Modern Orthodox Research Articles

Using habitus and ethnic identity theory to investigate the decision-making of Canadian Modern Orthodox young people

ABSTRACT Students’ access to higher education is significantly shaped by the cultural and social capital they hold and aspire to gain. This study examines Canadian Modern Orthodox high school graduates pursuing higher education, exploring the factors that influence their choices. By framing Canadian Modern Orthodox Judaism as an ethnic minority identity, the research reveals how this identity shapes the decision-making process of young adults. The study integrates Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and Phinney’s theory of ethnic identity to understand how students in a close-knit community plan their futures, balancing considerations of reputation, marriage, and career. Based on eight years of teaching at a Modern Orthodox high school in Southern Ontario, the study uses institutional ethnography to identify two key pathways: Pathway 1 involves students taking a gap year in Israel, postponing their minority status on North American campuses, while Pathway 2 sees students entering directly into secular universities, where they become ethnic minorities for the first time. The paper also explores how students manage their post-secondary experiences and the impact on their cultural and social capital. Those who choose a gap year in Israel often accumulate greater cultural and social capital within their community compared to those who enter university directly.

Медиатизированный дискурс православного студенчества об РПЦ

The article is devoted to the analysis of the modern Orthodox conservative mediatized discourse among student bloggers on the Telegram messenger platform. The relevance of the study lies in the lack of development of both the topic of mediatization of Orthodoxy and the topic of studying Orthodox conservatism in modern sociology. The study of this phenomenon in the work took place through the prism of a conceptual approach, which received the name "mediatization of religion" in scientific sociological literature. The scientific problem is that studies of the mediatization of Orthodoxy are no longer a new field, but their number is still small. A large number of religious groups that are currently forming and functioning are outside the field of view of researchers. The figurative approach, which took shape in the German school of studying mediatization, was chosen as the research method. The figurative approach re-actualizes the concept of “figuration” by Norbert Elias and considers modern communicative figuration in media through four components: communicative practices, media ensemble, frame of relevance and constellation of actors. The communicative figuration of modern Orthodox conservatism in the Telegram messenger was taken as the basis of our study, since this platform provides opportunities for discussion on social and theological issues. The purpose of the article is to describe this communicative figuration through its four components. In this regard, the objectives of the study were: a description of the context of formation and features of the modern stage of studying the mediatization of Orthodoxy; a characteristic of the 4 components of the communicative figuration of modern Orthodox conservatism among young people. The empirical part of the study was based on a series of expert, semi-structured interviews with the authors of Telegram channels included in the youth category and who are students of higher educational institutions. In total, 30 interviews were collected from March to August 2024, of which 5 were selected for the article. The results of the study demonstrated that at the moment there is a constellation of actors of modern Orthodox conservatism, in the youth pole of which a group of students can be distinguished. Orthodox conservative students build their own identity, based on the Orthodox tradition, but only in the form of moral prescriptions. They are practically not integrated into the existing structures of the Russian Orthodox Church. The frame of relevance of the communicative figuration of Orthodox conservatism considers Orthodoxy as an integral part of modern Russian culture and humanitarian science. But in the frame, there is also an opposition to liberalism, including church liberalism, which occurs on issues of the foundations of society.

Федеративная модель Церкви в православном богословии

The author continues his study of the ways in which the political concept of federation is used to describe church organisation, this time taking as a basis the texts of Orthodox authors. These writers borrowed the idea of a federative structure of early Christian communities from Protestant historians of the 18th century and from subsequent works of Protestant scholars, for whom such notions became a component of the prevailing doctrine. In the writings of Russian theologians the concept of federation seems to have travelled the same path as in the West, having come into use against the background of a general fascination with political projections in theology and having lost its relevance under the influence of various criticisms. In Greek theology the picture turns out to be much more complex. In the course of the development of Greek historiography in the nineteenth century, federalism and democracy were declared to be the characteristic features of the model of organisation of the Eastern Christian Church, developed through the synthesis of the new religion and Hellenistic culture. In the twentieth century these ideas were revised. In modern Orthodox theology there is an agreement on the incorrectness of describing the Church using the concept of federation. Nevertheless, this image has come to be used as a polemical cliché in intra-Orthodox discussion, which is used to denote any form of rejection of the monocentric model of Church unity.

Negotiating the Task of Translation: Modern Orthodox Students Read the Hebrew Bible

This paper speaks to translation as a powerful window into students’ developing religious literacy practices. It considers how 10- and 11-year-old North American Modern Orthodox Jewish students read and translate the Hebrew Bible refracted through their own cultural and religious expectations: in other words, how students use translation to negotiate their knowledge of biblical Hebrew with their lived experiences of family and gender in the context of modern Jewish life, ritual, and practice. In a Modern Orthodox Jewish school setting, Hassenfeld conducted interviews with 12 students. With each student, she used a task-based interview, asking the students to read and translate a single biblical verse (Genesis 16:15) into English. In completing the translation task, the students applied their technical knowledge of biblical Hebrew and their religious expectations of the ancient text. While translation is perceived in many Modern Orthodox educational contexts as primarily technical (i.e., the precursor to any interpretive activity), this case study suggests that student translation work cannot be separated from interpretive work. While the data set is small and the results only suggestive, the study raises an important theoretical question for future consideration: how can translation be better framed by religious educators who teach sacred texts in their original languages to allow students to understand the necessary interpretive demands it entails?

Pilot study of a decision aid on BRCA1/2 genetic testing among Orthodox Jewish women.

Orthodox Jewish women face unique social, cultural, and religious factors that may influence uptake of BRCA1/2 genetic testing. We examined the impact of a web-based decision aid (DA) on BRCA1/2 genetic testing intention/completion among Orthodox Jewish women. We conducted a single-arm pilot study among 50 Orthodox Jewish women who were given access to a web-based DA entitled RealRisks and administered serial surveys at baseline and 1 and 6 months after exposure to the DA. Descriptive statistics were conducted for baseline characteristics and study measures. Comparisons were made to assess changes in study measures over time. Fifty Orthodox Jewish women enrolled in the study with a mean age of 43.9 years (standard deviation [SD] 14.6), 70% Modern Orthodox, 2% with personal history of breast cancer, and 68% and 16% with a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, respectively. At baseline, 27 (54%) participants intended to complete genetic testing. Forty-three participants (86%) completed RealRisks and the 1-month survey and 38 (76%) completed the 6-month survey. There was a significant improvement in BRCA1/2 genetic testing knowledge and decrease in decisional conflict after exposure to the DA. At 1 month, only 20 (46.5%) completed or intended to complete genetic testing (p = 0.473 compared to baseline). While the DA improved genetic testing knowledge and reduced decisional conflict, genetic testing intention/completion did not increase over time. Future interventions should directly address barriers to BRCA1/2 genetic testing uptake and include input from leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community. NCT03624088 (8/7/18).

Identity development in multicultural context: Multidimensional self exploration approaches employed by Modern Orthodox women

The aim of this study is to examine identity development of Modern Orthodox women as they pursue their studies within a multicultural and multi-faith environment. Content analysis was used to analyze the final papers of undergraduate religious female students in Israel (N = 47) who participated in a semester-long dialogue course for Jewish students. The findings revealed three salient themes, suggesting that women's self-exploration developed noticeably within a rich multicultural context: (a) participants engaged in self-reflection by drawing comparisons between themselves and Arab students, leading to an exploration of their religious beliefs and group affiliations; (b) participants embraced their individuality within a multicultural context while balancing their religious duties; and (c) participants critically examined the status of Orthodox women in society, particularly within the family context. These findings highlight the process of identity exploration among Modern Orthodox women, complicated by intersections of religion, gender, and culture. In doing so, this study contributes to the understanding of identity development in multicultural societies.

Postsecular Jewish Thought: Franz Rosenzweig, Alexander Altmann, Leo Strauss

This article traces the emergence of what is nowadays called “postsecular” religion from German-Jewish philosophy of the 1920s and 1930s. The three different cases of Franz Rosenzweig, Alexander Altmann, and Leo Strauss impel us to pay particular attention to a few recurring argumentative and rhetorical strategies. The emergence of postsecularism marks a shift in the epistemic foundations of Jewish religious thought, which had long been under pressure from secular European thought. Beginning with Rosenzweig, Jewish philosophy used secular categories of European philosophy to facilitate a return to the foundations of Judaism, eventually turning against what it sees as the epistemic weaknesses of secularism itself. This article traces the new phenomenon to Rosenzweig’s evolving view of secularism, especially to his ridicule of Siegfried Kracauer’s secular messianism, before examining a few key arguments in his book The Star of Redemption (1921). A brief discussion of Alexander Altmann’s writings of the early 1930s provides that even modern Orthodox Jewish thought, which had never been “secular”, used postsecular categories and arguments to make the philosophical case for orthodoxy. Leo Strauss’s introduction to his Philosophy and Law (1935) provides a far more elaborated form of Rosenzweig’s argument. As this article seeks to show, postsecular Jewish thought comes with a slight twist of epistemic relativism, particularly when it comes to the juxtaposition of the Biblical and scientific “world-views”. But here it merely draws the full consequences of modern science, beating scientism with its own weapons. Furthermore, religious thought in the 20th century had no other option than to rebuild itself on postsecular grounds.

Orthodox Jewish anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies, with implications for clinical practice with Orthodox Jewish LGBTQ+ persons

ABSTRACT Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) clients experiencing conflict over personally-held conservative religious beliefs benefit from their clinicians’ having knowledge of their movements’ specific anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies. This paper examines anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies found in Ultra-Orthodox, and Modern Orthodox Judaism. Orthodox Jewish anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies are impacted by historical and intellectual traditions, their adherents’ privileged or oppressed positions in society, their institutions’ relationships to national and global politics, and various historical, social, and economic forces that they help their adherents face. Orthodox Jewish institutions are also associated with certain benefits of staying and costs of leaving, which may draw LGBTQ+ persons to remain involved with them despite having to cope with an intolerant milieu. We suggest classic theories of rational choice, identity development, and religious judgment as ways of understanding and working with LGBTQ+ persons experiencing conflict over personally-held Orthodox Jewish ideas.

ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЕ ПРАВОСЛАВИЕ И СЕКУЛЯРНОЕ ОБЩЕСТВО: ПРОБЛЕМЫ СОВМЕСТИМОСТИ

The article deals with the issues of the religion politicization in a secular society on the example of Orthodox radical activism. The growth of conservative political attitudes among active Orthodox citizens is analyzed as a reaction to the acceleration of the secularization process of Russian society, which creates a threat of marginalization of religious identity. The influence of Western European Christian fundamentalists on the Russian communities of Orthodox radicals is noted. There is a relationship between the spread of radical conservative ideas and values in modern Russian society and catastrophic socio-political changes after the collapse of the USSR, which were accompanied by serious transformations of the collective (national) identity. The article studies specifics of the new nationalreligious identity, formed by modern mass media with extensive borrowings from the legacy of Russian conservative philosophy of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Particular attention is paid to the “roots” of modern Orthodox activism, its close connection with Russian nationalism and international anti-globalism. The collision of the values of a secular society with its cult of freedom and anticlerical attitudes with a conservative-religious picture of the world, in which conspiracy theories and the rejection of liberal ideas play a significant role, is considered by the authors of the article as a result of the collapse of the former socio-political system, where atheism and communist ideology were the main semantic dominants in society.

Discursive Strategies of Orthodox Discourse

The theoretical foundations of the study of preaching as a genre of religious Orthodox discourse require the definition of the basic concepts of the communicative and discursive analysis of modern Orthodox preaching and form the basis for its conduct. However, for practical analysis, it is also necessary to develop a research model that covers the fundamental principles of analysis and its
 tools. The problem of communicative and discursive strategies and tactics in linguistics has been studied quite extensively, however, the lack of a unified classification of them, as well as clear and unambiguous definitions, does not yet make
 it possible to provide a complete classification of them.
 The article is devoted to the analysis of the implementation of the maindiscursive strategies. Attention is paid to the discursive strategy of narrative, as well as to the contacting and informing strategies that are basic for Orthodox preaching and are present in all its genres. The study examines the main strategies that are the basic concepts of communicative and discursive analysis. The
 goal of any communicative strategy is to correct the addressee's world model, therefore, within the framework of the strategy, the addressee selects certain psychological parameters, identifies the necessary changes in their values and ways to achieve these goals.
 The purpose of the article is to analyze all the strategies that are the basic concepts of the communicative and discursive analysis of the studied Orthodox sermon. As part of the study, the sermons of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of All Russia were used and analyzed.
 Conclusions: communicative interaction in Orthodox discourse receives adequate implementation in the discursive strategy, which we understand as the global communicative intention of the speaker within a certain discourse and the speech objectification of this intention. Discursive tactics are one or more speech actions that ensure the implementation of the chosen discursive strategy of the speaker and the deployment of a certain speech genre.
 The results of the research conducted in this article can be used in research and teaching activities related to the study of various types of discourses.

Founding fathers of Greek history-writing in early modern Constantinople

A crucial aspect of the intellectual field shaped by religious relations and conflicts following the Reformation was the domain of historiography, which involved the writing of works that aimed at edification and at the support of the doctrinal stances of opposing ideological factions. This article examines the positioning of early modern Orthodox reflections on the past. The scholars under consideration were the first Greek-speaking writers of early modern times to delve into the uses of historical documentation and raise inquiries concerning the nature and methodology of historical knowledge. The ‘idea of history’ built on the vita activa of key actors of the Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire, contributing to discussions on identity in a world of competing empires and churches.

К вопросу об исследовании социально-психологических особенностей современных монашествующих

Monasticism as a socio-psychological phenomenon has passed a long evolutionary path. For several centuries, certain elements of monastic life and the organizational structure have undergone changes, but the basic essence of monastic service has remained unchanged. The study of the socio-psychological portrait of modern Orthodox monasticism in the context of radical changes in socio-political, cultural and spiritual life in our country is relevant in the context of the social and pedagogical ministry of Orthodox monasteries in Russia, the dynamics of their development in accordance with the ongoing changes in the life of society, its social needs. Currently, there are several works devoted to modern monasticism as a historical, cultural and socio-cultural phenomenon, but none of the researchers focused on the socio-psychological features of the perception of monastic ministry by the monastics themselves. In this regard, the purpose of the article is to highlight the results of the study of modern Orthodox monasticism in the light of socio-psychological processes and public relations to monastic asceticism. Psychodiagnostic methods, biographical method and included observation were used as research methods. The results obtained allow us to judge the motivational features of monastic tonsure, some personal characteristics of representatives of modern monasticism, gender differences in the evaluation of their ministry among those who ascribe in male and female monasteries.

Храмовые здания из быстровозводимых блок-модулей в сейсмически активных районах Сибири и Дальнего Востока на примере Забайкальского региона

Purpose: To investigate the issues of the spread of Orthodox churches in remote areas of Siberia and the Far East. Questions of the use of block-modular structures in religious buildings in the conditions of seismic activity of the regions of Transbaikalia and the Far East, in particular, in the Trans-Baikal region. Methods: To analyze the canonical types of temples, their planning and volumetric-compositional solutions that have become widespread in the modern Orthodox architecture of the Russian Federation. To analyze the architectural features of modern Orthodox churches built at the beginning of the XXI century in different cities of the Russian Federation, which form the image of modern Orthodox domestic architecture by using non-traditional elements. To consider the influence of various factors on the formation of the image of modern Russian Orthodox churches. To analyze the role of traditions in the modern architecture of religious buildings. To determine the main directions of development of the construction of religious buildings. To conduct a study of the features of earthquakes in the designated region over the past 70 years. To analyze the current seismic conditions of the Trans-Baikal region. To conduct a study of the typology of temples that are possible for use in the Trans-Baikal region. To analyze the possibility of application and features of block-modular buildings made of various materials. To assess the degree of their possible modern implementation in the studied remote areas of Siberia and the Far East, especially in the territory of the Trans-Baikal region. Results: The main types of temples that are historically and climatically preferable for these areas are identified; various materials for the construction of temple buildings are presented, types of blocks made of logs are proposed, as well as types of blocks in frame design as the main standard block-modular structures for prefabricated religious buildings. Practical significance: It is shown that the use of block-modular structures as the main ones for the construction of buildings in areas remote from the centers allows solving the problem of the lack of Orthodox religious buildings in the region, significantly reducing the construction time of religious buildings and ensuring their seismic stability.

Rupture and Reconstruction: A Founding Story for the Modern Orthodox Jewish Community

Rupture and Reconstruction: A Founding Story for the Modern Orthodox Jewish Community

Queering Eve: Imagining Transgender Acceptance in Orthodox Judaism

While the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements have made a concerted effort to welcome transgender Jews in the last twenty years, transgender congregants are often shunned by Orthodox rabbis and synagogues in the United States. Studies about Orthodox Judaism’s relationship with transgender identity often focus exclusively on Talmudic justifications for the acceptance or rejection of transgender Jews, ignoring the increasingly sizeable effect that secular politics has on the American Orthodox community. To address this gap in the academic understanding of transgender Jewish issues, this analysis takes a more holistic approach to the issue of transgender acceptance in Orthodox Judaism by (1) assessing the potential for the acceptance of transgender Jews in ultra-Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Jewish communities in the United States using halakhic rulings on intersex and transgender issues and (2) tracing the potential effects of the American political landscape on the Orthodox community’s acceptance of transgender identity.

On the Way to Adulthood: Factors Contributing to the Life Satisfaction of Young Israeli Modern Orthodox Women.

Drawing on ecological theory, the current study examined the associations of religious versus secular environments, relationship with the mother, and personal characteristics (religious coping strategies; self-mastery; sexual self-concept) with the life satisfaction of Israeli Young Modern Orthodox women and a comparison group of secular women. A sample of 362 women aged 18-29 completed quantitative questionnaires. High levels of sexual self-concept and self-mastery, positive religious coping strategies, and supportive relationship with the mother were associated with higher life satisfaction. Supportive relationships with mothers moderated the association between religious coping strategies and life satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Content and Functioning of the Concept of "Individual" in Modern Orthodox Theological Anthropology

The Content and Functioning of the Concept of "Individual" in Modern Orthodox Theological Anthropology

All Roads Lead to New Rome: The Canonical Origins and Status of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic Churches of Ukraine

This article provides a brief account of the historical origins and canonical status of the three modern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches of Ukraine: the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate, and the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. It contains four parts. The first briefly recounts the origins of Byzantine Christianity and the fused form of state and church governance that developed in Constantinople from the 4th to the 15th centuries. The second examines the Great Schism of 1054, which cleaved Eastern and Western Christianity, sending Eastern Orthodox Christianity down the path of territory- or nation-based churches constituted by eucharistic ecclesiology; this would ultimately give rise to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate in the Slavic lands that would become Ukraine. The third part considers two modern schisms, the Little Schism of 1596, which produced the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, and the Final Schism of 2018–2019, which brought into existence the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Drawing upon eucharistic ecclesiology, the final part offers brief concluding reflections concerning the ongoing implications of these three schisms for Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine.

We Must Make Them Modern Orthodox: State Religious Education in Israel and Its Attitude to Mizrahi Religiosity in the Nineteen Eighties

ABSTRACT The Israeli state-religious-education system (SRES) held an unfavorable view of Mizrahi religiosity in the 1980s. Text analyses of religious-education heads’ writings indicate that they saw Mizrahi religiosity as a primitive relic of the past and as a “low-level religiosity” and regarded Mizrahi students as uncommitted and compromising. The large numbers of Mizrahi students in the SRES and the “melting pot” ideology prevalent at the time led to a systemic view of Mizrahi students as “religiously disadvantaged”—that is, children whose religion was flawed but rectifiable, with the task of rectifying it entrusted to the system.

Christos Yannaras's View on the History of Western Theology from St. Augustine to Nietzsche

The article analyzes the anti-Western and radically anti-ecumenical theology of the Greek Orthodox thinker Christos Yannaras and his idea of gradual centuries-old deviation of Western theology from the authentic tradition of the early Church Fathers. The study touches upon such subjects as intellectual influences on the process of formation of Yannaras’s thought, the role of the apophatic mystical tradition in Christian theology, and the basic roots of his radical anti-Scholasticism. The article also contains the detailed survey of Yannaras’s analysis of Friedrich Nietzsche’s ‘God is dead’-concept as the natural final point of the Western intellectual discourse’s degradation and dechristianization. There’s also a set of counterarguments from Yannaras’s opponents – Eastern Orthodox theologians Pantelis Kalaitzidis and Vasilios Makrides – who stand for dialogue, openness, ecumenical activity and inclusiveness of the modern Orthodox Church and reject any attempts of its intellectual self-isolation and solipsization.