Anthropologically explores the entanglement of theology and politics among contemporary Orthodox Christians.
Much of the anthropological literature on Christianity tends to concentrate on Protestants and Catholics in the Global South. The contemporary scholarly interest in such communities descends from histories of missionization and colonization of these regions, as well as a sense of their theological kinship with the secularized visions of Western political and social life. Orthodox Christianity, however, has largely been rendered marginal in mainstream anthropological engagement because of its theological and social alterity from such Western anthropological traditions of knowledge production. Because of this, Orthodox Christian lifeworlds in and beyond the academy are created, contested, and transformed in relation to various "others," whether they be religious, political, secular, or historical, with an eye toward a discursive opposition between modernity and Orthodoxy.
Each of the essays in Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity texture a new trajectory in the study of this religious tradition that take seriously the theopolitical aspects of Orthodox life through anthropological inquiry. The volume engages and moves beyond the tension between populist and institutional framings of religion, and critically addresses the ontological gap in both anthropology and theology as social, cultural, and geopolitical interest in Orthodox Christianity continues to expand and grow.
| ISBN: | 9781531511975 |
| Publication date: | 12th November 2025 |
| Author: | Candace Lukasik, Sarah RiccardiSwartz |
| Publisher: | Fordham University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 277 pages |
| Series: | Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought |
| Genres: |
Social and cultural anthropology Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches |
Anthropologically explores the entanglement of theology and politics among contemporary Orthodox Christians.
Much of the anthropological literature on Christianity tends to concentrate on Protestants and Catholics in the Global South. The contemporary scholarly interest in such communities descends from histories of missionization and colonization of these regions, as well as a sense of their theological kinship with the secularized visions of Western political and social life. Orthodox Christianity, however, has largely been rendered marginal in mainstream anthropological engagement because of its theological and social alterity from such Western anthropological traditions of knowledge production. Because of this, Orthodox Christian lifeworlds in and beyond the academy are created, contested, and transformed in relation to various "others," whether they be religious, political, secular, or historical, with an eye toward a discursive opposition between modernity and Orthodoxy.
Each of the essays in Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity texture a new trajectory in the study of this religious tradition that take seriously the theopolitical aspects of Orthodox life through anthropological inquiry. The volume engages and moves beyond the tension between populist and institutional framings of religion, and critically addresses the ontological gap in both anthropology and theology as social, cultural, and geopolitical interest in Orthodox Christianity continues to expand and grow.
Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity features in the following genres: Social and cultural anthropology, Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches
Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity is available in Hardback, Paperback
Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity was written by Candace Lukasik, Sarah RiccardiSwartz and published by Fordham University Press
Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity has 277 pages
Yes it is part of Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought series