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Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu
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This is an Open Access Journal

Open Access journal
ISSN (Print) 2359-8093 - ISSN (Online) 2359-8107
Published by Sciendo

[389 journals]

Book Reviews: Chad M. Rimmer und Cheryl M. Peterson, Hrg. Lutherische
Identitäten aus weltweiter Perspektive. LWB-Dokumentation 63, Leipzig:
Evangelische Verlagsanstalt Leipzig 2022, 352, ISBN: 2022ISBN
978-3-374-07089-3
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Book Reviews: Aaron Michael Butts and Simcha Grossohr (eds.), . Texts and
Studies in Ancient Judaism 180, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2020, 350 + XII p.
ISBN: 978-3-16-159134-1
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Book Reviews: Markus Witte, Jens Schröter and Verena M. Lepper (eds.), .
Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism 184, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2021.
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Editorial RES 1/2023: Dynamics of Tradition and Liberty in Byzantine
Liturgy: 40 years after Alexander Schmemann Die Dynamik von Tradition und
Freiheit in der byzantinischen Liturgie: 40 Jahre nach Alexander Schmemann
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Reflecting with Schmemann on the Functions of Byzantine Hymnography: The
Case of the 15 Antiphons during Holy Friday Matins
- Abstract: Schmemann’s harsh judgement of the antiphons of Holy Friday matins invites us to consider the role of hymnography in the liturgical celebration. By analysing the historical context of the appearance of the antiphons – according to the methodology proposed by Schmemann – it is possible to consider the way in which these hymns make use of scriptural material by means of patristic intertextuality. The hymns privilege some biblical interpretations in order to encourage the believer to join in the participation in the Kingdom. This parenetic bias, however, often masks the eschatological message contained in the hymns themselves, and even degenerates into denunciatory rhetoric. It is then necessary to recontextualize the functions of hymnography to actualize it, especially by questioning its relationship to Scripture in order to refocus on the theological message.
  PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
The Doctrine of Original Sin and its Influence on the Theology and
Practice of Baptism
- Abstract: In the 20th century, both in the East, but mostly in the West, a genuine movement of patristic and liturgical renewal took shape, aiming to establish as to what degree the theological discourse and the liturgical life of the Church today corresponds to the spirit and the practice of the Church of the first centuries. In this spirit, the question was often asked if the generalization of infant baptism in the West (5th century), but also in the East (6th century), was influenced by the theory of “original sin” and the Augustinian “bogeyman” concerning the inevitable condemnation to hell of all who die unbaptized. In his book “Of Water and the Spirit”, Father Alexander Schmemann briefly touches, but does not fully develop the subject, and fails to reach any clear conclusions. In the current study we tried, as much as was possible, to follow the roots and dogmatical consequences of this theory, and also to discern its ensuing consequences on baptismal rites and texts, as well as other practical and canonical implications, like the importance of baptismal immersion.
  PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Pope Benedict XVI: “Lord, I love You!”
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
A Sacred Cyberspace' Towards the Ontology of Virtual Worship
- Abstract: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Orthodox Church was compelled to move its worship to online platforms. What does such a shift mean in terms of liturgical theology and ontology' To what extent, and in what sense, is participation possible online' How does the virtual space function as a liturgical space' What kind of ontological and aesthetic problems are involved' Orthodox theologians have not yet developed answers to such questions. This paper approaches the problem in the light of Pseudo-Dionysian ontology, supplemented by Alexander Schmemann’s ideas, proposing that virtual worship offers a new sub-category of liturgical reality that reflects the higher forms of reality. To paraphrase the words of Pseudo-Dionysius, cyberspace constitutes a medium in which “like represents like,” though it uses formations that are “even entirely inadequate and ridiculous.”
  PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Fr. Alexander Schmemann’s Liturgical Theology and the Need for
Mystagogy in the Church Today
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
In Memoriam: Metropolitan Ioannis Zizioulas (1931−2023)
- PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
The Discipline of Historical Liturgics in Russia: From «Unhappy
Step-daughter» to Full-fledged Scholarly Discipline
- Abstract: The birth of liturgical research in Russia is a phenomenon that deserves careful study. The development of liturgical studies took place mainly in the Theological (Spiritual) Academies of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv and Kazan. The publication of liturgical source materials was the first step towards the establishment of an independent scientific school of liturgical studies in Russia. Thanks to Nikolai Krasnoseltsev, Ivan Mansvetov, Alexei Dmitrievskij, Ivan Karabinov and other prominent liturgists, we have a number of outstanding treatises on the liturgy of the East and West, the Typicon, both of Greek and Russian liturgical traditions, the Sacramental rites and other orders grown out of use. At present, the considerable range of matters addressed in these studies is poorly recognized, although the hypotheses of Russian scholars and their gains in methodology anticipated some of the achievements of the liturgists in the second half of the 20th century.
  PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Liturgical Renewal in Contemporary Orthodox Thought in Romania: A
Preliminary Assessment
- Abstract: The Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate’s liturgical renewal movement has a spontaneous character, but without a well-defined agenda. This paper examines some of the reflections from renowned Romanian theologians about the liturgical renewal in the Orthodox Church and explores how they define the notion of liturgical reform, how they perceive the idea of change in worship, and what a liturgical renewal might look like. Moreover, it examines some concrete reforms that have already been put into practice, but without specific authorization from the Romanian Church hierarchy. The purpose of this approach is to find a starting point for an official synodal and academic debate on the possibility to implement a systematic liturgical reform at an institutional level.**
  PubDate: Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
The Religious Affiliations of the Romanies from Post-Socialist Romania.
Considerations Concerning the In-Group Academic Productions
- Abstract: After the fall of communist regime religion returned to play a significant role both in the public life and the research agenda in Romania. Admittedly disadvantaged by many factors, Romanian Roma intellectual elites addressed the topic as part of an effort to give voice to their ethnic group. Their writing back to the negative profiling of the ethnic group involved confrontation of the antigypsist narratives produced and shared by non-Roma academics, which reflected the power relations between the majority population and the Roma minority. Some of the narratives were articulated and culturally reproduced in religious terms. Like the other ethnic groups living in post-communist Romania, Romanian Roma intellectuals have not missed their chance to address religion as an element in the identity politics they take part in. In this paper, I examine the manners in which the first generation of post-communist Romanian Roma intellectuals addressed the religious profile and religious affiliation and/or affinities of their ethnic group. I will also try to highlight whether there are consonances or, on the contrary, dissonances between the Western Roma and Romanian Roma narratives in this matter.
  PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Perceptions and Misperceptions on Roma People during the First Half of the
20 Century. A Glimpse into the Romanian Press
- Abstract: History has shown a 20th century marked by political, geopolitical, social, and economic metamorphosis, especially for the European continent. Romanian’s physical borders were reshaped during the first half of this century and caught between a political, social, and ethnic whirlwind. For Roma people, the 1920s and 1930s came with substantial turmoil as their efforts to establish various forms of representation and organization were not supported by the Romanian authorities, nor by public opinion. The public discourse was dominated by prejudice, stereotypes, and amplified marginalization. The far-right’s extreme tendencies, compounded by public discourse, spread Roma stereotypes such as “the thief”, “the other”, “the diseases carrier”, “the pariah”, “the unwanted” etc., and generated the idea of “us against them” which heavily impacted the deportation process.
  PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
“If we Throw the Roma out of the Tent, we Throw Jesus out of the
Tent”: Reflections on the Role of Religious Actors in Roma Inclusion in
Oslo, Norway
- Abstract: This article presents reflections on Roma inclusion in the context of intra-European mobility. It begins with accounts of visits to two religious actors running centres providing humanitarian assistance, social services, and opportunities to exercise religion to Roma and other migrants in Oslo, Norway: the Lutheran Church City Mission welcoming Roma migrants as guests in the City Mission Centre at Tøyen Church and the Pentecostal organisation Evangeliesenteret, where Roma migrants receive food and participate in religious gatherings at the Contact Centre. The article reflects on the modes of inclusion represented in these two accounts in relation to three different approaches to inclusion: EU Roma policy, the work of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, and diaconal theology. The article ends with reflections on what inclusion might mean in the context of intra-European Roma mobility.
  PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Valeriu Nicolae, , Casa Buna Association, Bucharest 2022, ISBN:
978-973-0-36105-6
- PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Pier-Giorgio Taneburgo, [], Pref. Andrea Palmieri, Roma, Edizioni Viverein
2022, 232 p., ISBN: 978-88-7263-653-4
- PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Haim Goren, “”: . Studia Traditionis Theologiae: Explorations in Early
and Medieval Theology, 39, Turnhout, Brepols 2020, 339 p. + XX. ISBN:
9782503589138
- PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Religious Education of the Roma People in Greece. The Ecumenical
Theological Framework of Communication, Intercultural Inclusion
Interventions and a Case Study of Non-Formal Education from the Orthodox
Church
- Abstract: The main concern of this article is to examine the conditions for Roma education through church and religious education. The program of the Holy Metropolis of Demetrias and Almyros “Agios Thaddeos” for the education of Roma is taken as a case study. This program belongs to the non-formal education sector. At the same time, the theological prerequisites of such programs by the Orthodox Church are examined in connection with the cultural identity of the Roma. The article concludes with an exploration of the conditions for the inclusion of Roma in formal education through religious education. The main purpose of Roma participation in religious education is religious literacy rather than catechism, as well as the preservation of their particular cultural identity. Emphasis is placed on the use of the tools of intercultural education and differentiated teaching in religious education based on the new curricula in Greece. In this way, formal and non-formal education are linked.
  PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
Faith on the Margins: Religion and Civic Emancipation among Roma People
during Communist Rule in Romania
- Abstract: This paper analyzes the way in which religion bolstered Roma people’s demands for civic emancipation and strengthened their ethnic and cultural identity in 1970s and 1980s Romania. Based on documents mainly from the former secret police, the Securitate, the paper is divided into two main parts. The “rst is a general overview of the state of the Roma people in communist Romania and the main initiatives for their civic emancipation. Next, the paper uses the perspective of “lived religion” to study three elements that informed the religious life of Roma during the 1970s and 1980s. These are the persistence of religious beliefs, the creation of Gypsy Neo-Protestant churches, and religious pilgrimage. Moreover, the paper will show that religious practice strengthened ethnic identity, favoured individual agency, and raised questions about equal rights and religious freedom.
  PubDate: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT