Where the Spirit Dwells: Reflections on “The Encyclical of the Recent Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church” through an Eastern-European Pentecostal Lens

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Augustine
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern European

Mission amidst Ideologies: Ideology and Hegemony in The Cape Town Commitment, Together towards Life, Evangelii Gaudium, and Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World

Exchange ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-104
Author(s):  
Pavol Bargár
Keyword(s):  
Cape Town ◽  
Missio Dei ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
Christian Mission ◽  
European Context ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Values And Beliefs

Abstract Although the present era has by some scholars been referred to as a post-ideological one, based on the argument that the so-called ‘grand narratives’ have by now become largely untrustworthy and suspicious, evidence suggests that ideology continues to play an important role in today’s world. This paper will therefore seek to revisit the post-ideology thesis using Timothy Gorringe’s distinction between ideology and hegemony. Gorringe defines ideology as an articulated system of meanings, values, and beliefs; to him, it is meaning in service of power. In contrast, hegemony for Gorringe is a taken for granted order of signs and practices whose power lies in what it silences. Employing this hermeneutic framework, the present paper will then explore what four recent major documents on mission and evangelism (The Cape Town Commitment, Together towards Life, Evangelii Gaudium and Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World, respectively) have to say on the theme of ideology. Finally, an attempt will be pursued to identify what implications the discovered results might have for Christian mission as part of missio Dei today, with a particular focus on the central and eastern European context. A constructive missiological suggestion will be made that rather than providing its own ‘grand narrative,’ Christian mission is first and foremost about living out faith, love, and hope in the everyday, while also countering various types of ideology and hegemony.

scholarly journals Distinguishing "anti-Judaism" from "anti-Semitism": Recent championing of Serbian Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic

Sociologija ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jovan Byford
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
The Way

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the continuity in the ideology of the Eastern European far right has been apparent in the extent to which the restoration of right-wing ideas was accompanied with widespread rewriting of history and the rehabilitation of contentious historical figures, many of whom, 40 years earlier, had attained notoriety for their antisemitism and fascist and pro-Nazi leanings. This article examines a specific example of postcommunist revisionism in Serbian society. The principal aim of the article is to explore the rhetoric of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic (1880 - 1956), a controversial Serbian Orthodox Christian philosopher whose writing includes overtly antisemitic passages, and elucidate the strategies that his supporters have been deploying to promote him and maintain his popularity while countering objections of antisemitism. The paper focuses on the way in which the controversy surrounding Velimirovic?s antisemitism was managed around the time of his formal canonisation in May 2003. The author argues that unlike the Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian denominations, eastern churches, including the Serbian Orthodox Church, have as yet not formally addressed from a doctrinal or ecclesiological perspective the problem of Christian antisemitism. Due to the unwavering traditionalism justifications and denials of antisemitism must be constructed in such a way that they present the bishop?s views as consistent with the prevailing secular norms of ethnic tolerance.

scholarly journals Who is a convert? New members of the Orthodox Church in Norway

2015 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berit Synøve Thorbjørnsrud
Keyword(s):  
Strong Tendency ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
General Level ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
New Members ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
New Believers ◽  
The Many ◽  
Post Soviet Period

Due to its recent major revival in the post-Soviet period, the Orthodox Church can today be described as a church of new believers. While this seems to be acknowledged at a general level, there is a strong tendency to avoid speaking of new members with an Eastern European background as ‘converts’. Although they have often gone through much greater transformations – from atheism to Orthodoxy – than those with a Western background, who generally seem to have a Christian past, the term convert is generally reserved for the Westerners. ‘It is not our custom to call them converts’, one of the priests in Norway commented. Conversion stories which gain international publicity are generally about Westerners, and even the few academic studies on converts to Orthodoxy have focused solely on those with a Western background.Based on fieldwork among the Orthodox in Norway, I will compare newcomers with a Western background with those with an Eastern European background, and I will argue that convert as an analytical concept may be equally useful in relation to members of both groups. This concept covers, however, a wide range of transformations, and it is thus important to identify precisely what kinds of converts there are among the many new Orthodox believers.

scholarly journals From the Ivory Tower to the Grass Roots: Ending Orthodox Oppression of Evangelicals, and Beginning Grassroots Fellowship

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
George Hancock-Stefan ◽  
SaraGrace Stefan
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Eastern Orthodox Church

When considering the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Church, can we both celebrate progress towards unity, while acknowledging where growth must still occur? Dr. George Hancock-Stefan, who fled the oppressive communist regime of Yugoslavia with the rest of his Baptist family, now frequently returns to Eastern Europe to explore topics of modern theology. During these travels, he has recognized a concerning trend: the religious unity and interfaith fellowship celebrated in Western academia does not reach the Eastern European local level. This is primarily due to the fact that Orthodoxy is a top to bottom institution, and nothing happens at the local level unless approved by the top. This lack of religious unity and cooperation at the local level is also due to the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church claims a national Christian monopoly and the presence of Evangelicals is considered an invasion. In this article, Dr. Hancock-Stefan unpacks the history of the spiritual revivals that took place in various Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 19th–20th centuries, as well as the policies established by the national patriarchs after the fall of communism that are now jeopardizing the relationship between Orthodox and Evangelicals. By addressing this friction with candor and Christian love, this article pleads for the Orthodox Church to relinquish its monopoly and hopes that both Orthodox and Evangelicals will start considering each other to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

Pragmatic Language Performance of Children Adopted Internationally

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 501-514
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Hwa-Froelich ◽  
Hisako Matsuo
Keyword(s):  
Social Communication ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Emotion Identification ◽  
False Belief Understanding ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Pragmatic Communication ◽  
Eastern European Countries

Purpose Pragmatic language is important for social communication across all settings. Children adopted internationally (CAI) may be at risk of poorer pragmatic language because of adverse early care, delayed adopted language development, and less ability to inhibit. The purpose of this study was to compare pragmatic language performance of CAI from Asian and Eastern European countries with a nonadopted group of children who were of the same age and from similar socioeconomic backgrounds as well as explore the relationship among emotion identification, false belief understanding, and inhibition variables with pragmatic language performance. Method Using a quasi-experimental design, 35 four-year-old CAI (20 Asian, 15 Eastern European) and 33 children who were not adopted were included in this study. The children's pragmatic language, general language, and social communication (emotion identification of facial expressions, false belief understanding, inhibition) were measured. Comparisons by region of origin and adoption experience were completed. We conducted split-half correlation analyses and entered significant correlation variables into simple and backward regression models. Results Pragmatic language performance differed by adoption experience. The adopted and nonadopted groups demonstrated different correlation patterns. Language performance explained most of the pragmatic language variance. Discussion Because CAI perform less well than their nonadopted peers on pragmatic communication measures and different variables are related to their pragmatic performance, speech-language pathologists may need to adapt assessment and intervention practices for this population.

Ethnic and Confessional Politics of the Reich in Occupied Ukraine (1941-1944)

2001 ◽  
pp. 70-77
Author(s):  
Nadiya G. Stokolos
Keyword(s):  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Church Management ◽  
Traditional System ◽  
Church Life

Orthodox church life in Ukraine from the summer of 1941 to the spring of 1944 was characterized by a sharp confrontation between two Orthodox churches, administrative centers of which were located in Volyn, in Lutsk and Kremenets. The Autonomous Orthodox Church (APC) was headed by an archbishop (from December 1941 - Metropolitan) Alex (Gromadsky). After his tragic death on May 7, 1943, the APC remained virtually without a chapter, since at this time the occupation authorities abolished the traditional system of church management. The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) throughout its time was headed by an archbishop, and from May 1942 Metropolitan Polycarp (Sikorsky).

Christian unity: the search for ways to achieve

2001 ◽  
pp. 91-100
Author(s):  
Yu. Ye. Reshetnikov
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Turn Of The Millennium ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
The Press ◽  
Christian Unity ◽  
Future Policy

Last year, the anniversary of all Christianity, witnessed a number of significant events caused by a new interest in understanding the problem of the unity of the Christian Church on the turn of the millennium. Due to the confidentiality of Ukraine, some of these events have or will have an immediate impact on Christianity in Ukraine and on the whole Ukrainian society as a whole. Undoubtedly, the main event, or more enlightened in the press, is a new impetus to the unification of the UOC-KP and the UAOC. But we would like to focus on two documents relating to the problem of Christian unity, the emergence of which was almost unnoticed by the wider public. But at the same time, these documents are too important as they outline the future policy of other Christian denominations by two influential Ukrainian christian churches - the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. These are the "Basic Principles of the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to the" I ", adopted by the Anniversary Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Concept of the Ecumenical Position of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, adopted by the Synod of the Bishops of the UGCC. It is clear that the theme of the second document is wider, but at the same time, ecumenism, unification is impossible without solving the problem of relations with others, which makes it possible to compare the approaches laid down in the mentioned documents to the building of relations with other Christian confessions.

European Integration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann P. Arnason
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Totalitarian Regimes ◽  
The Eu

Different understandings of European integration, its background and present problems are represented in this book, but they share an emphasis on historical processes, geopolitical dynamics and regional diversity. The introduction surveys approaches to the question of European continuities and discontinuities, before going on to an overview of chapters. The following three contributions deal with long-term perspectives, including the question of Europe as a civilisational entity, the civilisational crisis of the twentieth century, marked by wars and totalitarian regimes, and a comparison of the European Union with the Habsburg Empire, with particular emphasis on similar crisis symptoms. The next three chapters discuss various aspects and contexts of the present crisis. Reflections on the Brexit controversy throw light on a longer history of intra-Union rivalry, enduring disputes and changing external conditions. An analysis of efforts to strengthen the EU’s legal and constitutional framework, and of resistances to them, highlights the unfinished agenda of integration. A closer look at the much-disputed Islamic presence in Europe suggests that an interdependent radicalization of Islamism and the European extreme right is a major factor in current political developments. Three concluding chapters adopt specific regional perspectives. Central and Eastern European countries, especially Poland, are following a path that leads to conflicts with dominant orientations of the EU, but this also raises questions about Europe’s future. The record of Scandinavian policies in relation to Europe exemplifies more general problems faced by peripheral regions. Finally, growing dissonances and divergences within the EU may strengthen the case for Eurasian perspectives.

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