Listen to Your Elders

Interest in the Desert Fathers and Mothers remains high, as I have noted before, with many recent books testifying to this. Along comes another from John Wortley, Book of the Elders: Sayings of the Desert Fathers The Systematic Collection (Cistercian Press, 2012), 463pp.

About this book the publisher tells us: 

In the early part of the fourth century, a few Christians, mostly men and some women, began to withdraw from the world to retreat into the desert, there to practice their new religion more seriously. The person who aspired to renounce the world first had to find an elder, a person who would accept him as a disciple and apprentice. To his elder (whom he would address as abba father) the neophyte owed complete obedience; from his abba he would receive provisions (as it were) for the road to virtue. In addition to the abba s own example of living, there was the verbal teaching of the elders in sayings and tales, setting out the theory and practice of the eremitic life. In due course, these sayings (or apophthegmata) were written down and, later, collected and codified. The earliest attempts to codify tales and sayings are now lost. As the collection grew, they were first organized alphabetically according to the name of the abba who spoke them, in a major collection known as the Apophthegmata Patrum Alphabetica. A supplementary collection, the Anonymous Apophegmata, followed. Later, both collections were combined and arranged systematically rather than alphabetically. This collection was created sometime between 500 and 575 and later went through a couple of major revisions, the second of which appeared sometime before 970. This second one was published in an excellent new critical edition, with a French translation, in 1993. Now, in Book of the Elders, John Wortley offers an English translation of this collection, based entirely on the Greek of that text.

Theologians and Scientists in Dialogue

As we noted in the course of our interview, Orthodox theologians have not contributed as much or as frequently to contemporary debates and discussion between and among theologians and scientists. But the volume discussed in the interview, along with another recent one, go some considerable way to filling this lacuna: a recent collection containing at least two Orthodox contributions is Gerald O'Collins and Mary Ann Meyers, eds., Light from Light: Scientists and Theologians in Dialogue (Eerdmans, 2012), 256pp. 

About this book the publisher tells us:

In this volume renowned scientists and theologians discuss the concept of light as understood by modern physics and employed by biblical and patristic writers. Light from Light deepens readers' understanding of light as posited by recent cosmological and physical theories, drawing connections with "light" as a theological metaphor. Striking glimpses into new scientific developments offer additional insight and interest.

Orthodox contributors include John Behr and Kallistos Ware.  

Mater Si, Magistra No?

One of Stanley Hauerwas's great questions, which I like sometimes to use with students, is: "Who taught you that you're supposed to 'think for yourself '?" The irony, of course, is that accepting and learning that idea required you to be under the tutelage of another, to be thinking not by your own lights but only in obeisance to that which another told you to do. As Hauerwas continues, there is no idea more mindlessly conformist to the lazy liberalism of late modernity than this notion that you should think for yourself. Most students, he says, do not have minds worth making up, which is why they need to be trained. And that is why he says his first task in the classroom is to help students "think just like me"! 

Hauerwas's point, in his characteristic swashbuckling style, is simply one that the great moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre made in more  detail in his 1990 Gifford Lectures, Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, and Tradition, particularly the chapter on Augustine's emphasis on the teacher-student relationship as that of an apprentice of one under authority: the student must surrender to and trust the teacher's intent and ability to lead him to the truth, and only after the teacher has done so, shaping the student's capacity for reason and truth through virtue, will the student develop the ability to be an "independent reasoner."

For Christians, this job of learning how to think rightly about God has always been a central part of the task of the Church--whether through larger formal bodies like councils or through individual tutelage at the hands of a "theologian." In this latter regard, the wonderful story in Acts (8:26-40) about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch illustrates this rather nicely. The eunuch, reading Isaiah, is confronted by Philip: "Do you understand what you are reading? And he said: 'Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him." 

The Church has taught in different ways, but most obviously and authoritatively in ecumenical councils, two of which, of course, gave us their eponymous creed. For the Christian East, such a council remains the place for doctrinal statements, and any statements outside such a council have usually been rejected on those grounds alone. This, of course, is the major objection some in the East have to the filioque and to modern Marian doctrines taught by the Latin Church. (On more strictly theological, rather than methodological, grounds, the filioque today is seen by all responsible theologians, East and West, as no longer church-dividing. As for the Theotokos, as I have argued elsewhere, Orthodox theology--at least in Bulgakov's hands--can and does accept the notion of an immaculate conception; the Assumption likewise poses no serious problems--apart, that is, from it being defined by one man, the pope of Rome, on his own initiative outside an ecumenical council.)

More recently, in the modern Catholic Church, the notion of "magisterium" has developed in the last two centuries, an idea whose history Yves Congar so helpfully traced out in a number of articles and discusses also at point in his wonderful diaries. This Magisterium has an unenviable task to play, especially if you consider the ecumenical implications. On the one hand, many in the Christian East regard the heterodoxy taught in too many Catholic institutions to be an enormous scandal; but on the other hand, they also regard a strongly centralized papacy, capable of intervening anywhere in the world, as a great scandal, too ("scandal" in the original Pauline sense of σκάνδαλον: cf. I Cor. 1:23, inter alia.). Still, for all that, most recent Orthodox commentators whom I have read have said that the worst scandal, for them, is indeed the lack of coherent orthodoxy in Catholic theology: the widespread confusion caused in part by shoddy catechesis, the willful dissension and open heresy, and the failure to hold people to account. 

Prior to the recent declaration from Rome about Margaret Farley's book, the most recent and high-profile case of a magisterial intervention was here in the United States involving Elizabeth Johnson of Fordham University. That case, which garnered wide media publicity at the time (as all such cases do: cf. those of Charles Curran, Hans Kung and others), has now come in for some analysis in a collection of articles edited by Richard Gaillardetz of Boston College: When the Magisterium Intervenes: The Magisterium and Theologians in Today's Church (Liturgical Press, 2012).

About this book the publisher tells us:

Catholicism has always recognized the need for a normative doctrinal teaching authority. Yet the character, scope, and exercise of that authority, what has come to be called the magisterium, has changed significantly over two millennia. This book gathers contributions from leading Catholic scholars in considering new factors that must be taken into account as we consider the church's official teaching authority in today’s postmodern context.

Noted experts in their fields cover many intriguing topics here, including the investigation of theologians that has occurred in recent years, canonical perspectives on such investigations, the role that women religious have played in these issues, the place of the media when problems arise, and possible future ways forward.

The book concludes with “The Elizabeth Johnson Dossier,” a selection of documents essential to understanding the case of Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, whose work was recently the subject of severe criticism by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Contributors include Bradford Hinze, James Coriden, Colleen Mallon, Ormond Rush, Gerard Mannion, Anthony Godzieba, Vincent Miller, Richard Gaillardetz, and Elizabeth Johnson.

Monotheistic Reconciliation

Jews, Christians, and Muslims are both similar and different in their understanding of sin and reconciliation. A new book explores those similarities and differences: R. Bieringer and D. Bolton, Reconciliation in Interfaith Perspective: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Voices (Peeters, 2011), 216pp.


About this book, the publisher tells us:

Reconciliation in Interfaith Perspective: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Voices brings together scholars from Jewish, Christian and Islamic backgrounds to discuss the concept of reconciliation from within their respective traditions. These scholars focused on whether a common understanding on reconciliation is possible between the Abrahamic religions. In this volume the papers are arranged in two parts. The first contains generalized studies that approach the topic from a broad perspective. The second presents specialized studies that focus on specific issues like Islamic normalcy, the relationship between forgiveness and ethics or a comparison between Eastern and Western Christianity. The Jewish equivalent of reconciliation is discussed by Adele Reinhartz and Didier Pollefeyt. Reimund Bieringer, Roger Burggraeve, Yves De Maeseneer, David Pratt and Nico Schreurs focus on various aspects of the Christian understanding of reconciliation from many different perspectives. Finally Zeki Saritoprak and David Bolton as well as Marcia Hermansen and Julianne Funk Deckard deal with Muslim equivalents to reconciliation. The various studies brought together represent a great diversity of perspectives on reconciliation. While reconciliation is primarily a Christian concept coming from the Pauline tradition, it is important to see that similar ideas are present in both Judaism and Islam. Though differences remain, the contributions do demonstrate that not only is an Abrahamic trialogue on this subject possible, but that it is beneficial for all involved and that it has undoubted potential for further development.

The Franks and the Crusades

The Crusades, arguably the most abused period in history, continue to come in for welcome scholarly study, including in this recent book: Nirmal Dass, The Deeds of the Franks and Other Jerusalem-Bound Pilgrims: The Earliest Chronicle of the First Crusades (Rowman and Littlefield, 2011), 176pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

This new translation offers a faithful yet accessible English-language rendering of the twelfth-century Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolomitanorum, the earliest known Latin account of the First Crusade. Although an anonymous work, it has become the exemplar for all later histories and retellings of the First Crusade. As such, it is filled with vivid descriptions of the hardships suffered by the crusaders, with deeds of personal heroism, with courtly intrigues, with betrayal and cowardice, and with a relentless faith that would see the attainment of the desired goal: the capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders in 1095. There is a great deal of mystery surrounding this anonymous account, especially in regard to its authorship; place, date, and purpose of composition; narrative methodology; and point of view. It is also a sweeping tale that swiftly moves from the first preaching of the crusade by Pope Urban II, to the ragtag and ultimately doomed effort of the popular People's Crusade, and then the more disciplined and concerted campaign by the French and Norman nobility that led to the conquest of the Holy Land by the crusaders.
Based on the latest scholarly research, including a substantive introduction that explores the questions surrounding the Gesta and its historical context, this definitive translation will bring the First Crusade and its era to life for all readers.

Miracles, Byzantium, and Dumbarton Oaks

Anybody who knows anything about the study of all things Byzantine today knows that Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute of Harvard University, is North America's leading place for Byzantine scholars today. They publish their own journal as well as a series of books, and among the most recent offerings is Alice-Mary Talbot and Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, trans., Miracle Tales from Byzantium (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library/Harvard UP, 2012), 480pp.

I asked both translators for an interview about this book, and here are their thoughts. 

AD: Tell us about your background(s) 

(AMT) I am a classicist and Byzantine historian by training, with special interests in monasticism and the lives of saints. I have long advocated the importance of translating Byzantine texts in order to make this medieval Greek literature more accessible to students and the general public, especially those actively engaged in the practice of the Christian faith. To this end in the 1990s I served as general editor of three volumes of saints’ lives in translation published by Dumbarton Oaks.

(SFJ) I too am a classicist by training, though more on the late Roman than the Byzantine side. My work has focused primarily on the literary history of the fourth to seventh centuries, mainly in Greek, but also in Latin and Syriac. I find the intersection of all the late antique Christian languages quite a compelling topic -- translation of the Bible, sites of multilingualism, etc. -- and I think more and more work will be done on this field as students of Late Antiquity and Byzantium take up the study of other languages (Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, etc.).

AD: What led to work on this book in particular?

(AMT) In 2009 I was asked to become editor of the Byzantine Greek series of the new Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, a series which also includes texts and translations in medieval Latin and Old English. Each volume has the original-language text on the left-hand page and a modern English translation on the right hand side. I felt that a collection of Byzantine miracle tales would be a good choice to launch the Byzantine Greek series, and so invited Scott to collaborate with me, since I knew he was very familiar with the miracles of Saint Thekla. I myself had already prepared draft translations of the anonymous miracles of the shrine of the Virgin of the Spring (Pege) in Constantinople and of the miracles of Gregory Palamas in Thessalonike, and was anxious to revise them for publication.

AD: Take us behind the scenes, as it were, in the translation process. Were most of these texts in Greek, or other languages? What was the status of the manuscripts or other texts and editions from which you were working? 

(AMT) All the texts in the Byzantine series are in medieval Greek. For this volume we had the advantage of working with Greek texts that already existed in good editions, but for the miracles of the Pege I ordered a copy of the manuscript from the Vatican and checked it against the printed edition. This enabled me to correct a few minor errors in the Greek text. I hope that the new DOML series will make people as familiar with Byzantine literature as they are with its art.

AD: There seems to be an endless interest today in all things Byzantine, with book upon book being published on all aspects of the East-Roman Empire. What do you think explains this abiding, if not burgeoning, interest today? 

(AMT) Interest in Byzantium has been spurred by a number of factors, including the major exhibits of Byzantine art at the Metropolitan Museum in recent years. I also think more people are visiting Turkey, where they encounter Byzantine churches and monuments, and are inspired to read further about this long-lived medieval civilization.

(SFJ) My former advisor, Averil Cameron, a few years ago wrote an article called "The Absence of Byzantium" which addressed particularly the lack of a sophisticated understanding of what role Byzantium should play in the modern debates over the "clash of cultures". I will leave your readers to engage her political commentary, but I would say the interest of a popular readership in Byzantium is somewhat mixed. There is an awareness of Byzantium being between East and West, and being between ancient and modern, and that makes it attractive since it seems to speak to every possible imaginary world in some way. But Byzantium itself had its own forms of discourse, political and religious, and is not always the easiest field to get a handle on. One must learn these forms and develop a knack for them. I think the DOML series will go some way to putting this unique culture in front of more readers.

AD: For some miracles are the biggest stumbling block to Christianity--superstition and trickery to dupe the credulous. To others, miracles are the supreme proof of Christianity's truth. Where, broadly speaking, did the Byzantines come down on this? 

(AMT) Although Byzantine laypeople occasionally expressed their incredulity about the efficacy of miracle-working shrines, in general the population was extremely pious and accepting of miraculous events. In an age when professional medicine had made few advances from the Greco-Roman period, and physicians were often unable to cure illnesses, the devout often visited healing shrines after the doctors had given up hope. The working of miracles was important, although not essential, testimony to the holy powers of a saint, and thus the lives of saints very often include miracles performed both during the saint’s lifetime and after his or her death.

AD: Thekla seems to be increasingly popular today, with several recent books written about her. Tell us about her, her miracles, and legend. 

(SFJ) Thekla is a legendary female companion of St. Paul during his travels in Asia Minor (40s–50s CE). I say legendary because there is no contemporary historical evidence for her life. Her fame arose during the late second century, as shown by a famous piece of Christian apocrypha called the Acts of Paul and Thekla (c.180 CE). The fifth-century Life and Miracles of Thekla rewrites this original Acts of Paul and Thekla into a high Greek style and adds a new text of forty-six miracles contemporary to the fifth-century that Thekla worked posthumously. This later text was written in Seleukeia-on-the-Kalykadnos, the site of a flourishing pilgrimage and healing shrine devoted to Thekla in late antiquity. Figures as significant as the pilgrim Egeria and Gregory of Nazianzus visited the site during this period. This fifth-century collection marks the apex of literary interest in Thekla and describes numerous cures and other miracles she worked for the people of Seleukeia during this period. The Miracles of Thekla are highly important for religious, literary, and cultural historians alike and have often been mined by scholars of late antique Christianity. However, due to the lack of an English translation, the text has not reached its widest possible audience. It is no exaggeration to claim that Thekla was the most famous female saint in early Mediterranean Christianity, only to be eclipsed by the Virgin Mary as late as the end of the fifth century or so.

AD: For some in the Christian East, Gregory Palamas remains the most important late medieval figure--the "last of the Fathers." What is your assessment of his life and influence? What do these newly translated miracles tell us about him and his reputation and legacy?

(AMT) Palamas is indeed the most important of the late Byzantine theologians. Since his views on the doctrines of hesychasm prevailed and were confirmed by three church councils, he had major influence on the evolution of Greek Orthodoxy as it is still practiced today. The account of Palamas’s healing miracles presents him not as a theologian, however, but as a beloved bishop of Thessalonike, who cared greatly for his flock. One particular point of interest in Philotheos Kokkinos’s narrative is that he offers one of the best surviving descriptions of the way in which the cult of a holy man developed in late Byzantium.

AD: What other projects are you at work on currently?

(AMT) Together with two colleagues, I am completing a critical edition and annotated English translation of the Life of St. Basil the Younger, a holy man of 10th-c. Constantinople, who was unusual for residing in private homes rather than in a monastic community. The Life contains a celebrated account of a vision of the journey of the soul past the “tollhouses of the air” where demons exact payment for sins committed on earth; it also includes the lengthiest surviving
description in Byzantine literature of a vision of the celestial Jerusalem and the Last Judgment.

(SFJ) I am finishing up a book on the role of Greek among Eastern Christians for whom Greek may not have been their mother tongue. It is a cultural history of Greek as a lingua franca in the eastern Roman empire. This is both daunting and exciting because is requires direct interaction with a host of languages and literatures I was not originally trained to work with. Even as a dyed-in-the-wool classicist, I can admit that some of the most interesting things in late antique
literature are happening on the fringes of the traditional Greco-Roman world. As much as possible, I hope to encourage young classicists to learn languages like Syriac and Coptic and make that a part of their research. Eventually it won’t be optional anymore. Also, a big book I edited, the The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity, will be out late this summer.

This book takes some of the less acknowledged trends in late antiquity and puts them at the forefront: the broadened geographical and chronological scope, the engagement with multiple Eastern Christian languages, and new models of economy and society. I feel very proud of this book and the hard work our contributors put into it.

AD: Sum up what you were hoping to accomplish with 

this book and what you see as its merits.

(AMT) I included the miracles of the Pege shrine in the volume because they shed light on the visitation of healing shrines to obtain cures, and the development of a cult of the Virgin over many centuries. I chose the miracles of Palamas because I myself so enjoyed reading these vivid descriptions of the afflictions of ordinary citizens in Thessalonike, and details of their everyday lives. Philotheos Kokkinos was the most gifted hagiographer of late Byzantium, and writes with great empathy of the suffering of the men and women who were eventually healed by Palamas.

(SFJ) it was a great thrill for me to work with Alice-Mary. She is a marvelous translator and Byzantinist, and I learned a great deal from her during this project. For my part, that was a major motivation! But, of course, I hope this volume opens up the miracles of Thekla to a wider audience. It's a really diverse and compelling text, and the language itself is interesting as a transitional phase from classical to Byzantine Greek, in the midst of major social and religious changes surrounding Christianity in Late Antiquity.

The Eucharist East and West

Paul Bradshaw and Maxwell Johnson, of the University of Notre Dame's acclaimed program in liturgical studies, have just published another welcome volume: The Eucharistic Liturgies: Their Evolution and Interpretation (Liturgical Press, 2012), 448pp.

About this book, the publisher tells us:

In graduate theology programs across the United States and elsewhere, Maxwell Johnson’s The Rites of Christian Initiation: Their Evolution and Interpretation has become a standard text. Now Johnson and Paul Bradshaw together offer a companion volume on the historical development of the liturgy and theology of the Eucharist.
Like the earlier volume, this study proceeds historically, from the origins of the Eucharist up to our own day. Unlike most studies of this kind, it includes an introduction to and developmental summary of the diverse eucharistic liturgies of the Christian East. It also explores the various Western rites (Ambrosian, Gallican, and Mozarabic) in addition to the Roman. With regard to theological themes, the authors give special attention to the topics of real presence (including the “consecration” of the bread and wine) and eucharistic sacrifice, the most central and most ecumenically challenging issues since the sixteenth-century Reformations. Making the book especially teacher- and student-friendly are the summary points at the end of each chapter. Each chapter also contains an abundance of liturgical texts for ease of reference.

I look forward to having this book expertly reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, to which you will want to subscribe here.  

Apophasis and Dionysius

Studies on Dionysius the Areopagite, as I have noted before, continue to emerge regularly today. He remains an enormously influential figure on all theology, Eastern and Western. Along comes another study of his thought from Harvard University's Charles Stang: Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite: "No Longer I" (Oxford Early Christian Studies, 2012), 272pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

This book examines the writings of an early sixth-century Christian mystical theologian who wrote under the name of a convert of the apostle Paul, Dionysius the Areopagite. This 'Pseudo'-Dionysius is famous for articulating a mystical theology in two parts: a sacramental and liturgical mysticism embedded in the context of celestial and ecclesiastical hierarchies, and an austere, contemplative regimen in which one progressively negates the divine names in hopes of soliciting union with the 'unknown God' or 'God beyond being.'
Charles M. Stang argues that the pseudonym and the influence of Paul together constitute the best interpretive lens for understanding the Corpus Dionysiacum [CD]. Stang demonstrates how Paul animates the entire corpus, and shows that the influence of Paul illuminates such central themes of the CD as hierarchy, theurgy, deification, Christology, affirmation (kataphasis) and negation (apophasis), dissimilar similarities, and unknowing. Most importantly, Paul serves as a fulcrum for the expression of a new theological anthropology, an 'apophatic anthropology.' Dionysius figures Paul as the premier apostolic witness to this apophatic anthropology, as the ecstatic lover of the divine who confesses to the rupture of his self and the indwelling of the divine in Gal 2:20: 'it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.'

Building on this notion of apophatic anthropology, the book forwards an explanation for why this sixth-century author chose to write under an apostolic pseudonym. Stang argues that the very practice of pseudonymous writing itself serves as an ecstatic devotional exercise whereby the writer becomes split in two and thereby open to the indwelling of the divine. Pseudonymity is on this interpretation integral and internal to the aims of the wider mystical enterprise. Thus this book aims to question the distinction between 'theory' and 'practice' by demonstrating that negative theology-often figured as a speculative and rarefied theory regarding the transcendence of God-is in fact best understood as a kind of asceticism, a devotional practice aiming for the total transformation of the Christian subject.

Is it the Third or Fourth Rome--and Who's Counting?

Tensions in the Orthodox world, and the pretensions of the Russian Church, can both be understood in part as the result of the longstanding fantasy that sees Moscow as the "Third Rome." The first Rome was ostensibly replaced in May 330 by the second or New Rome, Constantinople, and--so this reasoning goes--Constantinople in turn was lost in May 1453 when it fell to the Muslims. Shortly after that, Providence ostensibly used Ivan III (married to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor) to raise up Muscovy and its main city, Moscow, to become an imperial power ("tsardom") to occupy the place abandoned or lost by the previous two imperial cities. Now comes a new book to look at the history of the city itself: Katerina Clark, Moscow, the Fourth Rome: Stalinism, Cosmopolitanism, and the Evolution of Soviet Culture, 1931-1941 (Harvard University Press, 2011), 432pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

In the early sixteenth century, the monk Filofei proclaimed Moscow the “Third Rome.” By the 1930s, intellectuals and artists all over the world thought of Moscow as a mecca of secular enlightenment. In Moscow, the Fourth Rome, Katerina Clark shows how Soviet officials and intellectuals, in seeking to capture the imagination of leftist and anti-fascist intellectuals throughout the world, sought to establish their capital as the cosmopolitan center of a post-Christian confederation and to rebuild it to become a beacon for the rest of the world.

Clark provides an interpretative cultural history of the city during the crucial 1930s, the decade of the Great Purge. She draws on the work of intellectuals such as Sergei Eisenstein, Sergei Tretiakov, Mikhail Koltsov, and Ilya Ehrenburg to shed light on the singular Zeitgeist of that most Stalinist of periods. In her account, the decade emerges as an important moment in the prehistory of key concepts in literary and cultural studies today—transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, and world literature. By bringing to light neglected antecedents, she provides a new polemical and political context for understanding canonical works of writers such as Brecht, Benjamin, Lukacs, and Bakhtin. Moscow, the Fourth Rome breaches the intellectual iron curtain that has circumscribed cultural histories of Stalinist Russia, by broadening the framework to include considerable interaction with Western intellectuals and trends. Its integration of the understudied international dimension into the interpretation of Soviet culture remedies misunderstandings of the world-historical significance of Moscow under Stalin.

Eusebius Reconsidered

Francesca Aran Murphy, to whose work I have drawn attention previously, has written a long and fascinating essay on the writing of history, especially in the person of John Lukacs. Now a recent book looks more broadly at the question of writing history, especially Christian history, in the person and from the pen of Eusebius: Sabrina Inowlocki and Claudio Zamagni, eds., Reconsidering Eusebius: Collected Papers on Literary, Historical, and Theological Issues (Vigiliae Christianae Supplements) (Brill, 2011), 254pp.

About this book the publisher tell us:

Over the last decades, Eusebius has been the focus of a great deal of attention. New light has been shed both on his writings and on his personality, which has led to a welcome re-assessment of his significance. As a result, he is no longer perceived as a mere compiler but as a powerful author who largely contributed to the construction of the orthodox Church's triumphalism. This volume seeks to contribute to the ongoing re-evaluation of Eusebius as an active participant to the construction of late antique history, theology, and literature. The result is an interdisciplinary collection of … read morearticles by an international team of scholars who offer innovative papers on one of the most important late antique author.

The Deliciously Dishy Diaries of Yves Congar

As I have noted before, I am an inveterate and unapologetic reader of diaries--the more indiscreet, the more "incorrect" in this stifling age of ideological conformity and shrieking demands for "apologies" at bogus offenses, the better. Evelyn Waugh's are immensely satisfying in this regard, as are Alan Clark's. For the theologian or liturgist, Alexander Schmemann's journals are fascinating and revealing in equal measure, though, as Michael Plekon has so helpfully noted, what we currently have in English is a heavily edited and truncated rescension of a much fuller French original.


Some may find all this "salacious" or whatever, but such objections are hard to regard as anything other than pious guff. We should be thankful for these records reveal to us the humanity of people whom some may be inclined to romanticize, lionize, or mythologize--and that is an effort greatly to be resisted. For those who may be, or more likely claim earnestly and piously to be, "scandalized" by the full humanity of a Waugh, Clark, Schmemann, or Congar, we must respond that God did not come to save plastic people or the plaster saints so often on offer in official hagiographies: He came to save us in our full humanity, "warts" and all. We must continually reject, as Newman aptly put it, the portrayal of Christian and holy living as merely a "clothes-rack of virtues." God saves real human beings as they really are: not as we wish or imagine them to be.


It is, then, an immensely happy development to have in English at long last the diaries of Yves Congar, one of the greatest theologians of the twentieth century who did so much to advance the cause of Orthodox-Catholic unity. One leisurely day when I was wasting time in the library not working on my dissertation, I read parts of these journals in the French original to great enjoyment. And now here, thankfully, splendidly, they are available in English: Yves Congar, My Journal of the Council, trans. Mary John Ronayne and Mary Cecily Boulding, ed. Denis Minns (Liturgical Press, 2012), xlvi+979pp.

If you have any interest in, inter alia: Congar's life, the developments in the Catholic Church during the twentieth century, the Second Vatican Council, Protestant-Catholic relations, Orthodox-Catholic relations, the ongoing deliberations between the Society of St. Pius X (whose founder, Marcel Lefebvre recurs in this narrative, and is a far more complex personality than the portrait of him as some lone little Dutch boy holding his finger in the dike against some imagined tide of Vatican II-sponsored "modernism" or whatever) and Rome today, the early thought and career of Joseph Ratzinger, Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, and much else besides, then you simply must buy this book. It is an absolute goldmine of insights into all the foregoing persons, events, and institutions, and into Congar himself, of course--and much, much else besides. It ranges from soaring insights--especially into ecclesiology, which was Congar's speciality--to such mundane comments after an overlong meeting of conciliar officials in Rome in September 1964 as "Afterwards, I went out for a pee."  

He records the most hilariously but soberly apt description of Pope Paul VI I have ever read: his tortured personality was a perfect combination of "Paul outside the walls, and Peter in chains." 


He records the searing, startling chauvinism of many Roman curialists, and there are many instances of cringe-making incidents of Catholics approaching their Orthodox brethren with good intentions but incredibly clumsy, if not outright offensive, ideas and gestures. He does not hesitate to denounce the interference of nuncios in the life of local churches, calling their actions "cretinous" and "STUPID" [sic]. He savages those whom he regards as odious: e.g., Giuseppe Cardinal Pizzardo, prefect of the dicastery for seminaries and Catholic universities, calling him "an imbecile, a sub-human...this wretched freak, this sub-mediocrity with no culture, no horizon, no humanity." Other people who really arouse his ire include fanatical Mariologists who want to argue that the Theotokos was virtually on a par with the Trinity: these ideas he denounces, inter alia, as "crack-brained" and the product of people like the Franciscan theologian Carlo Balić, of whom Congar says "What a clown!!!" 


He is even more incredulous and incendiary in recording the ludicrous ideas of some people who exalt the pope to a level not merely on a par with, but in fact a part of, the Trinity. Some of these ideas are thinly disguised idolatry (papolatry indeed!) and so absurd I am astonished anyone could hold them, let alone advance them with a straight face.  Such a lot of nonsense.  


He gives us especially interesting reflections on how the work of the council is often undermined by its liturgies: all the talk about communion, ecumenism, and collegiality is often undone, or at least severely undermined, by liturgies in which the pope is carried in like some potentate on a litter and the entire focus is not on Christ, or the gospels, but the pope with "his sedia and his flabella." Again and again Congar makes clear his contempt for what he calls sixteenth-century court ritual totally at odds with the spirit of the gospel and true nature of the Church.

For all his openness to the East, and for all the work he so helpfully did to lay the groundwork for an East-West rapprochement, Congar records a consistent complaint about the various Eastern liturgies--Melkite, Ukrainian, Ethiopian--celebrated during the council, complaining that (horrors!) they all went over an hour, "wearing everybody out" (Ukrainian), often involved "strange bawling" and "terribly painful" chant that "put me in mind of the ravings of drunkards" (Ethiopian), or otherwise made Congar, who was very sick and incredibly overworked during the council, rather impatient to get on with whatever of the myriad tasks were at hand. Still, at points (e.g., 16 October 1964, after a Melkite liturgy) he does say that the 75 minutes it took were an "object lesson. The East speaks through liturgical action."  

Anyway, I'll have more to post as I make my way through this delightful but massive tome. Buy it, read it, and be astonished by the details, awed by this man's bluntness (so much so that publication was embargoed until the year 2000), convulsed with laughter at some of his acerbic but accurate comments, bored by some of the tedious details of endless meetings, but delighted for hours on end with this delicious vin extraordinaire. 

Cretan Christians and the Ottomans

I'm currently doing research on the relationship between the French Revolution, nineteenth-century nationalism in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Orthodox Churches of those countries. So this book looks especially fascinating: Pinar Sinisik, The Transformation of Ottoman Crete: Revolts, Politics and Identity in the Late Nineteenth Century (Library of Ottoman Studies) (Tauris Academic Studies, 2011), 320pp.


About this book, the publisher tells us: 

The island of Crete under Ottoman rule in the nineteenth century saw successive revolts from its majority Christian population, who were set on union with the newly-independent Greece. This book offers an original perspective on the social, political and ideological transformation of Ottoman Crete within the nationalist context of the late nineteenth century. It focuses on the Cretan revolts of 1896 and 1897, and examines the establishment of the autonomous Cretan State and the withdrawal of Ottoman troops from the island in 1898. Based on Ottoman, British and American archival sources, the author demonstrates that, contrary to the standard view that the uprisings were merely an expression of discontent at Ottoman rule, Cretan Christians in fact aimed to radically change the socio-economic and political structure of Cretan society and to actually overthrow and expel the Ottoman administration. This book provides a deeper understanding of the Cretan experience, and of the wider politics of the Eastern Mediterranean, in the late nineteenth century.

New Books about Armenian Cilicia and Genocide

The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia has announced a forthcoming series of books in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. We shall pay attention to them as they appear.
 
They have also recently published a number of books of interest, which may be viewed here.

Their Catholicos has announced 2012 as the Year of the Armenian Book in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Armenian printing press.

In related matters, we have several new books about the dolorous events of 1915, the first being released last month: Taner Akçam, The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire (Princeton U Press, 2012), 528pp.

The author, we are told, is actually Turkish, and one of the first and few Turkish academics to tackle this topic openly. About this book the publisher tells us:

Introducing new evidence from more than 600 secret Ottoman documents, this book demonstrates in unprecedented detail that the Armenian Genocide and the expulsion of Greeks from the late Ottoman Empire resulted from an official effort to rid the empire of its Christian subjects. Presenting these previously inaccessible documents along with expert context and analysis, Taner Akam's most authoritative work to date goes deep inside the bureaucratic machinery of Ottoman Turkey to show how a dying empire embraced genocide and ethnic cleansing. 

Although the deportation and killing of Armenians was internationally condemned in 1915 as a "crime against humanity and civilization," the Ottoman government initiated a policy of denial that is still maintained by the Turkish Republic. The case for Turkey's "official history" rests on documents from the Ottoman imperial archives, to which access has been heavily restricted until recently. It is this very source that Akam now uses to overturn the official narrative.

The documents presented here attest to a late-Ottoman policy of Turkification, the goal of which was no less than the radical demographic transformation of Anatolia. To that end, about one-third of Anatolia's 15 million people were displaced, deported, expelled, or massacred, destroying the ethno-religious diversity of an ancient cultural crossroads of East and West, and paving the way for the Turkish Republic.By uncovering the central roles played by demographic engineering and assimilation in the Armenian Genocide, this book will fundamentally change how this crime is understood and show that physical destruction is not the only aspect of the genocidal process.

A second book, a collection of essays, furthers our exploration of the events of 1915: Ronald Grigor Suny et al, eds., A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire (Oxford U Press, 2011), 464pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

One hundred years after the deportations and mass murder of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, and other peoples in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, the history of the Armenian genocide is a victim of historical distortion, state-sponsored falsification, and deep divisions between Armenians and Turks. Working together for the first time, Turkish, Armenian, and other scholars present here a compelling reconstruction of what happened and why. 
This volume gathers the most up-to-date scholarship on Armenian genocide, looking at how the event has been written about in Western and Turkish historiographies; what was happening on the eve of the catastrophe; portraits of the perpetrators; detailed accounts of the massacres; how the event has been perceived in both local and international contexts, including World War I; and reflections on the broader implications of what happened then. The result is a comprehensive work that moves beyond nationalist master narratives and offers a more complete understanding of this tragic event.

A third recent book also treats the genocide: Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History (I.B. Tauris, 2011), 1008pp. 

About this book we are told:

The Armenian Genocide was one of the greatest atrocities of the twentieth century, an episode in which up to 1.5 million Armenians lost their lives. In this major new history, the renowned historian Raymond Kévorkian provides an authoritative account of the origins, events and consequences of the years 1915 and 1916. He considers the role that the Armenian Genocide played in the construction of the Turkish nation state and Turkish identity, as well as exploring the ideologies of power, rule and state violence. Crucially, he examines the consequences of the violence against the Armenians, the implications of deportations and attempts to bring those who committed the atrocities to justice.Kévorkian offers a detailed and meticulous record, providing an authoritative analysis of the events and their impact upon the Armenian community itself, as well as the development of the Turkish state.  This important book will serve as an indispensable resource to historians of the period, as well as those wishing to understand the history of genocidal violence more generally.

And finally, set for release in November, is a second volume in a trilogy by Seta B. Dadoyan, The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World: Armenian Realpolitik in the Islamic World and Diverging ParadigmsCase of Cilicia Eleventh to Fourteenth Centuries (Transaction Publishers, 2012), 310pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

In the second of a three-volume work, Seta B. Dadoyan explores the Armenian condition from the 970s to the end of the fourteenth century. This period marked the gradual loss of semi-autonomy on the traditional mainland and the rise of Armenian power of diverging patterns in southeastern Asia Minor, north Syria, Cilicia, and Egypt.

Dadoyan’s premise is that if Armenians and Armenia have always been located in the Middle East and the Islamic world, then their history is also a natural part of that region and its peoples. She observes that the Armenian experience has been too complicated to be defined by simplistic constructs centered on the idea of a heroic, yet victimized nation. She notes that a certain politics of historical writing, supported by a culture of authority, has focused sharply on episodes and, in particular, on the genocide.

For her sources, Dadoyan has used all available and relevant (primary and secondary) Armenian sources, as well as primary Arab texts and sources. This book will stimulate re-evaluation of the period, and re-conceptualizing Armenian and Middle Eastern histories.

Violence as Worship

As I have noted before, in discussing the important work of William Cavanaugh, the whole question, in the modern period, of what constitutes "religion," especially vis-à-vis the modern nation-state, is far more difficult and complicated than many realize. Along comes a recent work of interest to Eastern Christians because of the countries it examines in analyzing the categories of "religion," worship, violence, etc.: Hans Kippenberg, Violence as Worship: Religious Wars in the Age of Globalization (Stamford University Press, 2011), 296pp.
About this book the publisher tells us:

Today's religious violence challenges our understanding of religion. Do we need special notions such as 'cult' and 'fundamentalism' to come to terms with it? Does monotheism, with its claim to exclusivity, necessarily generate intolerance? Kippenberg rejects the idea that violence and religion are inherently connected and instead considers the actions, motives, and self-perceptions of real people. He shows that the violent outcomes of the American tragedies of Jonestown and Waco were not inevitable. In both cases, law enforcement, the media, and anti-cult networks believing in the necessity of liberation by force stood in opposition to communities who chose to idealize martyrdom. The same pattern applies to other major cases of religious violence since the 1970s: the Iranian revolution; the birth of Hezbollah in Lebanon; the conflict between Jews, Muslims, and American Protestants that grew out of disputes between Israel and its neighboring states; and the attacks of 9/11. In the age of globalization, religious ties fill the vacuum left by the weakening of traditional loyalties and by states that do not foster social solidarity. Lest we believe we are condemned to a violent future, Violence as Worship concludes with a discussion on prevention. Religion may inspire many conflicts, but it is also a resource that can be mobilized to avert them.

You Traitorous Bastard!

As we continue to learn more about the encounter--ancient, medieval, and modern--between Christianity (both Eastern and Western) and Islam, we realize that the history is far more complicated than partisans, polemicists, or politicians would have us believe. What to make, e.g., of the Crimean War, which pitted two Christian powers against another Christian power and on the side of the Islamic Ottoman Empire--France and Britain with the Ottomans and against the Orthodox Russian Empire? 

A recent book looks at another unexpected alliance between an ostensibly Christian power and an ostensibly Islamic one, revealing, if nothing else, that--as the psalmist put it--you should put not your trust in princes: Christine Isom-Verhaaren, Allies with the Infidel: The Ottoman and French Alliance in the Sixteenth Century (Tauris Academic, 2011), 304pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

In 1543, the Ottoman fleet appeared off the coast of France to bombard and lay siege to the city of Nice. The operation, under the command of Admiral Barbarossa, came in response to a request from François I of France for assistance from Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent in France’s struggle against Charles V, the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain. This military alliance between mutual "infidels," the Christian French King and the Muslim Sultan, aroused intense condemnation on religious grounds from the Habsburgs and their supporters as an aberration from accepted diplomacy. Memories of the Crusades were, after all, still very much alive in Europe and an alliance with "the Turk" seemed unthinkable to many. Allies with the Infidel places the events of 1543 and the subsequent wintering of the Ottoman fleet in Toulon in the context of the power politics of the sixteenth century. Relying on contemporary Ottoman and French sources, it presents the realpolitik of diplomacy with "infidels" in the early modern era. The result is essential reading for students and scholars of European history, Ottoman Studies, and of relations between the Christian and Islamic worlds.

Active Participation

Oxford University Press continues to impress with the books it publishes in its series on Early Christian Studies. One of its latest offerings is that of Torstein Theodor Tollefsen, Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought (Oxford, 2012), 240pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

Activity and Participation in Late Antique and Early Christian Thought is an investigation into two basic concepts of ancient pagan and Christian thought. The study examines how activity in Christian thought is connected with the topic of participation: for the lower levels of being to participate in the higher means to receive the divine activity into their own ontological constitution. Torstein Theodor Tollefsen sets a detailed discussion of the work of church fathers Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and Gregory Palamas in the context of earlier trends in Aristotelian and Neoplatonist philosophy. His concern is to highlight how the Church Fathers thought energeia (i.e. activity or energy) is manifested as divine activity in the eternal constitution of the Trinity, the creation of the cosmos, the Incarnation of Christ, and in salvation understood as deification.      

• Focuses on the ancient background of an important topic in modern Orthodox spirituality, the concept of divine energies and how created beings may participate in these
• Provides a detailed survey of these theological concepts in the thought of Gregory of Nyssa, Dionysius the Areopagite, Maximus the Confessor, and Gregory Palamas
• Clearly shows both the continuities and the discontinuities between pagan and Christian thought
• Explains the relevance of late antique and Byzantine thinking for modern Orthodox theology

Byzantium and Bulgaria

Studies on all things Byzantine continue to pour forth today in greater numbers than ever before. Along comes one such study by Panos Sophoulis, Byzantium and Bulgaria, 775-831 (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450) (Brill, 2011), 481pp. + 13 ill. 
 

About this book the publisher tells us:

This innovative survey of Byzantium's relations with pre-Christian Bulgaria in the late eighth and early ninth century offers an entirely new framework for understanding the developments that shaped one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the early Medieval Balkans. Unlike previous studies, it integrates the surviving literary sources with the ever-growing archaeological record to construct a comprehensive narrative account of the Byzantine-Bulgar conflict for political mastery in the region. Moreover, the analysis of the changing socio-political structures of Bulgaria provides a basis for understanding its transformation from a loose tribal confederation into a stable monarchy. While this is primarily a regional study, focusing on the territories and peoples controlled by the two competing powers, it is also of interest to students of the Frankish, Arab and steppe-nomad worlds, since the relations between Byzantium and Bulgaria are put into a wider international context.

New Series on Orthodoxy in the 21st Century

The World Council of Churches has just announced the publication of a new series of books, "Doxa and Praxis: Exploring Orthodox Theology."

The first two publications will be released later this summer. The first is by the well-known Orthodox theologian Metropolitan Kallistos Ware and is titled Orthodox Theology in the Twenty-First Century. The second book is by the series editor, Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Orthodoxy and Political Theology.

The WCC has also recently published several books of interest to Eastern Christians, including the edited collection of essays, Just Peace: Orthodox Perspectives (WCC Publications, 2012).

About this book the publisher tells us:

Despite their largely pacifist origins, Christianity and Christian traditions can claim only limited success in their efforts to conciliate conflict, avoid violence, and stop war. The eminent contributors to this deeply reflective book believe it is time to look to the East, to the very different perspectives among Orthodox Christians, on issues of war and the justice that must undergird peace. From Europe and Russia, as well as the Middle East and Asia, two dozen Orthodox theologians and church people cast the classic dilemmas of war and peace, military service, just war, and religious nationalism into a deeper theological framework. The book examines: the historical characterizations of Orthodoxy in a variety of settings and nations (Greece, Oriental Christianity, Bulgaria, Armenia, Western Europe, etc.); dilemmas of nationalism for the churches; the Russian Orthodox Church and the military; the invasion of Iraq; globalization; fundamentalism; interreligious tensions; the ecclesial vocation of peacemaking.

Also just released in January of this year is another edited collection,  Building Bridges: Between the Orthodox and Evangelical Traditions (WCC Publications, 2012), 268pp.
About this book the publisher tells us:

In recent decades, Evangelicals and Orthodox Christians have encountered each other more widely than ever before. Relationships have often been difficult and dogged by misunderstanding. How can two Christian traditions, which seem so different, begin to understand each other and find common ground? Is it possible for Orthodox and Evangelical Christians to move from competition to co-operation and develop relationships marked by mutual respect? What are the key theological issues between them which need to be faced? And what might these two traditions be able to offer together to the whole church? Building Bridges presents papers, reports, and reflections from a remarkable series of seminars, bringing together representatives of these streams of Christianity. Held at Bossey, Switzerland, between 2000 and 2006, the seminars built on earlier consultations and brought together theologians and church leaders from a wide range of Evangelical and Orthodox churches. The topics explored include the nature of salvation, the role and place of Holy Scripture, the nature and purpose of the church, and what it means to be human. Building Bridges will be a stimulus to further dialogue between two traditions of considerable theological and demographic significance.

Finally, released last November is a third collection of essays, Many Women Were Also There: the Participation of Orthodox Women in the Ecumenical Movement (WCC Press, 2011), 244pp. About this book the publisher tells us:

In this book, the distinctive voices of Orthodox Christian women wrestle with the realities of their lives and contexts - but also of their faith - within the long and ambiguous legacy of the Christian tradition for women. Keenly aware of the insights and shortcomings of Orthodox Christianity, they reflect the historical, theological, and practical aspects of women's experience. Drawing especially from North America, Europe, and Greece, the book includes noted theologians and biblical scholars, as well as women in ministry, counseling, political science, and public service. Together they envision a future in which Christian life delivers on the promise of those early days when "many women were with him."

Theodoret of Cyrrhus

Happily today we are seeing an expanding interest in Christianity in Syria in the first millennium. A recent publication continues this development: Adam M. Schor, Theodoret's People: Social Networks and Religious Conflict in Late Roman Syria (Transformation of the Classical Heritage) (University of California Press, 2011), 360pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

Theodoret's People sheds new light on religious clashes of the mid-fifth century regarding the nature (or natures) of Christ. Adam M. Schor focuses on Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, his Syrian allies, and his opponents, led by Alexandrian bishops Cyril and Dioscorus. Although both sets of clerics adhered to the Nicene creed, their contrasting theological statements led to hostilities, violence, and the permanent fracturing of the Christian community. Schor closely examines council transcripts, correspondence, and other records of communication. Using social network theory, he argues that Theodoret's doctrinal coalition was actually a meaningful community, bound by symbolic words and traditions, riven with internal rivalries, and embedded in a wider world of elite friendship and patronage.

One of the world's leading scholars of Syriac Christianity, Susan Ashbrook Harvey of Brown University, says of this book:

Adam Schor has written a lively and incisive study of a notoriously difficult era. Mining the substantial (but greatly understudied) letter collections of the times, applying the insights of network theory, and boldly taking on the entire corpus of Theodoret's writings--an ambitious project in itself--Schor has produced strikingly fresh material throughout. With rich insight and rigorous attention to detail, Schor opens new vistas on the late antique landscape. Thought-provoking at every turn!

The Petrine Reign

Peter the Great continues to provoke attention from historians and scholars, including theologians who have recently been re-evaluating his rule and its impact on the Orthodox Church in the Russian Empire. Along comes a new book to deepen our understanding: Robert Collis, The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725 (Brill, 2012), 633pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

The reign of Peter the Great (1672-1725) was marked by an unprecedented wave of reform in Russia. This book provides an innovative reappraisal of the Petrine Age, in which hitherto neglected aspects of the tsar’s transformation of his country are studied. More specifically, the reforms enacted by the tsar are assessed in light of the religious notion of instauration – a belief in the restoration of Adamic knowledge in the last age – and a historical and cultural analysis of the impact of Western esotericism at the Russian court. This book will be appeal to scholars of Russian history and religion, as well as being of wider interest to those studying Western esotericism in Early Modern and eighteenth-century Europe.