"Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your
mattress,/
And you shall sleep restful nights" (St. Ephraim the Syrian).


Showing posts with label Logos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Logos. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

LOGOS: Spring and Fall 2013

I am already much at work on the fall issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies (to which you can and should subscribe here), and wanted to offer updates on both the spring issue now and, in a few days, on the fall issue as its shape becomes clearer.

The spring issue has been very much delayed--the first long delay in over a decade since I started editing the journal and ruthlessly enforcing deadlines--because shortly before finishing up the spring issue two major events struck: the managing editor and publisher, who is concomitantly the director of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, finished his second and final term in office in Ottawa and departed for new work in Edmonton; and then, very sadly, Basil Onuferko, the son of one of our layout editors, Fr. Andrew Onuferko, was killed in an airplane crash. The whole spring issue ground to an understandable halt and was only this month capable of being finished. I apologize for the delay, but know that everyone who has asked about the spring issue has been most understanding and compassionate in view of this tremendously sad news. The issue should be in the mail to you in the next few weeks, and it will contain:

Necrologies:

Bishop Julian (Voronovsky) 1936–2013

Bishop Michael (Hrynchyshyn), CSsR (1929–2012)

Articles:

"The Surprising Eastern Connection of Pope Francis" by Andriy Chirovsky. Pope-watchers will want to pay particular attention to this article because it reveals some hitherto unknown and little known details about the extent to which Jorge Bergoglio, as a student, Jesuit seminarian, priest, and archbishop, was influenced by the Christian East through contacts with Ukrainian Catholic priests and hierarchs.

"On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit: Sergius Bulgakov and the Theotokos" by Walter Sisto. The article's abstract:
The pneumatology and Mariology of Sergius Bulgakov, widely believed to be the most important Russian theologian of the twentieth century, is here examined to discover the links between the Holy Spirit and the Mother of God, and the implications for the divinization of humanity, especially as we share in the sufferings of Mary and Christ, and “so complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” These connections are developed in Bulgakov’s controversial sophiology whose development and implications for both Trinitarian theology and ecumenical methodology are discussed.

"Fractured Orthodoxy in Ukraine and Politics: The Impact of Patriarch Kyrill’s 'Russian World'” by Nicholas E. Denysenko. The article's abstract:
This article analyzes the intersection of “church” and “state” in Ukraine and the many complexities of a situation involving a multiplicity of both ecclesial and political actors: in the latter category, both Russia and Ukraine itself, in the context of a globalized world; in the former category the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate; the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (in both pre- and post-war iterations); the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church; and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate. Adding to the complexity of these relations among these churches and between these states is a new theopolitical ideology being sponsored by the current Patriarch Kiril of Moscow under the heading of a “Russian world,” which is supposed to unite at least East-Slavic Orthodoxy (if not other Orthodox Churches) and their host countries against the perceived threats of “Western” globalization. This “Russian world” is analyzed here for what it says, what reactions it has evoked among the four major churches in Ukraine; and for what it might portend for Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and well as relations between Moscow and Constantinople in the ongoing struggle for understanding of global primacy among Orthodox hierarchs.

"The Role and Meaning of Miracles and Relics in the Christological Thought of Sergius Bulgakov" by Robert F. Slesinski. The abstract:
Bulgakov’s Christology (particularly in his recently translated The Lamb of God) is here examined for what it says about miracles and relics, including the relics of the bodies of saints and the body of Christ himself, both of which are treated by Bulgakov not as mere “corpses” but as still life-bearing bodies capable of resurrection. In addition, the category of miracle in Bulgakov is larger than healings or other manifestations of divine power: the very creation of the world is itself a miracle, and considered by Bulgakov in a teleological fashion in the context of Divine Providence. In this context, miracles are seen by Bulgakov not as violations of some material-spiritual boundary but as the singular outworking of divine purpose in the world. Miracles are given not to overwhelm or coerce people into belief, but entirely as invitations to follow Christ and share in the glorification of the Father. All this is tied into a unique and challenging discussion about the dyophysite nature of Christ and the relation in Him of His two natures, especially in their encountering death.

Notes, Essays, Lectures:

"Transfiguring Voluptuous Choice: An Eastern Orthodox Approach to Marriage as Spiritual Path" by Stephen Muse 

"The Body of the Living Christ: The Patristic Doctrine of the Church Report on a Recent Symposium at Princeton University and Seminary" by Seraphim Danckaert

"Reclaiming Psychology?" by Gregory Jensen

Book Reviews:

Michael Plekon reviews Diana Butler Bass, Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening.
 
He also reviews  Lillian Daniel, When "Spiritual but Not Religious" Is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church.

David Bertaina (whom I interviewed here) reviews David Wilmshurst, The Martyred Church: A History of the Church of the East.

Thomas Weinandy reviews Khaled Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine. I interviewed Anatolios here and commented on his book here and especially here.

David Fagerberg reviews William C. Mills, Church, World, and Kingdom: The Eucharistic Foundation of Alexander Schmemann's Pastoral Theology. I interviewed Mills here about this book. Further interviews with him here and here.

Matthew Levering reviews Marcus Plested's superb new book, Orthodox Readings of Aquinas. I reviewed the book here, and interviewed the author here.

Jack Turner reviews two books in the field of Orthodoxy and science: Efthymios Nicolaidis, Science and Eastern Orthodoxy: From the Greek Fathers to the Age of Globalization.

Turner also reviews Danil Buxhoeveden and Gayle Woloschak (whom I interviewed here), eds., Science and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Fall Issue of LOGOS: Update

The fall issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies is complete and will shortly be going to press. It contains many fascinating articles, essays, and reviews, including:

Three substantial and original articles all treat diverse topics, beginning with the priest-historian Oliver Herbel, "An Old World Response to a New World Situation: Greek Clergy in the Service of the Russian Mission to America."

Michael Plekon has put together a fascinating portrait of the social thought of the Paris School, focusing in particular on Paul Evdokimov, Sergius Bulgakov, and Maria Skobtsova

Maria Teresa Fattori looks at "Benedict XIV and His Sacramental Policy on the Eastern Churches (1740-1758)."

Myroslaw Tataryn writes on "Healing and Holiness."

Several other fascinating shorter essays will also be featured, including one by the priest Robert Wild, of Madonna House, treating the question of the place of Catherine de Hueck Doherty in Russia's so-called Silver Age and its contribution to East-West rapprochement.

We also have our usual large array of book reviews. Logos, in fact, reviews in just one issue more new books in Eastern Christian studies than the next six comparable journals (at least) combined.


Reviews include one from Michael Plekon of Changing Churches: An Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran Theological Conversation, whose authors, Mickey Mattox and A.G. Roeber, I interviewed here. Plekon offers a critical but generally appreciative review.


Plekon also reviews Le jour de Saint-Esprit by Mother Maria Skobtsova (Sainte Marie de Paris), published by Cerf in Paris in 2011.


Gloria Dodd, a Mariologist at the University of Dayton's international Marian Institute, reviews Leslie Brubaker and Mary B. Cunningham, The Cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium, noting that this is a rich collection of diverse scholarly articles treating liturgics, archaeology, iconography, and much else besides.

Matthew Baker reviews the latest in the "Russian front" translated by Boris Jakim and published by Eerdmans: Sergius Bulgakov, Relics and Miracles: Two Theological Essayson which I briefly commented here. Baker notes the significance of the publication of the original in 1918, just as the iconoclastic work of the Russian Revolution was in full swing--and also the year Bulgakov was himself ordained a priest. Baker calls this book of Bulgakov's "highly recommended."

The Greek Orthodox canonist Lewis Patsavos, emeritus of Holy Cross College in Brookline, reviews the most recent book from the prolific and influential Russian Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, Orthodox Christianity Volume I: The History and Canonical Structure of the Orthodox Churchnoting that this is a valuable and important book but one with a definite and limiting Russian-centred focus.


Prof. Margaret Schatkin of Boston College and Seongmoon Ahn, of Boston University, together review the collection of essays Reading Patristic Texts on Social Ethics: Issues and Challenges for Twenty-First-Century Christian Social Thought.This collection, edited by Johan Verstraeten, Johan Leemans, and Brian Matz, was published last year by Catholic University of America Press.


Brian Butcher reviews the latest book of the Armenian theologian Vigen Guroian, The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox KeyButcher appreciates the uniqueness and richness of this volume and its approach, but also notes it has some areas that give one pause.

The Byzantine liturgical scholar, and all-around fine fellow Nicholas Denysenko, reviews the translation by Steven Hawkes-Teeples (whom I interviewed here) of The Liturgical Commentaries: St. Symeon of Thessalonika.

Helene Moussa, the curator of St. Mark's Coptic Museum in Toronto, reviews a very timely book from Vivian Ibrahim, The Copts of Egypt: The Challenges of Modernisation and Identity. Moussa says that "this book is without any doubt a very significant contribution to a critical understanding of Copts and the Egyptian nation and state, as well as to the history of Middle Eastern Christians."

Moussa also reviews the scholarly collection, edited by Sharon Gerstel and Robert Nelson, Approaching the Holy Mountain: Art and Liturgy at St Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai.

The Eastern canonist Alexander Laschuk reviews David Heath-Stade's Marriage as the Arena of Salvation: An Ecclesiological Study of the Marital Regulation in the Canons of the Council in Trullo.

Habtemichael Kidane reviews Mibratu Kiros Gebru's Miaphysite Christology.


Christopher Johnson (whom I interviewed here) has a long review essay on Orthodox spirituality as treated in several books by John Romanides and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos; and a shorter review of Veronica della Dora's fascinating book Imagining Mount Athos: Visions of a Holy Place, from Homer to World War II, which the publisher just brought out in a very affordable paperback. I interviewed Dora here.


Notre Dame's scholar of Islam, Gabriel Said Reynolds, whom I hope to interview later this year about his new book noted here, reviews David Bertaina's recent book,  as I noted here. I interviewed Bertaina last summer. 

Friday, August 3, 2012

Essays and Books in Logos: Fall 2012

It's August and so a young editor's thoughts turn naturally to the upcoming fall issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. We have received a number of interesting new scholarly articles which are making their way through the channels of editorial and peer-review just now. One that has been accepted already is by the priest-historian Oliver Herbel, "An Old World Response to a New World Situation: Greek Clergy in the Service of the Russian Mission to America."

Several fascinating shorter essays will also be featured, including one by Christopher Johnson (noted below) and another by the priest Robert Wild, of Madonna House, treating the question of the place of Catherine de Hueck Doherty in Russia's so-called Silver Age and its contribution to East-West rapprochement.

We also have our usual large array of book reviews. Logos, in fact, reviews in just one issue more new books in Eastern Christian studies than the next six comparable journals (at least) combined.


Reviews include one from Michael Plekon of Changing Churches: An Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran Theological Conversation, whose authors, Mickey Mattox and A.G. Roeber, I interviewed here. Plekon offers a critical but generally appreciative review.


Plekon also reviews Le jour de Saint-Esprit by Mother Maria Skobtsova (Sainte Marie de Paris), published by Cerf in Paris in 2011.


Gloria Dodd, a Mariologist at the University of Dayton's international Marian Institute, reviews Leslie Brubaker and Mary B. Cunningham, The Cult of the Mother of God in Byzantium, noting that this is a rich collection of diverse scholarly articles treating liturgics, archaeology, iconography, and much else besides.

Matthew Baker reviews the latest in the "Russian front" translated by Boris Jakim and published by Eerdmans: Sergius Bulgakov, Relics and Miracles: Two Theological Essayson which I briefly commented here. Baker notes the significance of the publication of the original in 1918, just as the iconoclastic work of the Russian Revolution was in full swing--and also the year Bulgakov was himself ordained a priest. Baker calls this book of Bulgakov's "highly recommended."

The Greek Orthodox canonist Lewis Patsavos, emeritus of Holy Cross College in Brookline, reviews the most recent book from the prolific and influential Russian Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, Orthodox Christianity Volume I: The History and Canonical Structure of the Orthodox Churchnoting that this is a valuable and important book but one with a definite and limiting Russian-centred focus.


Prof. Margaret Schatkin of Boston College and Seongmoon Ahn, of Boston University, together review the collection of essays Reading Patristic Texts on Social Ethics: Issues and Challenges for Twenty-First-Century Christian Social Thought. This collection, edited by Johan Verstraeten, Johan Leemans, and Brian Matz, was published last year by Catholic University of America Press.


Brian Butcher reviews the latest book of the Armenian theologian Vigen Guroian, The Melody of Faith: Theology in an Orthodox KeyButcher appreciates the uniqueness and richness of this volume and its approach, but also notes it has some areas that give one pause.

The Byzantine liturgical scholar, and all-around fine fellow Nicholas Denysenko, reviews the translation by Steven Hawkes-Teeples (whom I interviewed here) of The Liturgical Commentaries: St. Symeon of Thessalonika.

Helene Moussa, the curator of St. Mark's Coptic Museum in Toronto, reviews a very timely book from Vivian Ibrahim, The Copts of Egypt: The Challenges of Modernisation and Identity. Moussa says that "this book is without any doubt a very significant contribution to a critical understanding of Copts and the Egyptian nation and state, as well as to the history of Middle Eastern Christians."

Moussa also reviews the scholarly collection, edited by Sharon Gerstel and Robert Nelson, Approaching the Holy Mountain: Art and Liturgy at St Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai.

The Eastern canonist Alexander Laschuk reviews David Heath-Stade's Marriage as the Arena of Salvation: An Ecclesiological Study of the Marital Regulation in the Canons of the Council in Trullo.

Habtemichael Kidane reviews Mibratu Kiros Gebru's Miaphysite Christology.


Christopher Johnson (whom I interviewed here) has a long review essay on Orthodox spirituality as treated in several books by John Romanides and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos; and a shorter review of Veronica della Dora's fascinating book Imagining Mount Athos: Visions of a Holy Place, from Homer to World War II, which the publisher just brought out in a very affordable paperback. I interviewed Dora here.


Notre Dame's scholar of Islam, Gabriel Said Reynolds, whom I hope to interview later this year about his new book noted here, reviews David Bertaina's recent book,  as I noted here. I interviewed Bertaina last summer. 

There will be short reviews in the fall issue, as well as much else. What is stopping you from subscribing--today? 

Friday, February 10, 2012

Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies

The spring issue (vol. 53, nos. 1-2) of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies is beginning to take shape quite nicely. I will have more details as articles move through the review process and are accepted. Here for now are just some of the books we are having reviewed:

Daniel Galadza reviews Stefano Parenti, A Oriente e Occidente di Costantinopoli. Temi e problemi liturgici di ieri e di oggi (2010), a collection of articles by Parenti, a professor of liturgy at the Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo in Rome and co-editor of the oldest Byzantine euchologion, Barberini gr. 336. Galadza notes that this collection helps to "answer fundamental problems troubling liturgical scholars for the last century."

Galadza also reviews a new book on the Liturgy of St. James first noted here.

Robert Klymasz, the Zurawecky Research Fellow at the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba, reviews Myrna Kostash, Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium, calling it a book whose journey leaves the reader "humbled, enlightened, and refreshed." 

Michael Plekon reviews Antoine Arjakovsky, En attendant le Concile de l'Eglise Orthodoxe. (For my own thoughts on this book, see the lengthy review here.) Plekon notes that this book "witnesses that he [Arjakovsky] is...a wonderful theologian of the Christian life in the 21st century."

Bradley Daugherty reviews Allen Brent, Cyprian and Roman Carthage, saying of it that it will "become a standard work and necessary reading for those seeking to understand the bishop of Carthage and his milieu."


Brenda Llewellyn Ihssen reviews John Renard, Islam and Christianity: Theological Themes in Comparative Perspective, calling it an "articulate and eloquent rendering of the major features of the theological language of Islam and Christianity."

North America's greatest Dante scholar, Anthony Esolen, reviews E.D. Karampetsos, Dante and Byzantium.

Michael Lower of the University of Minnesota reviews Thomas Asbridge, The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land. Asbridge's scholarship has attracted a great deal of attention recently, especially in Britain. Lower says that anyone interested in the Crusades "can learn a great deal from this book," which he further calls "a wonderful achievement."


Peter Galadza reviews Thomas Pott, Byzantine Liturgical Reform: A Study of Liturgical Change in the Byzantine Tradition. In a long, critical review, Galadza notes that the book is not without several problems, but that it raises crucial issues in a groundbreaking way and it "will become a classic work on Eastern Christian liturgical reform."


Myroslaw Tataryn reviews Chris Hann and Hermann Goltz, eds., Eastern Christians in Anthropological Perspective, saying of this collection that it is "very readable, well organized, and highly recommended for its refreshing and thorough perspectives on contemporary Eastern Christianity."

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

50 Years Since Vatican II

As we move into 2012, Catholics--and many others--will begin to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of that landmark ecclesial and ecumenical event of our times, viz., the opening of the Second Vatican Council. (I am beginning to sketch out in my mind a public lecture I am to give in the fall on how much relations between Catholics and Orthodox have changed thanks to Vatican II.) I think any fair assessment of it must recognize that its legacy is very mixed indeed. (Tracey Rowland's book Culture and the Thomist Tradition: After Vatican II rightly recognizes some of the problematic assumptions built into such conciliar documents as Gaudium et Spes. And I have long maintained that many of the problems implementing the council's liturgical reforms could have been mitigated or avoided by a close reading of Mary Douglas' important anthropological work, including especially Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology.) But for Eastern Christians, the legacy can surely be seen only as positive: Unitatis Redintegratio and Orientalium Ecclesiarum were wonderfully revolutionary documents from which Catholics (especially Eastern Catholics) and Orthodox alike continue to benefit. For that our continued response can and should be: Deo gratias. 

One recent book treating the legacy of the council will be reviewed in the spring 2012 issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies: Ladislas Örsy, Receiving the Council: Theological and Canonical Insights and Debates (Liturgical Press, 2009), 161pp.


About this book, the publisher tells us:
Bearing in mind that Vatican II was the conclusion of one era and the opening of another, Ladislas Orsy insists that the task of the church is to continue--with both creative insights and critical debates. Receiving the Council is a gift from a highly renowned and deeply respected canon lawyer and theologian who was an eye witness to Vatican II. It is filled with well-articulated questions and intelligent insights as well as prudent proposals for good structures in the "house of God" that is the church.
Our reviewer, the canonist W.L. Daniel, notes that "this book is successful in continuing the...deeper reflection on the ratio iuris and the promotion of a more refined translation of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council into juridical terms in all areas of the Church’s life."

Friday, December 2, 2011

LOGOS: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies

Which of your friends and family would not rejoice to find, under the Christmas tree this month, a subscription to Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies? Consider the many outstanding features of this revue:
  • The oldest journal of its kind in North America
  • This journal alone features more recent book reviews than many other comparable journals combined.
  • This journal alone manages to be published consistently on schedule
  • This journal features the widest array of scholars--historians, theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, canonists, religious studies scholars, sociologists, philosophers, and others--from the widest array of backgrounds: we welcome all who are interested in Eastern Christianity, and one does not need to belong to a particular church or denominational "society" in order to contribute.
  • This journal publishes leading scholars from Oxford, Harvard, Princeton, Notre Dame, Chicago, and many other universities in North America and Europe.
Consider the riches of the fall issue, which it is not too late to order here for your family and friends:

Scholarly Articles:
  • "Pavel Florensky: His Life and Work" (by Richard W. Armstrong)
  • "Symbols and Symbolism in the Liturgy Revisited: A Ricoeurian Critique of Schmemann's Symbology" (by Brian Butcher)
  • "The Canonical Rules of the Orthodox Church: Theory and Practice" (by Sr. Vassa Larin)
  • "Parenting in the Spirit: Helping Children Stay on the King's Highway" (by Theresa Zolner)
Book Reviews:
Given this abundance of scholarly riches, what prevents you from subscribing today?

Monday, July 25, 2011

Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies Fall 2011

In the upcoming fall issue of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, we will of course have the usual best scholarship in several articles, including one on Pavel Florensky, essays, and notes; and then many book reviews, including the following:

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

We are turning our attention now to the fall issue, having just put to bed the spring issue (vol. 52, nos. 1-2) of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies, which--alone of all comparable journals in North America--manages to be published regularly and consistently every year on a twice-yearly schedule that incorporates the best scholarship and pastoral reflection from Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and other scholars from around the world. There is still time to subscribe in order to feast on the riches in this issue. There is, moreover, ample time to encourage your local library (especially academic library) to consider subscribing. And there is still time to take out a gift subscription for your friends, pastor, and others.

The spring issue will contain, inter alia, articles and essays by:
  • Richard Rymarz on Ukrainian Catholics at World Youth Day
  • Andriy Chirovsky on the Ecclesial Maturation of the Church of Kyiv
  • Michael Plekon on Eastern Elements in Kierkegaard's Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses
  • Nicholas Denysenko on Baptismal Themes in the Byzantine Rite of Water Blessing on Theophany
  • Daniel Galadza on Paul's Notion of λογικὴν λατρείαν
  • Vincenzo Poggi on the Vita of Cyril Korolevsky/J.-F. Charon and the East


In addition, of course, we have nearly thirty reviews of many new books, including:
  • Another dozen or so brief reviews are included, most of books already discussed on here.
Really, given this cornucopia, do you have any excuse for not subscribing--today?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Updated: Books and Articles in Logos 2011 (Spring)

Soon the spring issue (vol. 52, nos. 1-2) of Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies will be going to press. I have just finished editing Nicholas Denysenko's article, which the jury praised as a superlative piece of scholarship. It will be featured alongside other articles in Logos, which--alone of all comparable journals in North America--manages to be published regularly and consistently every year on a twice-yearly schedule that incorporates the best scholarship and pastoral reflection from Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and other scholars from around the world.

If through some inexplicable lapse you have not yet subscribed, or have let your subscription run out, have no fear: this link will let you sign up again so that you may feast on riches available nowhere else.

The spring issue will contain, inter alia, articles and essays by:
  • Richard Rymarz on Ukrainian Catholics at World Youth Day
  • Michael Plekon on Eastern Elements in Kierkegaard's Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses
  • Nicholas Denysenko on Baptismal Themes in the Byzantine Rite of Water Blessing on Theophany
  • Daniel Galadza on Paul's Notion of "Logike Latreia"
  • Vincenzo Poggi on the Vita of Cyril Korolevsky/J.-F. Charon and the East

In addition, of course, we have nearly thirty reviews of many new books, including:
  • Another dozen or so brief reviews are included, most of books already discussed on here.
Really, given this cornucopia, do you have any excuse for not subscribing--today?
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