Anglicans Orthodox Between The Wars

Eastern Orthodox and Anglicans is the first sustained study of inter-Orthodox relations, the special role of the Anglican Church, and the problems of Orthodox nationalism in the modern age. Despite many challenges, the interwar years were a time of intense creativity in the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian emigres, freed from enforced isolation in the wake of the Russian Revolution, found themselves in close contact with figures from other Orthodox churches and from the Roman Catholic Church and all varieties of Protestant confessions. For many reasons, Russian exiles found themselves drawn to the Anglican Church in particular. The interwar years thus witnessed a concentrated effort to bridge the gap between Orthodox and Anglican. Geffert's book is a detailed history of that effort. It is the story of efforts toward rapprochement by two churches and their ultimate failure to achieve formal unity. The same political, diplomatic, historical, personal, and religious forces that first inspired contact were the ones that ultimately undermined the effort. Bryn Geffert recounts the history of an important chapter in the history of Christian ecumenism, one that is relevant to contemporary efforts to achieve meaningful interfaith dialogue. "At a time when the sun seems to have set on the twentieth century's long labor to reunite a divided Christendom, historians and theologians do well to remember what the dawn was like. Bryn Geffert provides, for the first time, a full and revealing history of one of the most central and fascinating episodes of modern ecumenism. Historically precise and theologically acute, Geffert's book allows us to appreciate the complex motives that fueled the ecumenical hopes of a distinguished generation, and also to understand why so much intelligence and good will fell so far short of its goal." --Bruce Marshall, Southern Methodist University "Bryn Geffert brings a tremendous amount and considerable variety of source material to bear on the story of Anglican-Orthodox relations from the nineteenth century to around 1945. He also skillfully presents the secular political and diplomatic context in which Anglican-Orthodox church relations unfolded. This work will generate interest beyond the circle of church historians and ecumenists. Political and diplomatic historians interested in the religious dimensions of European/Middle Eastern/Russian history will find Geffert's work very useful." --Paul Valliere, Butler University "[Geffert's] is the only work of its kind. Even among related studies, this one is singular in the depth of its coverage of Anglican-Orthodox and other ecumenical connections in the years between the world wars, while tracing the earlier nineteenth-century developments that led up to the intense period of ecumenical engagement, roughly from 1920 to 1937. . . . The narration is superb; the author knows how to tell a most complex story with clarity and color." --Michael Plekon, Baruch College

While the postmodern world we inhabit is highly fragmented, contested, and conflicted, we all have one thing in common: we are experiencing identity crises. Religious traditions are not immune to these crises, and orthodox Anglicans have been experiencing their own issues with identity since the 2003 consecration of an openly homosexual man. Orthodox Anglicans want to say who they are as both orthodox and Anglican, but they are also finding it difficult to articulate a clear and coherent identity, especially an Anglican one. This orthodox Anglican pursuit of a renewed sense of self in a complex and fragmented world is a microcosm of our postmodern context, and an examination of their quest holds enticing clues to our own urgent searches for meaning and identity. Think of this book as a kind of story: the story of a worldwide church who, when its identity was threatened, took counsel together to renew and revitalize its sense of self. In the process, it not only faced many dangers and difficulties but also learned much about who it was and who it wanted to be.

The Orthodox migration in the West matters, despite its unobtrusive presence. And it matters in a way that has not yet been explored in social and religious studies: in terms of size, geographical scope, theological input and social impact. This book explores the adjustment of Orthodox migrants and their churches to Western social and religious contexts in different scenarios. This variety is consistent with Orthodox internal diversity regarding ethnicity, migration circumstances, Church-State relations and in line with the specificities of the receiving country in terms of religious landscape, degree of secularisation, legal treatment of immigrant religious institutions or socio-economic configurations. Exploring how Orthodox identities develop when displaced from traditional ground where they are socially and culturally embedded, this book offers fresh insights into Orthodox identities in secular, religiously pluralistic social contexts.

For centuries the Orthodox and the Anglican churches have been in dialogue; however, this association matured during the twentieth century, also known as the Age of Ecumenism, where both became members of the World Council of Churches and part of the Official Dialogue. Nevertheless, it is the work of individuals and ecumenical bodies who undertake an important role in educating people in both the West and the East. An example of such a society is the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius, an ecumenical body that promotes relations between various Christian denominations. This book analyses the history, theology and practice of the Fellowship. Issues such as Church relations, Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, iconography, the role of women in the Church, intercommunion and the role of Moscow within the Orthodox world are examined. As such, it will appeal to academics, theologians, hierarchs, churches and anyone interested in modern and ecumenical Theology.

A history of unparalleled scope that charts the global transformation of Christianity during an age of profound political and cultural change Christianity in the Twentieth Century charts the transformation of one of the world's great religions during an age marked by world wars, genocide, nationalism, decolonization, and powerful ideological currents, many of them hostile to Christianity. Written by a leading scholar of world Christianity, the book traces how Christianity evolved from a religion defined by the culture and politics of Europe to the expanding polycentric and multicultural faith it is today--one whose growing popular support is strongest in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, China, and other parts of Asia. Brian Stanley sheds critical light on themes of central importance for understanding the global contours of modern Christianity, illustrating each one with contrasting case studies, usually taken from different parts of the world. Unlike other books on world Christianity, this one is not a regional survey or chronological narrative, nor does it focus on theology or ecclesiastical institutions. Rather, Stanley provides a history of Christianity as a popular faith experienced and lived by its adherents, telling a compelling and multifaceted story of Christendom's fortunes in Europe, North America, and across the rest of the globe. Transnational in scope and drawing on the latest scholarship, Christianity in the Twentieth Century demonstrates how Christianity has had less to fear from the onslaughts of secularism than from the readiness of Christians themselves to accommodate their faith to ideologies that privilege racial identity or radical individualism.

Springing out of the Anglican Patristic revival in the seventeenth century, this College for Greek Orthodox students in Oxford enjoyed only a brief existence (1699-1705), but its history reflects a vigorous strain of ecumenical activity and theological conviction continuing to the present day. This volume collects the papers from the conference held in 2001 at Worcester College, Oxford, celebrating the three hundredth anniversary of the Greek College. The engagement between Anglicanism and Orthodoxy reveals not only the common foundations in Scripture and the Fathers on which they stand but also the divergent expressions of that shared tradition, shaped as each church has been by the contingencies of history. Relations between Anglicans and Orthodox did not stop at discussion on Biblical and Patristic theology. The papers in this collection encompass high and low politics, educational theory and practice, architecture, liturgy, ecumenism, as well as cultural imperialism and protectionism. Also included in this collection are documents related to the history of the College, among them translations of original publications previously available only in Greek. Here is to be found hope that in a better understanding of their own as well as one another's traditions, Anglicans and Orthodox may with greater confidence continue to work together towards rediscovering the unity of the Church.