Orthodox Constructions of the West. Edited by George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papnikolaou. Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013. ix + 365 pp. $125 hardcover; $35 paperback.

Abstract

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Orthodox Constructions of . Edited by George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papnikolaou . Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought. New York : Fordham University Press , 2013. ix + 365 pp. $125 hardcover; $35 paperback.Book Reviews and NotesWhen Rudyard Kipling lamented that East is East, and is West, and ne'er twain shall meet, he probably did not have theological and cultural conflict of Eastern and Western Christianity in mind, but sentiment expressed in longer form of quote (Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat) adeptly captures feelings of many a historian and ecumenist. But perhaps because of this historic antagonism, need for Orthodox Christians to understand and even appropriate West, given surge of Orthodox migrants over past century and conversion of native Westerners to Eastern Christianity, is greater than at any point in past. From that impulse comes triennial conference series on East-West Schism. The present volume is result of papers delivered at 2010 edition of that conference series.The selections in volume cover a variety of different eras, ranging from tenth century to modern day, and a variety of subjects centered around theme of how Eastern Christians have and continue to understand or misunderstand their Western co-religionists. The state of question is admirably set in chapter by Demacopoulos and Papnikolaou, which introduces reader to problem constructing a view of in modern Orthodox Christianity, in no small part because so many Orthodox themselves now live in the West or at least in countries historically founded by persons from Western Europe. The authors do not propose how Orthodox Christians might better identify the Other in opposition to their own traditions, and that is part of point: that older categories are no longer as useful as they were even a century ago.Though all of contributions to this volume are excellent, there are several which deserve special recognition. Among these is overview of current state of Roman Catholic and Orthodox ecumenical relations by Robert Taft. Much of chapter is centered on past wrong of each side against other. Here, Taft is adamant and unflinching in his review of Catholic sins against Orthodox, and is equally ready to point out that Orthodox Christians have similar problems with their own behavior, concluding that what both sides need is a more realistic and less hagiographic reading of their histories. …