Eastern Christian Approaches To Philosophy

With few exceptions, the field of Eastern Christian studies has primarily been concerned with historical-critical analysis, hermeneutics, and sociology. For the most part it has not attempted to bring Eastern Christian philosophy into serious engagement with contemporary thought. This volume seeks to redress the matter by bringing the Eastern Christian tradition into a meaningful dialogue with contemporary philosophy. It boasts a diverse group of scholars—specialists in ancient philosophy, analytic philosophy, and continental philosophy—who engage with a wide range of pressing issues. Among other things, it addresses such topics as contemporary atheism, the metaphysics of action, religious epistemology, the philosophy of language, bioethics, the philosophy of race, and human rights. In so doing, it aims to introduce contemporary readers to unique perspectives and novel arguments often overlooked by mainstream anglophone philosophy.

In this book Sergey Horujy undertakes a novel comparative analysis of Foucault s theory of practices of the self and the Eastern Orthodox ascetical tradition of Hesychasm, revealing great affinity between these two radical subject-less approaches to anthropology. As he facilitates the dialogue between the two, he offers both an original treatment of ascetical and mystical practices and an up-to-date interpretation of Foucault that goes against the grain of mainstream scholarship. In the second half of the book Horujy transitions from the dialogue with Foucault to his own work of Christian philosophy, rooted in -- but not limited to -- the Eastern Christian philosophical and theological tradition. Horujy s thinking exemplifies the postsecular nature of our contemporary period and serves as a powerful invitation to think beyond religious-secular divides in philosophy and Eastern-Western divides in intellectual history.

Even in the twenty-first century, critical and creative engagement with modern and postmodern philosophy is a rarity in Orthodox circles. The collection of essays presented here by Christoph Schneider makes a significant contribution to overcoming this deficit. Eight scholars from six different countries, working on the intersection between Orthodox thought and philosophy, present their research in short and accessible form. The topics covered range from political philosophy to phenomenology, metaphysics, philosophy of self, logic, ethics, and philosophy of language. The authors do not all promote one particular approach to the relationship between Orthodox theology and philosophy. Nevertheless, taken together, their work demonstrates that Orthodox scholarship is not confined to historical research about the Byzantine era, but can contribute to, and enrich, contemporary intellectual debates.

"Misty's younger brother left her brand-new bike in the middle of the street, and a speeding car ran over it. Not only is the bike totally mangled, it's covered with ugly red dirt. Misty wants to find the driver, but she doesn't have much information to go on--all she noticed was that the car was white. The Third-Grade Detectives agree to help, but there are an awful lot of white cars around town. Can the detectives clean up the case?"--Cover, p. 4.

Christos Yannaras is one of the most significant Orthodox theologians of recent times. The work of Yannaras is virtually synonymous with a turn or renaissance of Orthodox philosophy and theology, initially within Greece, but as the present volume confirms, well beyond it. His work engages not only with issues of philosophy and theology, but also takes in wider questions of culture and politics. With contributions from established and new scholars, the book is divided into three sections, which correspond to the main directions that Christos Yannaras has followed – philosophy, theology, and culture – and reflects on the ways in which Yannaras has engaged and influenced thought across these fields, in addition to themes including ecclesiology, tradition, identity, and ethics. This volume facilitates the dialogue between the thought of Yannaras, which is expressed locally yet is relevant globally, and Western Christian thinkers. It will be of great interest to scholars of Orthodox and Eastern Christian theology and philosophy, as well as theology more widely.

Understanding Eastern Philosophy provides an accessible critical introduction to how some of the key philosophies of the East compare with those in the West. Starting from a discussion of the problems of distinguishing between religions and philosophies, Ray Billington presents a clear picture of the key tenets behind Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism and Confucianism. Moving on to compare the key themes of religious philosophy that cut across East and West, such as a belief in God, the soul, moral decision-making, nature and authority, Understanding Eastern Philosophy presents a fascinating and controversial picture of the contribution theistic religions have to make. With its belief in a personal God bestowing a particular version of 'truth', Ray Billington concludes that the universal mysticism characteristic of Eastern thought provides a more realistic and rewarding path than is commonly supposed in the West. Understanding Eastern Philosophy assumes no prior knowledge of religion or philosophy.