research Institute continues to undertake important scholarly work and oversee the publication of important monographs, including these two new volumes:

We also soon have in print The Paterik of the Kievan Caves Monastery (Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian Literature)




In addition, we also soon have in print 


Simon Franklin, trans., Sermons and Rhetoric of Kievan Rus' (Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian Literature) (URI of Harvard University, 2011), 326pp

Russian Church-State Relations

We are witnessing an enormous increase in the number of books devoted to Russian church-state relations, some of which have already been noted on here. Now we have another two to be published in April:

Irina Papkova, The Orthodox Church and Russian Politics (A Woodrow Wilson Center Book) (Oxford University Press, 2011), 265pp.)


About this book the publisher provides the following blurb:

This in-depth case study examines the Russian Orthodox Church's influence on federal-level policy in the Russian Federation since the fall of communism. By far more comprehensive than competing works, The Orthodox Church and Russian Politics is based on interviews, close readings of documents--including official state and ecclesiastical publications--and survey work conducted by the author. The analysis balances the Church as an institutional political actor with the government's response to Church demands. Papkova ultimately concludes that the reciprocal relationship between the Church and state is far weaker and less politically important than Western analysts usually believe.

Papkova traces the Church's relative failure in mobilizing parishioners, influencing political parties, and lobbying the state, citing the 1997 law limiting religious freedoms as its only significant political win. She attributes much of this weakness to the informal division of the Church into liberal, traditionalist, and fundamentalist factions, which prevents it from presenting a unified front. Providing a fresh insight into the role of the Church in Post-Soviet Russia, the book speaks across disciplines to political science, sociology, anthropology, history, and religious studies.

The second of these books is

Brian P. Bennett, Religion and Language in Post-Soviet Russia (Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series) (2011), 208pp 

About this book, Routledge tell us: 


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.

I look forward to having both of these expertly reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies.

Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy

The day is fast approaching when all your friends will rebuke you and withdraw in horror from friendly congress with you if you have not at once ordered and read

Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: Ut Unum Sint and the Prospects of East-West Unity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2011), 280pp.


This is the only book of its kind to appear to address the only really serious remaining issue in the search for Orthodox-Catholic unity. Favorably reviewed by a Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Ukrainian Catholic, and several Roman Catholic scholars, this volume is a must-have for all who are interested in the search for healing the East-West split.

Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: have you got your copy today?

Triadology East and West

A number of books are emerging about Trinitarian theology. The first of these to arrive on the scene, published just before Christmas, is 

Declan Marmion and Rik Van Nieuwenhove, An Introduction to the Trinity (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 262pp.

The publisher provides us the following overview:

Over the last decade there has been a resurgence of writing on the Trinity, indicating a renewal of ideas and debate concerning this key element of Christian theology. This introduction challenges the standard account of a decline and revival in Trinitarian theology, taking into account recent, alternative readings of the theological tradition by Lewis Ayres and Michel Barnes amongst other scholars. By clearly analysing the scope of these new approaches, the authors establish the importance of a sapiential understanding of the Trinity, resisting the notion of separating faith and reason and identifying theology's link to spirituality. Their account also eschews the easy stereotypes of Western Christianity's supposedly more Unitarian approach as opposed to the more Trinitarian view of the East. Offering an overview of the main people and themes in Trinitarian theology past and present, this book thus provides an accessible, comprehensive guide for students and scholars alike.

Perusing the table of contents we see that the book is very much concerned with Western theology, though it does take a brief look at the Cappadocians in the ancient period, and John Zizioulas in the modern.

Another book also published just before Christmas includes a greater sampling of Eastern theology of the Trinity: M. Stewart, ed., The Trinity: East/West Dialogue (Studies in Philosophy and Religion) (Kluwer Academic/Springer, 2010), 280pp.

About this book (which seems to have been published earlier as part of the series Studies in Philosophy and Religion), the publisher tells us:

This anthology presents an excellent blend of philosophical and theological perspectives that keep the doctrine of the Trinity in its crosshairs. While noted analytic philosophers use an array of analytical tools to critique and defend the logical consistency of the Trinity and assess its models, philosophers and Russian Orthodox theologians alike shower us with insights from historical sources such as the Book of Revelation, the Church Fathers, Aquinas, the Cambridge Platonists, and the Post-Moderns. Along the way they remind us that the doctrine of the Trinity is richly rooted in the faith and practices (worship, liturgy, iconography, and missiology) of the Church. The volume demonstrates that philosophers and theologians from different traditions can indeed learn from each other.

This latter book, together with An Introduction to the Trinity and the two other major treatments slated for review later this year, will be examined at length in 2012 in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies.

The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (5)

As of today, Ash Wednesday for the Latin Church, both Eastern and Western Christians have now begun the journey to Pascha which, happily this year (as with last, and 2007 also) is observed by all Christians on the same day. That raises the question of calendars, and so, continuing our sampling of articles from John McGuckin, ed., The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, we turn now to the article entitled simply "Calendar."

I had a discussion with my students recently about differing calendars used by different Christians, and the maddening incomprehensibility of some Eastern Christians who simply do not understand that fixed feasts are not in fact celebrated on different days: Christmas is December 25, and that's that. But this is so simple for some that they fail to grasp it, and so they tell you that Christmas is January 7. No, it isn't. Liturgically the place of Christmas in the sanctoral is December 25 whether you follow the Julian or Gregorian calendar. Calendars are among the most absurdly silly and superficial things over which Eastern Christians have shamefully divided amongst ourselves--to say nothing of the alienation (these past few years notwithstanding) from the West.

Helping us sort out these issues, and the equally vexed question of the Paschalion, is McGuckin's article on the Calendar. Here, as in all the other entries of his I have read to date, one finds wonderfully lucid prose which calmly states its case, notes diversity of practice--especially in Western traditions--and treats such diversity with greatly dispassionate respect.

There is one problem with the article when McGuckin says that because there has not been a consensus on adopting the Gregorian calendar, the so-called Revised Julian calendar has been adopted to allow "all the Orthodox [to] observe Pascha together" (96; my emphasis; cf. pp. 96-97 where he says that "none of the Orthodox ever adopted the Gregorian fully"). But in fact the Orthodox Church of Finland is the one exception to this: their official website notes that "The church observes the New, or Gregorian Calendar." This is confirmed by Ron Roberson's magisterial The Eastern Churches: a Brief Survey, which says of the Finnish Church that "This is the only Orthodox church that uses the western dates for Easter and fixed feasts."

Latins and Byzantines

Brill today sends me their catalogue of forthcoming spring publications, and included in it is a new book that is part of an emerging pattern of re-evaluating our received notions of what happened in the aftermath of the Crusades:

Filip Van Tricht, The Latin Renovatio of Byzantium: the Empire of Constantinople (1204-1228) (Brill, June 2011), 544pp.

About this book, the publisher tells us:

In 1204 the army of the Fourth Crusade sacked the great city of Constantinople. In earlier historiography the view prevailed that these Western barons and knights temporarily destroyed the Byzantine state and replaced it with a series of feudal states of their own making. Through a comprehensive rereading of better and lesser-known sources this book offers an alternative perspective arguing that the Latin rulers did not abolish, but very consciously wanted to continue the Eastern Empire. In this, the new imperial dynasty coming from Flanders-Hainaut played a pivotal role. Despite religious and other differences many Byzantines sided with the new regime and administrative practices at the different governmental levels were to a larger or lesser degree maintained.

Food and Faith

Today is Pure Monday for most Eastern Christians, that day of strict fast and abstinence by which we mark the beginning of Great Lent. As we have, over the past two weeks, gradually given up first meat and then dairy, and now enter into a time of rigorous askesis, it is always worth considering why it is we fast, asking not only the significance of our giving up food, but the significance of food itself for a people and a faith that has at its heart the eucharistic feast.

Three recent books by two very interesting Orthodox thinkers have helped us to further understand the connections between theology, gardening, and food: Vigen Guroian, Inheriting Paradise: Meditations on Gardening and Idem., The Fragrance of God (which I reviewed here), and Rod Dreher, Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots.

Now Cambridge University Press, later this spring, will be bringing out another volume attempting to explore some of these connections:

Norman Wirzba, Food and Faith: A Theology of Eating (CUP, 2011), 264pp.

The book has a foreword by Stanley Hauerwas.

The publisher provides us the following foretaste:

This book provides a comprehensive theological framework for assessing eating's significance, employing a Trinitarian theological lens to evaluate food production and consumption practices as they are being worked out in today's industrial food systems. Norman Wirzba combines the tools of ecological, agrarian, cultural, biblical, and theological analyses to draw a picture of eating that cares for creatures and that honors God. Unlike books that focus on vegetarianism or food distribution as the key theological matters, this book broadens the scope to include discussions on the sacramental character of eating, eating's ecological and social contexts, the meaning of death and sacrifice as they relate to eating, the Eucharist as the place of inspiration and orientation, the importance of saying grace, and whether or not there will be eating in heaven. Food and Faith demonstrates that eating is of profound economic, moral, and theological significance.

The Pope of Rome and the Orthodox Churches

Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: Ut Unum Sint and the Prospects of East-West Unity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2011), 280pp.



This is the only book of its kind to appear to address the only really serious remaining issue in the search for Orthodox-Catholic unity. Favorably reviewed by a Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Ukrainian Catholic, and several Roman Catholic scholars, this volume is a must-have for all who are interested in the search for healing the East-West split.

Orthodoxy and the Roman Papacy: have you got your copy today?

Christian-Muslim Dialogue

The dialogue between Christianity and Islam--such as it is--may well prove to be, as Theodore Pulcini wrote in a review in the most recent issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies of Mahmoud Ayoub's  A Muslim View Of Christianity: Essays on Dialogue ,the most determinative such dialogue of our time. It is a dialogue beset by any number of difficulties--including many who regard it as a waste of time--and so attempts to undertake just such a dialogue are to be welcomed, including this new book which the publisher just sent me:

John Renard, Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective (University of California Press, 2011), 344pp.

Renard teaches at Saint Louis University, and is the author of other recent works on Islam, including Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood and Tales of God's Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation.

About this new book, the publisher provides us the following description:

In light of the widespread public perception of incompatibility between Islam and Christianity, this book provides a much-needed straightforward comparison of these two great faith traditions from a broad theological perspective. Award-winning scholar John Renard illuminates the similarities as well as the differences between Islam and Christianity through a clear exploration of four major dimensions—historical, creedal, institutional, and ethical and spiritual. Throughout, the book features comparisons between concrete elements such as creedal statements, prayer texts, and writings from major theologians and mystics. It also includes a glossary of technical theological terms. For western readers in particular, this balanced, authoritative work overturns some common stereotypes about Islam, especially those that have emerged in the decade since September 11, 2001.

 I look forward to having this reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies.  

Dostoevsky's Fiction

The many writings of Dostoevsky continue--as I've noted previously--to offer a great deal to not only literary and religious scholars, but to readers in general. As a result, new studies regularly appear on his rich literary corpus. Now the Instituut voor Oosters Christendom has just published

Wil van den Bercken, Christian Fiction and Religious Realism in the Novels of Dostoevsky (Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies) (2011, 164pp).

About this book, the publisher provides the following blurb:

The study offers a literary analysis and theological evaluation of the Christian themes in the five great novels of Doestoevsky, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Adolescent, The Devils and The Brothers Karamazov.

This study is based on a balanced method of literary analysis and theological evaluation of the texts, avoiding free theological association as well as hermeneutical mixing with the non-literary writings of Dostoevsky. The study starts by discussing the main recent studies of Dostoevsky's religion. It then describes Dostoevsky's original literary method in dealing with religious issues - his use of paradoxes, contradictions and irony. 'Christian Fiction and Religious Realism in the Novels of Dostoevsky' ultimately deconstructs Dostoevsky as an Orthodox writer, and reveals that the Christian themes in his novels are not ecclesiastical or confessionally theological ones, but instead are expressions of a fundamentally Christian anthropology and biblical ethics.

The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (4)

One of the many charming features of  The Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, on which I have commented previously,



is the extent to which both handsome volumes are illustrated. Many if not most of the illustrations of various icons come from the hand of Eileen McGuckin. You may see many splendid examples of her work here.

Isaac the Syrian's Asceticism

Interest in the figures, practices, and writings of the Syriac Christian East continues to grow at the same time as we seem to be seeing a renewed interest in asceticism on the part of many Christians. Now a new book from Oxford University Press brings both together:

Patrik Hagman, The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh (Oxford Early Christian Studies) (OUP, 2010, 294p). )

The publisher provides the following details about this book:

The ascetic tracts of 7th century writer Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian) provide a wealth of material to better understand early Christian asceticism. By focusing on the role of the body in various ascetic techniques, such as fasting, vigils and prayer, as well as on the way the ascetic relates to the society a picture of asceticism as political activity emerges. For Isaac, the ascetic was to function as something like an icon, an image that showed the world the reality of God's Kingdom already in this life, by clearly indicating the difference between God's ways and men's.

Patrik Hagman reviews the scholarly discussion on asceticism of the last three decades, and then proceeds to analyse the texts of Isaac to reveal an emphasis on asceticism as a practice that is at the same time performative, transformative and bodily. This contrasts with the long-established conception of asceticism as based on a negative view of the body. Isaac displays a profound understanding of the way body and soul are related, demonstrating how the body can be used to transform the personality of the ascetic, and to communicate the change to the world, without the use of words.

The writings of Isaac offer a rare example of an extensive discussion of asceticism by a person who lived a radical ascetic life himself. Hagman's new study brings Isaac's fresh perspective to bear on an important, yet often overlooked, aspect of the Christian tradition.

Isaac of Nineveh has come in for renewed scholarly and popular attention in the last several years. Especially notable are previous works on him by Met. Hilarion Alfeyev.

Political Symbols in Russian History

Much nonsense is talked by those whose understanding of the relationship between Church and state in Russia has never been updated beyond polemical--and now discredited--bleatings about "caseropapism." Thanks to an ongoing resurgence of scholarly interest, we are now able to understand more deeply than previously the Church-state relationship in Russia--both in its current manifestation and its history. Neither is nearly as straightforward as one so often hears.

We now have a new book out shedding further light on these questions:

Lee Trepanier, Political Symbols in Russian History: Church, State, and the Quest for Order and Justice (Lexington Books, 2010,) x+197pp.

About this book the publisher tells us the following:

Political Symbols in Russian History is one of the few works that presents an analytical and comprehensive account of Russian history and politics between the years of 988 to 2005. From Kievan Rus to Putin's Russia, this book traces the development, evolution, and impact that political symbols have had on Russian society. By using Eric Vogelin's "new science of politics" as the human search for order and justice, Dr. Lee Trepanier provides a fresh and unique approach to the studies of political culture and civil society. For those interested in Russian politics and intellectual history, Political Symbols offers the most up-to-date scholarship on such political symbols and social institutions like the Russian Orthodox Church and State. This book presents an innovative approach to understanding symbols in the search for order and justice in Russian history.

Interested readers may also read the table of contents here. Look for this to be reviewed later this year in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies by Dr. Heather Bailey of the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Springfield.