Winner of the 2017 Alpha Sigma Nu Award
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.
Introduction: Outrunning Constantine's Shadow Aristotle Papanikolaou and George E. Demacopoulos The Post-Communist Situation Moral Argument in the Human Rights Debate of the Russian Orthodox Church Kristina Stoeckl Post-Communist Orthodox Countries and Secularization: The Lausti Case and the Fracture of Europe Pascal Hammerli Political Theologies: Protestant-Catholic-Orthodox Conversations Power to the People: Orthodoxy, Consociational Democracy, and the Move beyond Phyletism Luke Bretherton Power, Protest, and Perichoresis: On Being Church in a Troubled World Mary Doak Strange Fruit: Augustine, Liberalism, and the Good Samaritan Eric Gregory An Orthodox Encounter with Liberal Democracy Emmanuel Clapsis Democracy and the Dynamics of Death: Orthodox Reflections on the Origin, Purpose, and Limits of Politics Perry T. Hamalis "I Have Overcome the World": The Church, the Liberal State, and Christ's Two Natures in the Russian Politics of Theosis Nathaniel Wood Constantine's Shadow: Historical Perspectives Emperors and Bishops of Constantinople (324-431) Timothy D. Barnes Disowning Constantinian Christianity Peter Iver Kaufman "You Cannot have a Church without an Empire": Political Orthodoxy in Byzantium James Skedros Roman Catholicism and Democracy: The Post-conciliar Era Brian Hehir An Apophatic Approach How (Not) to be a Political Theologian Stanley Hauerwas List of Contributors Index
George E. Demacopoulos, Aristotle Papanikolaou
George E. Demacopoulos is Fr. John Meyendorff & Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies and Professor of Theology at Fordham University. He is also a Co-founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He serves as a Senior Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and as President of the Byzantine Studies Association of North America. He is the author of five monographs and dozens of scholarly articles of the history of Christianity in the premodern period.
Aristotle Papanikolaou is professor of theology, the Archbishop Demetrios Chair of Orthodox Theology and Culture, and a Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He is also McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He is the author of two monographs and numerous scholarly articles on Orthodox theology, as well as co-editor of ten volumes.
"Many of us in the field of political theology are poorer for the lack of conversation most of us experience between Eastern and Western political theologies. Even if we are open and sympathetic to one another-and historically that is a big 'if'-the traditions are so distinct from one another that few can claim expertise in both, and so we continue to focus narrowly on our own traditions. This volume represents a welcome change to this pattern, opening a conversation between theologians across Eastern and Western traditions on the timely topics of church and state, democracy, and liberalism." -- -Elizabeth Phillips Tutor in Theology and Ethics, Westcott House, Cambridge