A Journal of Orthodox Christianity and Culture. Subscriptions support Paideia Conference.
By Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen) This is eternal life: that they may know Thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (John 17:3) μεταμορφοῦσθαι εν τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν,[1] (Romans 12:2) “Be transformed in the renewal of your nous.” Metanoia The inner work of the spiritual life is the real substance of being an Orthodox Christian. Salvation, eternal life, is about Read More …
By Priest Paul Siewers, Ph.D.Bucknell University A recent book on former U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles displays an epic cover photo of him striding across an airport tarmac toward a plane, confidently bound for some diplomatic or covert mission against Communism, clad in a homburg hat and long coat, his uniform as a Read More …
By Vladimir ShokhinInstitute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences It was not until the mid-20th century with the provocative challenge from Charles Hartshorne (1948, 1984)[1] that the timelessness of God became a general topic of discussion in Western theology. St. Augustine had insisted that time was created with the world[2] and therefore cannot not be Read More …
By Paul Kingsnorth This is a transcript (lightly edited) of a talk by the award-winning novelist and Anglo-Irish Orthodox Christian Paul Kingsnorth at Bucknell University in Fall 2024. His talk addresses the relationship between Christianity and nature, and the title specifically invokes an obscured phrase in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The late Orthodox Christian Read More …
By Seraphim (Bruce) Foltz, Ph.D. Eckerd College A. The Transcendent Relation to Culture Although largely focused on Church History and Patristics, the Collected Works of Fr George Florovsky also devotes an entire volume to the topic of Christianity and Culture. These essays soundly reject the “pietist” or “revivalist” accusation that culture is “a sinful entanglement”[1] Read More …
By the Very Rev. Maximos Constas 1. On the Nature of Christian Teaching Authentic teaching is a vocation. It is a calling. To teach seriously is to lay hands on what is most vital in another human being; it is to seek and engage the student’s innermost life. There is no craft apart from Read More …
By Jesse Cone The “Inimical” Claim In 1986 the Catholic philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe described the idea of “the self” as “inimical to Christianity.”[1] This idea, that we human beings “aren’t (mere) members of a biological species, but selves,” is not only common today, but assumed. In our everyday discourse we talk of discovering our selves, Read More …
The inner work of the spiritual life is the real substance of being an Orthodox Christian. Salvation, eternal life, is about coming to know God. We can live a purely external religious life, go to church, read the prayers, fast a little, partake of the sacraments and be nice to people; this is good and may bring us to heaven. But there is far more. If we remain on the level of simply formal religion, and it does not transform our mind and our heart and does not lead us to a conscious communion with God and the saints, we are missing the full potential of Christianity. We can know all about God, but not know Him. This misses the mark! Read More …