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Subject Area: Religion-Orthodox
Baker, Kevin2006 0-7734-5886-7 288 pages
This book describes the history and development of the Orthodox Church in China from its origins in 1242 A.D., its Eastern Church forebears, and its development in the other nations of North Asia – Korea and Japan.
By 1955, on the eve of its establishment as an independent entity, the Orthodox Church in China reached its greatest numbers. There were more than 100,000 communicants in former Russian territory in Manchuria, with 200 priests and 60 parishes, as well as monasteries and a seminary. Elsewhere, in China, there were another 200,000 Orthodox Christians and 150 parishes. These conservative figures mean that at that time, around 6% of Chinese Christians were adherents of the Orthodox Church.
The activities and achievements of the Orthodox Church, especially since the 17th century, have been understated in many historical studies of Christianity in China.
It is a similar story in regard to the first impact of Christianity with the cultures of Japan and Korea. Eastern Christianity came to Japan from China between the seventh and ninth centuries. There is also evidence that Eastern Christian missionaries were present in Korea during the sixth century. This book details the nature and evidence of these early activities.
Gvosdev, Nikolas K.
2001 0-7734-7350-5 288 pages
Examines church-state relations from the Eastern Christian tradition, as manifested in the policies and practices of the Byzantine Empire, the Mongol Empire, and medieval Russia, and their implications for modern times.
Kharlampovich, Konstantin Vasil’evich
2001 0-7734-7362-9 252 pages
A translation of K. V. Kharlampovich’s biography of a monastic missionary among the tribal people of western Siberia who was canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in the year 2000. The translator’s interpretive essay makes clear that he merits a place in the history of Christian missions. It is an arresting portrait of an Orthodox hesychast driven to found a mission among the Altaian people. He also enunciated the first comprehensive plan for missionary activity in the Russian Church and translated the Hebrew scriptures into modern Russian. This work adds a significant piece to the mosaic of orthodox spirituality in its delineation of the struggle of far-sighted, highly creative monk against the forces of an entrenched bureaucracy.. Published in 1905 in Kazan’, Kharlampovich’s biography has not been previously translated. In addition to its significance for the study of Russian missions and Orthodox spirituality, it also makes a valuable contribution to the broader study of pre-Revolutionary Russian culture, Slavic history, and social and religious history of 19th-century Europe. With maps, facsimiles, and photographs.
McCallum, Fiona
2010 0-7734-3704-5 316 pages
This study examines the political role of the two main Christian communities in the Middle East, the Copts and the Maronites. Current theoretical debates on the relationship between religion and politics, as well as secularization and the role of religious pluralism in state formation and national integration, are presented.
Christo, Gus George
2005 0-7734-6110-8 164 pages
The consecration of the worship space and the people who gather there for worship is a time honored custom. It has its roots in Old Testament scripture and its fruition in the New. The foundation is the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and His perfect and complete Resurrection from the dead and enthronement at the right hand of God the Father. God became accessible to the Israelites through the temple ritual. The Temple, especially the Holy of Holies, became the site where God concretely interacted with His people. The people of God found it necessary to dedicate such space through an elaborate ritual which set apart this space for worship and ultimate communion with God. Likewise, the Christians, as Israel fulfilled, consecrate their entire beings to the glory of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They see themselves as liturgical creatures who commune in the very life of the Holy Trinity via the Flesh and Blood of the Son of God. For this to take place, they congregate on hallowed ground, where heaven and earth unite, and they participate in the Mysteries of the everlasting Kingdom, which were inaugurated and consummated by the Son in His risen and glorified Humanity.
This study reveals how the intimate link between the prototypical martyrdom of Christ, and its cosmic saving effects, and the death of the holy martyrs mandates that holy relics of martyrs be interred in the altar table, which is the focal point of the local Church. The subsequent baptism and chrismation of the altar table solidify the identification of the heavenly realm upon the hallowed ground. The spiritual wedding of the Christians as brides of Christ the Bridegroom becomes accessible through the Sacraments that emanate from the celestial altar. The local Church is the revelation of the eschaton in time and space. An appendix containing the rite of consecration as celebrated in the Greek Orthodox Church follows the study. Also included is an index listing the citations of consecration, dedicating and anointing in the holy scriptures.
Pop, Ioan-Aurel
2014 0-7734-0066-4 232 pages
An extraordinarily valuable study by the doyen of Transylvanian history. Political and religious changes, fueled by the Reformation, assaulted the status-quo in European nations during the 16th Century, yet the tiny Principality of Transylvania, ruled by three separate ‘nation-estates’, ascribing simultaneously to seven separate religious allegiances, managed to embrace their ethnic and religious diversity without engaging in the ferocious religious wars plaguing Europe at that time.
Coates, Ruth A.
1995 0-7734-8871-5 144 pages
These essays by leading Russian scholars represent an attempt to give meaning to the interaction of religious consciousness and culture as it exists at the current stage of Russia's development. They are an exposition of historical, theological, ecclesiastical, philosophical and moral problems from the point of view of the religious consciousness, a function which till now has been the exclusive prerogative of the clergy, and consequently absent in scholarly literature of the Soviet period. The collection as a whole witnesses to the liberation of Christian thought in Russia. With an Introduction by Natalia Pecherskaya, Director of the St. Petersburg School of Religion and Philosophy.
Duncan, Stephen F.
2004 0-7734-6479-4 177 pages
This is the musical chronicle of Saints Constantine and Helen Serbian Orthodox Church, established more than 100 years ago by Tsar Nicholas, II. Founded by Serbian and Greek immigrants, it has had Syrro-Arabian, Russian, Greek and Serbian pastors and music from each of these cultures. With American, Serbian, Greek, Arab, and Russian parishioners, the multi-lingual approach used here may serve as a model for other Orthodox Churches in America.
Azkoul, Michael
1991 0-88946-733-1 312 pages
Shows that Augustine created a "Greek-Christian synthesis" based on Neo-Platonism, which removes him from the Orthodox mind and the Patristic tradition. Argues that the theology of Augustine is not the apex of the Patristic tradition, but the beginning of a new one, and is incompatible with the theology of the Orthodox Church, with the difference between the two accounting in part for the separation of Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.
Shein, Louis J.
1991 0-7734-9662-9 120 pages
Lev Shestov is a strange and, in many respects, unique phenomenon in the history of Russian and philosophic thought. His approach to philosophical problems was so different from the traditional that it created difficulties in assimilating the essence of his thought. This is an attempt to clarify Shestov's work. The sudden death of Dr. Louis J.Shein prevented the completion of this work, but the editors of the Edwin Mellen Press decided that despite the unfinished nature of the manuscript, its contribution to scholarship renders it worthy of publication as Shein left it, with only minor editing adjustments.
Shein, Louis J.
1991 1-4955-0930-3 120 pages
Lev Shestov is a strange and, in many respects, unique phenomenon in the history of Russian and philosophic thought. His approach to philosophical problems was so different from the traditional that it created difficulties in assimilating the essence of his thought. This is an attempt to clarify Shestov's work. The sudden death of Dr. Louis J.Shein prevented the completion of this work, but the editors of the Edwin Mellen Press decided that despite the unfinished nature of the manuscript, its contribution to scholarship renders it worthy of publication as Shein left it, with only minor editing adjustments.
Narinskaya, Elena
2012 0-7734-4068-2 156 pages
Ephrem’s thought is revealed to us through the language of symbols and allusions, and his legacy as a theologian lies in his commitment to the Scriptural narrative. Ephrem’s theological approach is also a representative demonstration of the tradition of Syriac Christian theology and symbolic poetry at the time. This thesis explores Ephrem’s Eucharistic theology as it is expressed in his poetic Hymns. The aim of the study is to look into various definitions of Eucharist that Ephrem offers in his writings.
This study looks at the way Ephrem describes the physicality of the sacraments. It presents an analysis of specific Hymns of Ephrem, which are selected for their affiliation to the Eucharist. This exercise allows us to gather enough textual evidence to identify the main aspects of Ephrem’s Eucharistic theology, while giving credit to his unique way of expressing his theology. As an outcome of the research there is an attempt to present the reasons behind Ephrem’s theological understanding and appropriation of the myster of the Eucharist by means of highly poetic and symbolic language.
Role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia Since 1990: Changing Dynamics of Politics and Religion
Simons, Greg2009 0-7734-4703-2 260 pages
This study examines the arguments and the role of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) in Russian society as they appear in the mass media. It provides an overview of some of the main arguments that are currently being discussed. This is important within the current context and debate of the role that is played by Orthodoxy in contemporary Russian society. The importance of which is elevated during times of uncertainty with regards to the role and identity of Russia and Russians in the modern world.
Kochetkova, Tatjana
2007 0-7734-5412-8 484 pages
This book traces the quest for self-realization that inspired the Russian Cultural Renaissance at the turn of the twentieth century, also called the Silver Age, from its fin-de-siècle inception until the present day. Following the historical periods under consideration, the study breaks into three parts: the first is concerned with the quest for transcendence in Vladimir Solov’ëv’s theory of Divine Humanity; the second considers the way in which Solov’ëv’s Silver Age philosophical and poetic followers utilized and developed his ideas about self-realization; finally, the third considers contemporary discussions regarding the possibility of transcendence and self-realization. This book goes beyond mere historical-philosophical curiosity: it is an attempt to understand the idea of self-realization in a global context.
Sergeev, Mikhail
2007 0-7734-5609-0 248 pages
This book represents an inquiry into the nature, genealogy, and evolution of the religious-philosophical concept of Sophia in the Russian thought of the 19th and 20th centuries. The first chapter discusses the purpose and relevance of the project, describes the methodology of research, and the scope and overall structure of the work. The second chapter analyses the historical background of Russian sophiology. The third chapter focuses on the beginnings of modern Russian sophiology. The fourth chapter is devoted to the development of sophiological doctrines in the field of theology. The fifth chapter discusses Russian sophiological thought in the context of modern philosophical discourse. The sixth and final chapter continues the study of sophiology in the philosophical context. The conclusion of the book summarizes the discussion of the modern Russian sophiological movement in the 19th and 20th centuries.
McMonagle, Mark W.
2018 1-4955-0631-2 252 pages
This book describes the use of Western liturgical rites that are used by Eastern Orthodox churches in Europe and North America. The author details the influence of Catholic liturgical traditions on the Eastern Orthodox church rites, in spite of centuries of theological disagreement.