Changes in Eastern European Christianity Since 1980

This book won't be out until December, and it's a Festschrift--the mileage of which always varies--but still it looks both interesting in itself and also to be one of a series of books released in the last year or so on the interactions of secular-spiritual liberal-conservative dynamics in churches: Liberals, Conservatives, and Mavericks: On Christian Churches of Eastern Europe since 1980. A Festschrift for Sabrina P. Ramet, eds. Frank Cibulka and Zachary T. Irwin (Central European University Press, 2022), 370pp. About this book the publisher tells us this: 

No Church is monolithic―this is the preliminary premise of this volume on the public place of religion in a representative number of post-communist countries. The studies confirm that within any religious organization we can expect to find fissures, factions, theological or ideological quarrels, and perhaps even competing interest groups, such as missionary workers, regular clergy versus secular clergy, and sometimes even competing ecclesiastical hierarchies. The main focus of the book rests on the divisions arising within select Christian Churches, as they confront the processes of secularization and atheization. The coverage area includes Russia and the Ukraine, East-Central Europe and South-Eastern Europe. Some chapters focus on individual clergy who challenge the mainstream of their given Church either from a more liberal or from a more conservative perspective, while others deal with the divisive forces impacting the religious organizations.

This festschrift to honor Sabrina Ramet's seminal contribution to the study of religion in the politics of the communist and post-communist world, brings together several generations of scholars from a variety of countries, both those well established in their fields of study as well as young promising academics.

Orthodoxy and Politics

With so much attention justifiably focused on the complete surrender of Russian Orthodoxy to Russian nationalism and its wars of aggression, including against Ukraine, now is a good time to draw attention to a number of recent resources giving wider critical analysis, including Tobias Koellner's Orthodox Religion and Politics in Contemporary Eastern Europe: On Multiple Secularisms and Entanglements (Routledge, 2020), 274pp.

This book explores the relationship between Orthodox religion and politics in Eastern Europe, Russia and Georgia. It demonstrates how as these societies undergo substantial transformation Orthodox religion can be both a limiting and an enabling factor, how the relationship between religion and politics is complex, and how the spheres of religion and politics complement, reinforce, influence, and sometimes contradict each other. Considering a range of thematic issues, with examples from a wide range of countries with significant Orthodox religious groups, and setting the present situation in its full historical context the book provides a rich picture of a subject which has been too often oversimplified.

Renewal Movements in Eastern European Orthodoxy

Set for release in early December is a soft-cover version of a book noted on here in 2017 when it was first published: Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe, eds., Djurić Milovanović, Aleksandra, and Radmila Radić (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), 339pp.

About this book the publisher tells us this:

This book explores the changes underwent by the Orthodox Churches of Eastern and Southeastern Europe as they came into contact with modernity. The movements of religious renewal among Orthodox believers appeared almost simultaneously in different areas of Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth and during the first decades of the twentieth century. This volume examines what could be defined as renewal movement in Eastern Orthodox traditions. Some case studies include the God Worshippers in Serbia, religious fraternities in Bulgaria, the Zoe movement in Greece, the evangelical movement among Romanian Orthodox believers known as Oastea Domnului (The Lord’s Army), the Doukhobors in Russia, and the Maliovantsy in Ukraine. This volume provides a new understanding of processes of change in the spiritual landscape of Orthodox Christianity and various influences such as other non-Orthodox traditions, charismatic leaders, new religious practices and rituals.

Orthodox Secularisms and Entanglements

Are there more tedious phrases on the lips of Christians today than "secularism" or "secular humanism"? The whingeing about these developments, which are rarely treated with any attendance upon questions of economics or the role Christianity itself has played in bringing us to the perceived present position, is not only off-putting but also misplaced. We would do well to meditate for a while upon Benjamin Fong's recent observation (discussed in some detail here) that

there is perhaps no more confused assertion, for a critical theorist, than that capitalist society is becoming increasingly 'secular'.

The situation, then, is not at all straightforward even in the Western world, where complaints about "secularism" usually mean nothing more than "declining church attendance" and increasing criticism of Christian beliefs and practices by people (e.g., Beto O'Rourke) who are NQOUCD ("not quite our class, dear").

How much more different and no less complex are the situations faced by several Orthodox countries in Europe treated in a recent book: Tobias Koellner, ed., Orthodox Religion and Politics in Contemporary Eastern Europe: On Multiple Secularisms and Entanglements (Routledge, 2018), 274pp.

About this book the publisher tells us the following:

This book explores the relationship between Orthodox religion and politics in Eastern Europe, Russia and Georgia. It demonstrates how as these societies undergo substantial transformation Orthodox religion can be both a limiting and an enabling factor, how the relationship between religion and politics is complex, and how the spheres of religion and politics complement, reinforce, influence, and sometimes contradict each other. Considering a range of thematic issues, with examples from a wide range of countries with significant Orthodox religious groups, and setting the present situation in its full historical context the book provides a rich picture of a subject which has been too often oversimplified.

Political Orthodoxies

When I interviewed Nicholas Denysenko recently, part of our discussion centred on the role of political theologies in shaping, and often deforming, contemporary Orthodoxy in Eastern Europe. One of the perennial questions, especially in Russia, is the extent to which the Church and state should be intermingled. That question and others will be addressed in a new book by the Orthodox scholar Cyril Hovorun, whom I have interviewed in the past, and hope to do so again for this new book whose timeliness could not be better in this season of Russian war (not only militarily but also theologically) against Ukraine, and virtual war between Moscow and Constantinople over Ukraine: Political Orthodoxies: the Unorthodoxies of the Church Coerced (Fortress Press, 2018), 224pp.

About this book the publisher tells us the following:

As an insider to church politics and a scholar of contemporary Orthodoxy, Cyril Hovorun outlines forms of political orthodoxy in Orthodox churches, past and present.

Hovorun draws a big picture of religion being politicized and even weaponized. While Political Orthodoxies assesses phenomena such as nationalism and anti-Semitism, both widely associated with Eastern Christianity, Hovorun focuses on the theological underpinnings of the culture wars waged in eastern and southern Europe. The issues in these wars include monarchy and democracy, Orientalism and Occidentalism, canonical territory, and autocephaly. Wrought with peril, Orthodox culture wars have proven to turn toward bloody conflict, such as in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.

Accordingly, this book explains the aggressive behavior of Russia toward its neighbors and the West from a religious standpoint. The spiritual revival of Orthodoxy after the collapse of Communism made the Orthodox church in Russia, among other things, an influential political protagonist, which in some cases goes ahead of the Kremlin. Following his identification and analysis, Hovorun suggests ways to bring political Orthodoxy back to the apostolic and patristic track.

Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements

I well remember in the late 1990s there was a big gathering in Rome of what were then being called "new ecclesial movements" in the Latin Church that had grown up in the latter half of the twentieth century and were, in some cases, doing some unique things in new or different ways outside of the traditional episcopal-monastic models and lines of control. Some of these went on to flame out in spectacular ways, some still court controversy (e.g., Opus Dei, with which I have some limited experience in Canada in the 90s), and some seem to be continuing in their good work.

Renewal movements within Orthodoxy crop up periodically throughout its history, too, often in response to some revolutionary change. One thinks, e.g., of the brotherhood movements in what is today Ukraine after the Counter-Reformation and Union of Brest, or those that grew up around the Russian Revolution. More recently a series of movements and initiatives have arisen in post-Soviet Russia, Ukraine, Greece and elsewhere--again not all of them successful, and some, from what I have heard informally, downright pathological.

Along comes a new scholarly collection to give us an overview of some of these groups: Orthodox Christian Renewal Movements in Eastern Europe, eds., A.D. Milovanović and Radmila Radić, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 339pp.

About this collection (whose table of contents you can view here) the publisher tells us the following:

This book explores the changes underwent by the Orthodox Churches of Eastern and Southeastern Europe as they came into contact with modernity. The movements of religious renewal among Orthodox believers appeared almost simultaneously in different areas of Eastern Europe at the end of the nineteenth and during the first decades of the twentieth century. This volume examines what could be defined as renewal movement in Eastern Orthodox traditions. Some case studies include the God Worshippers in Serbia, religious fraternities in Bulgaria, the Zoe movement in Greece, the evangelical movement among Romanian Orthodox believers known as Oastea Domnului (The Lord’s Army), the Doukhobors in Russia, and the Maliovantsy in Ukraine. This volume provides a new understanding of processes of change in the spiritual landscape of Orthodox Christianity and various influences such as other non-Orthodox traditions, charismatic leaders, new religious practices and rituals.

T of C: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319633534

The Quest for a Usable Past

We are living in a time when questions of memory, memorialization, and forgetting are perhaps more prevalent and more controverted than ever. I have for several years been examining these questions, and continue to do so in a variety of venues and with regard to a number of incidents and periods in particular, as readers of this blog will know.

This month will see another volume join the discussion: Claudia Florentina-Dobre and Cristian Emilian Ghita, eds., The Quest for a Suitable Past: Myths and Memory in Central and Eastern Europe (Central European University Press, 2017), 164pp.

About this book, the publisher tells us:

The past may be approached from a variety of directions. A myth reunites people around certain values and projects and pushes them in one direction or another. The present volume brings together a range of case studies of myth making and myth breaking in east Europe from the nineteenth century to the present day. In particular, it focuses on the complex process through which memories are transformed into myths. This problematic interplay between memory and myth-making is analyzed in conjunction with the role of myths in the political and social life of the region. The essays include cases of forging myths about national pre-history, about the endorsement of nation building by means of historiography, and above all, about communist and post-communist mythologies. The studies shed new light on the creation of local and national identities, as well as the legitimization of ideologies through myth-making. Together, the contributions show that myths were often instrumental in the vast projects of social and political mobilization during a period which has witnessed, among others, two world wars and the harsh oppression of the communist regimes.

Christianity and Democracy in the Shadow of Constantine

With an official release just days before the elections in November, this book's relevance will continue on after "our long national nightmare" of campaigning is temporarily concluded. (The American system desperately needs to follow the Anglo-Canadian example of campaigns legally limited to 60 days or fewer!) Christians, in this country as elsewhere, in this era as in all others, know that we are citizens of two kingdoms, and the earthly kingdom, no matter its polity, will never be perfect.

That being said, are some polities closer to the Christian ideal than others? Can anyone dispute that democracy, however debased it can often be, remains superior to the communist brutalities inflicted by various governments in various countries across Europe in the last century? As those countries--most of them predominantly Orthodox--continue to recover from communist wickedness, the task of thinking through still relatively new democratic forms of governance remains a vital one. This forthcoming collection, edited by George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou (author of the recent and related study, The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy) of Fordham University, will aid in that task: Christianity, Democracy, and the Shadow of Constantine (Fordham UP, 2016), 272pp.

About this book the press tells us:

The collapse of communism in eastern Europe has forced traditionally Eastern Orthodox countries to consider the relationship between Christianity and liberal democracy. Contributors examine the influence of Constantinianism in both the post-communist Orthodox world and in Western political theology. Constructive theological essays feature Catholic and Protestant theologians reflecting on the relationship between Christianity and democracy, as well as Orthodox theologians reflecting on their tradition's relationship to liberal democracy. The essays explore prospects of a distinctively Christian politics in a post-communist, post-Constantinian age.

The Orthodox Family in Eastern Europe and Elsewhere

North American Christians have been obsessing over "family values" for a long time, and often making rather a hash of them, not realizing--as Stanley Hauerwas pointed out more than twenty years ago--that the gospel is rather hard on "family values," calling sons and daughters to be prepared to sacrifice even parents and children in order to follow Christ. But the state of the family in the Orthodox world, especially post-communist Eastern Europe, has not been nearly as well studied until now. Nicu Dumitrascu has edited an impressive new collection, Christian Family and Contemporary Society (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 304pp.
About this book we are told that it: 

...integrates a broad spectrum of geographical, denominational, and interdisciplinary perspectives, and analyses the relationship between family and religion in its various contexts, both historical and contemporary.

Divided into four key parts, the contributors address first the biblical and patristic background of the family construct, while the second part reveals denominational and ecumenical perspectives on marriage and the family. The third part sketches a sociological profile of the family in some European countries and addresses pastoral and sacramental issues connected with it. The final part places the Christian family in the context of contemporary society.

There is an introduction from the Orthodox scholar John McGuckin, who writes:

The book represents cutting edge theological scholarship in a pastoral dimension of great urgency for Eastern Europe and the Orthodox world in general. It will have a wide zone of interest for theologians, pastors, sociologists and all interested in the state of family life, especially considered in a religious environment. Mostly, it will serve to be of importance and interest in theological schools, churches, pastoral care programs, and seminary environments.

The publisher gives us the following detailed table of contents:

PART I

1. The Synoptic Gospels and Family
Daniel Ayuch, University of Balamand, Lebanon
2. Pauline guidelines on Christian families in Greco-Roman social environment
Mato Zovkic, Sarajevo Theological Seminary, Bosnia-Herzegovina
3. The Christian family according to the Sacred Canons of the Orthodox Church
Elena Giannakopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
4. Glimpses into the Cappadocian Fourth-Century Family by Gregory the theologian
Pablo Argarate, University of Graz, Austria
5. The Christian Family and its problems in the light of St Basil's canons - a pastoral approach, Viorel Sava, Al.Ioan Cuza University of Iasi , Romania

PART II

6. The Plan of God for Marriage and the Family. A Roman-Catholic Perspective, Jose R. Villar, Universidad de Navarra, Spain
7. Marriage in the Catholic Church and the problems of interdenominational families, Przemyslaw Kantyka, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
8. Marriage and the Family between Tradition/traditions and contemporary life in Orthodox Spirituality
Nicu Dumitrascu, University of Oradea, Romania
9. Catholic and Lutheran Theology of Marriage. Differences and Resemblances
Piotr Kopiec, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland
10. Mixed Marriages in the Antiochian Orthodox Church: An Educational Approach to a Pastoral Challenge
Bassam Nassif, University of Balamand, Lebanon

PART III

11. The French Family in All Conditions: From the Best to the Worst
Michel Cozic, Centre Lenain de Tillemont, France
12. Families for Objects of Pastoral Care to Builders of Ecclesial Community?
Thomas Knieps - Port le Roi , KU Leuven, The Netherlands
13. Families in Finland between Idealism and Practice
Gunnar af Hällström, Abo Akademi University, Finland
14. The Theology of the Sacrament of Wedding in the Orthodox Church
Marian Vîlciu, Valahia University of Targoviste, Romania

PART IV

15. Discipline and Love - Biblical Roots of Modern Christian Parenting
María Ágústsdóttir, University of Iceland, Iceland
16. This is Our Family - Protestant Perspective
Margriet Gosker, The Netherlands
17. Orthodox Christian Family in the Present Day - Day Society
Stefan Florea, Valahia University of Targoviste, Romania
18. New Challenges in Religious Education of Generation Z (the youngest children)
Dana Hanesová, Matej Bel University, Slovakia
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index -

Warfare in Eastern Europe

For the military historians among us, and those interested in pivotal events that shaped many of the homelands of Eastern Christians, a recent book edited by Brian L. Davies, Warfare in Eastern Europe, 1500-1800 (Brill, 2012), 364pp.

About this book we are told:

This volume examines continuities and new developments in the conduct of warfare in early modern Eastern Europe from the early sixteenth century, when Ottoman imperial expansion reached the Danube and Crimea, to the late eighteenth century, when the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned out of existence and Russia rolled back Ottoman power from Ukraine and Moldavia. Contributors include specialists in Russian, Polish, Ottoman, Habsburg, Cossack, and Crimean Tatar history. The essays engage military history understood in the broadest sense and treat such subjects as taxation, recruitment, the sociology and culture of officer corps, logistics, command-and-control, and ideology as well as technology and tactics. The volume aims at facilitating comparative study of Eastern European military development across Eastern Europe and its points of divergence from military practice in the West.

Contributors are Virginia H. Aksan, Brian J. Boeck, Peter B. Brown, Brian Davies, Dariusz Kupisz, Erik Lund, Janet Martin, Oleg Nozdrin, Victor Ostapchuk, Geza Palffy and Carol Belkin Stevens.

Christianity and Modernity in Eastern Europe

Central European University Press has recently published a collection of articles edited by Bruce  Berglund, Brian Porter-Szűcs, Christianity and Modernity in Eastern Europe (CEUP, 2010), 380pp.

About this book the publisher tells us:

Religious history more generally has experienced an exciting revival over the past few years, with new methodological and theoretical approaches invigorating the field. The time has definitely come for this “new religious history” to arrive in Eastern Europe. This book e xplores the influence of the Christian churches in Eastern Europe's social, cultural, and political history. Drawing upon archival sources, the work fills a vacuum as few scholars have systematically explored the history of Christianity in the region.
The result of a three-year project, this collective work challenges readers with questions like: Is secularization a useful concept in understanding the long-term dynamics of religiosity in Eastern Europe? Is the picture of oppression and resistance an accurate way to characterize religious life under communism, or did Christians and communists find ways to co-exist on the local level prior to 1989? And what role did Christians actually play in dissident movements under communism? Perhaps most important is the question: what does the study of Eastern Europe contribute to the broader study of modern Christian history, and what can we learn from the interpretative problems that arise, uniquely, from this region? 

The whole volume looks fascinating, and will be reviewed in Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, but several articles stand out:

• Competing Concepts of “Reunification” behind the Liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Natalia Shlikhta)

• From Bottom to the Top and Back: On How to Build a Church in Communist Romania (Anca Şincan)