Orthodox Discourse Research Articles

Elements of Mission Theology in Ukrainian Orthodox Discourse

Elements of Mission Theology in Ukrainian Orthodox Discourse

The End of 'Responsible Gambling': Reinvigorating Gambling Studies

This paper argues that gambling research has, since the neoliberal-inspired period of gambling legalisation in the late twentieth century, been dominated by a specific discourse, that of ‘responsible gambling’. This discourse originated in a conjunction of rationalities of government and capital, in the process of which commercial gambling was legitimated. Its liberalisation represented an extension of rationalities and technologies to form a new market from what had previously been an unlawful activity. The problems and harms associated with this liberalisation became subject to claims from some pockets of expertise, notably psy-sciences, and thus became a focus for analysis. As a consequence, gambling research has been characterised by a discourse of individual pathology as the focus of study. The orthodoxy formed from this discourse constitutes a system or apparatus of economic and quasi-medical power, in which reflexive relations between gambling operators, governments, charities, and some researchers, have been significant. These reflexive relations have largely constituted the field of gambling research. This paper contends that the orthodoxy of gambling research has failed to prevent harm arising from gambling and has restricted the expansion of knowledge. A systemic critique of the orthodox discourses and technologies that constitute much of gambling research is required to address these categories. This would also address a lack of diversity in theoretical framings of gambling research priorities. Alternative ways of conceptualising the problem of legalised gambling have emerged, most clearly under the discourse of ‘public health’. The current competition between these two discourses might be categorised as between an orthodoxy (‘responsible gambling’) and a heterodoxy (‘public health’). Extending the heterodoxy into a critical public health discourse may provide a basis for rapid expansion and diversification of the research field, particularly along paths that expand knowledge, facilitate effective regulation of harmful products, and prevent harm to individuals, communities, and populations.

The Images of Stalin and Stalin’s Era in Civil Religion of Modern Russia: Conflict Potential’s Risks between State and Orthodox Discourses

The article is dedicated to the problem of the representation of the images of Stalin and Stalin’s era in official state and Orthodox discourses, it is compared of them, it is analyzed of the mutual influence, it is recognized of “tension points” in these narratives. In the context of the general actualization of the memorial agenda and the still high symbolic capital of events related to this period, for the majority of Russian society, including them in the emerging civil religion, it is important to pay attention to the possible risks of the coexistence of these two narratives. It is concluded that the potential conflict of these politics of memory is primarily related to the contradictions of “post-Soviet” and “non-Soviet” discourses. In conclusion, conceptual guidelines for the state politics of memory are proposed, which could offset the identified risks.

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.

CYRIL AND METHODIUS AS PRECURSORS OF THE ‘RUS’ WORLD’: THE IMAGE OF THE SOLUN BROTHERS AND RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM

This article analyses the recent Russian Orthodox discourse on the Solun Brothers. This analysis shows, on the one hand, that the politicised interpretation of the mission of Cyril and Methodius is not a recent ideological innovation, but appeals to the same motives that made their cult popular in 19th-century Russian Orthodoxy. On the other hand, the reinterpretation of the meaning of their mission that is currently taking place is acquiring additional political objectives harmonised with those of Russian state ideology, as well as cultural and foreign policy, especially in relation to the post-Soviet area. At the same time, however, the religious significance of Cyril and Methodius is almost disappearing from church discourse and theological reflection. A common element of Russian discourse on the Solun Brothers, in both the 19th and 21st centuries, is ahistoricity, understood as a complete disconnection from the actual historical context in which Cyril and Methodius lived and worked .

Marriage and Family in Putin’s Russia: State Ideology and the Discourse of the Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) presents itself as a defender of traditional Christian values. Among these values, representatives of the ROC mention concern for marriage and family. To what extent is the position of the ROC an expression of commitment to the traditional Christian concept of marriage and family? In this article, we analyse the contemporary Orthodox discourse in Russia since Kirill Gundyayev became the Patriarch of Moscow in 2009. From a political science and security studies perspective, we highlight the main ideological elements of this discourse. We contrast these elements with similar content in Russian official documents and Vladimir Putin’s statements. An analysis of what the ROC says about the problems and protection of marriage and family in Russia, against the background of Putin’s statements and the actions of the state authorities, shows that the ROC’s discourse on marriage and family echoes the main themes of the political discourse controlled by the state authorities. In its understanding of marriage and in its efforts on behalf of the family, the ROC represents a conservative doctrinal position. Although, in doctrinal terms, it essentially expresses the traditional Christian teaching on marriage, the strong ideologisation and securitisation of demographic issues in Russia are also reflected in church discourse.

Озеро Светлояр в современном сакральном дискурсе

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of the sacred discourse of Lake Svetloyar. The material of the analysis is the texts of interviews taken from residents of the village of Vladimirsky and guests who visited this place, video content posted on the YouTube social network, publications in the media dedicated to the lake. The conducted discourse analysis reveals the peculiarity of the sacred discourse of Lake Svetloyar today as a complex and conflicting combination of Orthodox discourse, the discourse of neo-pagans, representatives of new age, individual religiosity, as well as the excursion activities of employees of the Museum and Tourist Complex “Grad Kitezh” in the village of Vladimirskoye. The article concludes that for all of them Lake Svetloyar is a natural sacred space, one of those in Russia in which either the Russian national and cultural identity, or the spiritual uniqueness of all mankind, or the source of individual “cultivation of the spirit” is most strongly manifested. The results of the study confirm that Lake Svetloyar, as one of the most important sacred spaces in Russia with a corpus of various narratives revealing its special nature and status, with a complex of ritual practices formed around it, remains significant and actively functioning in the modern socio-cultural space.

Power and Other Commercial Determinants of Health: An Empirical Study of the Australian Food, Alcohol, and Gambling Industries.

Commercial determinants of health (CDoH) represent a critical frame for exploring undue corporate and commercial influence over health. Power lenses are integral to understanding CDoH. Impacts of food, alcohol, and gambling industries are observable CDoH outcomes. This study aims to inform understanding of the systems and institutions of commercial and/or corporate forces working within the Australian food, alcohol, and gambling industries that influence health and well-being, including broader discourses materialised via these systems and institutions. Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with key-informants on Australian public policy processes. Interviewees were current and former politicians, political staff members, regulators and other public servants, industry representatives, lobbyists, journalists, and researchers with expertise and experience of the Australian food, alcohol, and/ or gambling industries. Interviews sought participants' perceptions of Australian food, alcohol, and gambling industries' similarities and differences, power and influence, relationships, and intervention opportunities and needs. Strategies and tactics used by Australian food, alcohol and gambling industries are similar, and similar to those of the tobacco industry. They wield considerable soft (eg, persuasive, preference-shaping) and hard (eg, coercive, political, and legal/economic) power. Perceptions of this power differed considerably according to participants' backgrounds. Participants framed their understanding of necessary interventions using orthodox neoliberal discourses, including limiting the role of government, emphasising education, consumer freedom, and personal choice. Food, alcohol, and gambling industries exercise powerful influences in Australian public policy processes, affecting population health and well-being. Per Wood and colleagues' framework, these manifest corporate, social, and ecological outcomes, and represent considerable instrumental, structural, and discursive power. We identify power as arising from discourse and material resources alike, along with relationships and complex industry networks. Addressing power is essential for reducing CDoH harms. Disrupting orthodox discourses and ideologies underpinning this should be a core focus of public health (PH) advocates and researchers alike.

Anti-Russian Orthodox Discourses in the Trial of Anton Berezowski

Anti-Russian Orthodox Discourses in the Trial of Anton Berezowski

Смирение и взаимность: религиоведческий анализ Этоса современного русского православия

The article considers humility as one of the key categories in the practical ethos of Russian Orthodoxy. Sociological and theological problems related to this category are discussed and formulated. The main emphasis is on the analysis of the relationship in the pair "the one who humbles - the one who gives humility". The formulation of the problem of humility in this form is not obligatory, but it is precisely this problem that has received a certain spread in Orthodox discourse today. The reduction of the fullness of the problem to such a configuration of relations leaves many important subjects out of consideration, but at the same time allows us to concentrate on one problematic point noted in modern Orthodox discourse.To discuss the logic of the ethics of humility was chosen the following text - "Asceticism according to Orthodox Christian teaching" by S. Zarin. On its basis, the dominant interpretation is described – "humility as acceptance of humiliation." Relying on texts discussing humility both inside and outside the Church, the author shows that one of the central virtues of Russian Orthodoxy is embodied in such a practice, which has a number of "ambiguous" consequences.At the same time, the author points out the deep rootedness of the category of humility in Orthodox ethics and suggests turning to the texts of the New Testament in search of a nuance in the understanding of humility and suggestions for the embodiment of this virtue in practice, capable of minimizing these ambiguous consequences. This nuance – mutuality – the author finds in the Epistles of the st. Paul. By analyzing the meaning of humility and the use of this concept in the text of the epistles of the apostle, the importance of recmutuality of actors entering into interaction is shown.In conclusion, the presence of such an interpretation in the Russian Orthodox tradition, namely in the texts of Theophanes the Recluse, is discussed. Thus, the assumption is substantiated that such an interpretation is not alien to the Orthodox worldview. The author suggests that the emphasis on mutuality in understanding and practicing humility could help to remove a number of negative effects that are fixed today (and were fixed earlier) both inside and outside the Church.

Reimagining the future with liminal agents: critical interdisciplinary STS as manifestos for anti-essentialist solidarities

ABSTRACT This paper traces the recent trend in interdisciplinary Science and Technology Studies (STS), especially those of the Black feminist tradition, to make an argument for how its critical scholarship on data, science and knowledge production can be interpreted as manifesto-istic texts advocating for anti-essentialist solidarities. Dorothy E. Roberts’ work demonstrates how debunking essentialist categories backed by the foundationalist veneer of science must be situated at the heart of anti-racist and anti-ablest politics of co-liberation. Ruha Benjamin’s work, meanwhile, not only analyses the technologies/knowledge production practices designed to maintain the status quo, but projects a new vision of ‘retooling’ science as a means of reimagining justice in the rapidly shifting technological climate of the twenty-first century. Sylvia Wynter and Katherine McKittrick discuss human subjects often trapped in between orthodox discourses, who must then strive to reimagine/redefine their collective future through intersubjective creativity. What remains, in the end, are embodied narratives that escape reductionist logic through their welcoming of new perspectives, experiences and innovations—all of which are constantly being renewed through the arrival of new generations and diasporic traversements of ideas.

بررسی تاریخی ناجنبش کوییر ایرانی

This article applies critical discourse analysis and content analysis as a method of data analysis to queer discourses from Iran over the last three decades. "Orthodox discourse" and "heterodox discourse” are studied from historical, ontological, epistemological, and executive perspectives. The author also uses the model of historical sociology. The first part of the article addresses a theoretical study of the concepts of movement and non-movement. In the second part of the article an overview of the history of pre-modern sexuality and modernization in Iran is presented. In the third part of the article, while narrating the historical events after the 1979 revolution, the author examines the gradual formation of an orthodox discourse in the field of Iranian sexuality, first in the Iranian diaspora, and then in relation to domestic activists. The final section of the article provides an overview of heterodox discourse as a critical discourse in this area.

Интерпретация канонов в дискурсе маргинального православия

Characteristics of the interpretation of the concept of "canon" in the marginal Orthodox discourse have been considered in the article. Marginal Orthodoxy is understood by the author as a set of ideas and practices characteristic of non-institutionalized movements and groups declaring their orthodoxy and accusing representatives of official Orthodoxy for the departure from tradition. The relevance of the study is stipulated by the need to establish an intra-confessional dialogue in a situation of increasing heterogeneity of Orthodoxy in Russia. The purpose of the article is to determine the role of the canons in the construction of the discourse of marginal Orthodoxy. To attain it the author reveals the features of marginal Orthodoxy discourse; compares the cases of appeal to canons in marginal and official discourses; outlines the specifics of understanding the canons in marginal Orthodoxy. The novelty of the work is conditioned by the examination of the religious space of modern Orthodoxy through the concepts of center and periphery and their relationship. Due to the insufficient theoretical development of the problem, the most resonant texts of its representatives of the first two decades of the 21st century (open letters, recordings of sermons, interviews, video speeches, journalistic articles, etc) served as the basic material for researching the discourse of marginal Orthodoxy. The official and marginal versions of Orthodoxy are considered in the article as competing discursive modes of truth production. Within the framework of the hermeneutic method, using content, discourse, and comparative analysis, the main characteristics of the discourse of marginal Orthodoxy are revealed. It is shown that the texts of marginal Orthodoxy appeal to the canons so often that in fact the entire discourse can be considered as a set of statements about the canonicity or non-canonicity of certain theories, actions and practices. The results of the study show that in marginal discourse the canon is interpreted as non-historical dogma and unconditional prohibition, which allows using it for discrediting official Orthodoxy and mobilizing supporters. The myth-making and ideological grounds of the appeal to the canons are revealed. It is proved that the concept of "canon" is organizing for the discourse of marginal Orthodoxy and without a detailed analysis of its use it is impossible to understand the specifics of this discourse.

Adrian Pushkin: Perm experience of the bureaucratic messiahship

This paper presents to the reader’s attention a unique case of a local “messianic” prophecy which combines features of folk religious movements and principles of functioning of the bureaucratic machine. The manuscripts of civil servant and merchant Adrian Pushkin, who lived in the 19th century in the city of Perm (Kama region, West-ern Ural), are considered as a variation of development of popular religion which includes a messianic-apocalyptic narrative. This places the provincial clerk closely to founders of the alternative to the official Orthodox discourse movements in the Russian Empire, as well as new religious movements of the later period. The aim of this paper is to determine the place and the role of Pushkin’s revelation in the religious space of that historical period. The main sources of the research are local archival documents which include business correspondence, personal letters, photographs, also documents related to Pushkin’s psychiatric examination and his subsequent expulsion to the Solovetsky Monastery, letters and family photos of the “prophet”, and service notes. The research method is based on the phenomenological approach with elements of hermeneutical analysis. The new revelation was founded on biblical text well known to the Perm messiah, and its content was provided by the social and historical context. The targeted audience for the new prophet was the middle strata of the society, comfortable for him. The preferred way of communication involved the tools of the bureaucratic system of pre-revolutionary Russia. The development of the new interpretation of Christian teaching was based on individual choice of the revelator and mediated by already initiated processes of secularization of public life. Traditional narratives and imagery of the sacred books of the Orthodox tradition were placed by the messiah-bureaucrat in the context of local space of the region and the country, and were interpreted through realities of personal life. Open criticism of the official Church was combined with a complex of mythological ideas. The main accents of the prophetic text were apocalyptic and chiliastic, related to the personal and professional crisis experienced by the author. The latter was triggered by the abolition of serfdom and destruction of the habitual environment and self-realization system. The style and con-tent of Pushkin’s text represent a mixture of theological concepts and elements of folk narratives based on the biblical tradition. As a result of the textual development, the signature myth was formed, rooted formally in Chris-tian dogmas and associated with folk religious culture.

Names of sacred ranks and ranks of saints in the Khakass language

The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the names of sacred ranks and ranks of saints in the Khakass language on the material of the text of the New Testament and the publications of the newspaper «Сын сабланыстығ киртiнiс» («Orthodox Faith»). The topic of the article is relevant due to the insufficient degree of development of the problem of the scientific description of the religious (Orthodox) vocabulary of the Khakass language. The novelty of the work is determined by the fact that it is based on the Orthodox Khakass vocabulary, which has not previously become an object of scientific research. The research material was obtained by the continuous selection methodology from the above sources. The author briefly describes the history of Orthodox texts in the Khakass language, and then considers the names of sacred ranks and ranks of saints, analyzing the differences between them in the texts of the New Testament and in the diocesan newspaper in Khakass. The author has established that Khakass Orthodox terminology is in the process of formation. The evidence of it lies in such facts as the presence of synonyms denoting the concept of holiness and some sacred titles, the variability of the combined and separate writing of some hagiological statuses. The Khakass text of the New Testament notes the desire of translators to avoid Greek borrowings, transferring the names of sacred ranks by means of the Khakass language, while in modern Orthodox discourse, lexical units of Greek origin are usually preserved. The names of the ranks of saints are built in accordance with the productive word-formation models of the Khakass language and, according to the author, may eventually become an active part of its vocabulary. The author concludes that it is necessary to do further research of the religious vocabulary of the Khakass language and its consolidation in dictionaries.

Rituals in Discourses of Digital Orthodox Christianity: Methodology and Research Trends

In the realities of the millennium the transcendent is banalized – at any moment the user of web 2.0 can find himself in the meditation space of the Buddhist ritual of building a sand mandala or order a moleben in one of the Orthodox churches of the world. The Internet and new media technologies provide an opportunity to host and store data that is potentially accessible to many people. Sacred texts of various religious traditions, rituals and practical instructions to them, liturgies, molebens, magic formulas and so on, are no longer the domain of a narrow circle of charismatic professionals. And that in itself raises the question of authenticity and authority to any user of such information and practices. Are genuine and credible online ritual practices, digitized sacred and teacher texts, symbolic images, icons, tanks, vlogs with detailed instructions on the rules of prayers by agreement or online collective pujas? And, if the adept of the religion is an offline authority to which this question may be forwarded, what should do a neophyte, an interested person or a researcher of religions? The focus of the article is the methodology of studying digital discourse of Orthodoxy concerning the epistemic authority and the legitimacy of online rituals. The author analyzes in detail the key concepts of digital studies interdisciplinary research field. The typology of online religious epistemic authorities by H. Kempbell, the concept of «strategic arbitration» by P.H. Chon and the concept of «religious digital third space» by S. Huve and N.Ash-Sheibiare examined in depth. The results of the author’s probing online study of the Orthodox online practices and digital discourse around them are of particular interest. As a final chord, the article offers specific promising directions of online research of digital Orthodox discourse of Orthodoxy. As such, the paper presents the narrative practices of theological bloggers and theo bloggers, the strategic arbitration of theological bloggers regarding the epistemic authority of the repertoire of variations of the practice of «prayer by agreement» on the digital platforms of the Orthodox social network «Elica» and the mobile application «Prayer by Agreement» and, finally, the hybrid digital proposal on rituals and practices of the network «Elica», «Notes».

The invocation of mesorah in contemporary Orthodox Jewish legal discourse: polysemic and reified usages

ABSTRACT In the last century, the theme of an objectified mesorah (tradition) has been operative in, and at times central to, discussions relating to modernity within rabbinic discourse. This article traces the history of the usage of this term, principally within the Lithunanian-rabbinic tradition, from its technical halakhic antecedents to its extended invocations in modern discussions which often take place in areas of social and political significance. The emergence of the term mesorah in these contexts is traced to the kulturkampf with heterorthodox movements in nineteenth-century Europe and is shown to have been centralized within American Orthodox discourse through the teachings of one of the most important ideologues of American Modern-Orthodoxy, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Although linguistically the term's extended usage is a child of modernity, this article demonstrates that the thrust of arguments from mesorah are well precedented in traditional rabbinic literature where they have been deployed for very many centuries. Special focus and analysis is given to the linguistic significance of the term and on explaining how this invocation has been used within the recent debates in American Orthodoxy regarding the potential for inclusivity in clerical roles.

Korean Filmmakers in Shanghai 1920s-1930s: Border-crossing Practices of Shanghai Filmmaking

This article traces the practices of Korean filmmakers in Shanghai film industry during the period between the 1920s and 1930s. By delineating how Shanghai filmmaking in the 1920s and 1930s connected to Korean filmmakers and other cultural workers through key figures and films, this article calls into attention the fact that Shanghai filmmaking in the 1920s and 1930s cannot be fully understood without taking into account the trans-border mobility of filmmakers and the transnationality of anti-colonial and class-conscious discourse in this historical period of colonial expansion and international trade. It was a history of disjuncture, of a transnational screen connection happening long before neoliberalism became an orthodox discourse in globalization. The border-crossing activities of the people active in this network mediated the ideological connection and utilized the visual image to store a popular knowledge and memory that could perhaps transcend the national borders.

Comparing Forms and Degrees of Critique

This paper presents an analytical tool designed to evaluate the degree and type of divergence between a dominant orthodox discourse and that of heterodox actors who criticize it. This method of discourse analysis consists in a breaking down and classification of its different parts. It is grounded in Boltanski’s conception of critique and in analytical sociologists’ breaking down of social reality. By summarizing these differences in simple tables, the method proposed greatly facilitates comparisons of the discourses of a great variety of actors. To show the heuristic power of this tool, I apply it to the controversy that emerged in France in 2009-2010 over the safety of the pandemic flu vaccine. I present the social and medical ontologies on which these various critiques are grounded and their varying degrees of radicalism.

“Jewish Mindfulness” as Spiritual Didactics Teaching Orthodox Jewish Religion through Mindfulness Meditation

Since the late 1990s, the expression “Jewish Mindfulness” has become ubiquitous in Jewish community centers (JCCs) and synagogues in America, in Israel, and in the Western diaspora. “Mindfulness”, a secular meditation technique originating from Buddhism which has been popularized in Western culture through its recontextualization within the Western therapeutic culture, has been increasingly used in Jewish Religious settings, including Modern Orthodox. How do Modern Orthodox rabbis describe their use of “Mindfulness” in their religious teachings? Why do they refer to Mindfulness Meditation rather than to Jewish Meditation? In this article, I comparatively analyze the discourses spoken—online, and in print—of American rabbis from various Modern Orthodox trends as a case to study strategies of adaptation in the current context of globalization. By identifying three types of use of Mindfulness—through, and or as Judaism—I seek to highlight the various ways in which today’s Orthodox educators use “Mindfulness”, both as a meditation technique and as a spiritual mindset, and how this is reshaping the way they teach Jewish religion. Observing contemporary Orthodox discourses on Mindfulness within Jewish religious pedagogy can help us better understand the processes of cultural appropriation and translation as well as religious change in the making, as part of a boundary maintenance work within today’s cosmopolitan cultures.