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The Glory of God Is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy As a Resource for Human Development in Conversation with the Capability Approach

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Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Bates, Dana (2013) The glory of God is humanity fully alive: exploring Eastern Orthodoxy as a resource for human development in conversation with the capability approach. PhD thesis, Middlesex University. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13709/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). They may not be sold or exploited commercially in any format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s). Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag- ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy ‘The Glory of God is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy as a resource for human development in conversation with the capability approach’ Dana Bates OCMS, Ph.D Abstract This dissertation argues that Eastern Orthodox theology is a framework for multidimensional social change or improvement and can inform, and be informed by the multi-disciplinary social science field of development studies. This claim will be examined by analyzing the Trinitarian theology of the Orthodox theologian Dumitru Staniloae in relation to the writings of Nobel Economist Amartya Sen and his ‘capability approach’. The argument begins by justifying EO’s interaction with development studies based on her anthropological optimism. Critical is that supernatural revelation stands very close to and builds on natural revelation. A Trinitarian theological anthropology then provides a rationale for, and integration of, three key concepts in the social sciences: agency, solidarity, and structures. This analytical framework is then used to assess the challenges of post-Communist contexts, where most Orthodox live. The Communist downfall, it is argued, involved a failure to incorporate each of these dimensions in human development. This analysis then serves to test the adequacy of, and reveal weaknesses in, Amartya Sen’s freedom-focused social evaluation framework known as the capability approach. The dissertation proceeds with examining Orthodox salvation as movement from Being, to Well- being, to Eternal-being where Well-being is, notably, the exercise of agency to develop the potentials given in Being. Agency is not individualistic, but is structured into the virtues of solidarity and incorporates the related notion of phronesis (practical reason). The virtue tradition is then postulated as a promising link between theology and development studies. The virtue tradition is analyzed in its classical background, modern human development, as well as both Protestantism and Catholicism to facilitate a comparison with Eastern Orthodoxy. This analysis shows that Orthodoxy offers a theological framework for human development in that she gives priority of practical reason to contemplation, makes virtually no separation between grace and nature, and provides a relevant method for synergizing salvation history with action on behalf of human development. ‘The Glory of God is Humanity Fully Alive: Exploring Eastern Orthodoxy as a resource for human development in conversation with the capability approach’ by Dana Bates B.A. (Gordon College) M-Div (Gordon-Conwell) A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Middlesex May 22, 2013 Oxford Centre for Mission Studies DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concunently submitted in candidature for any degree. tl 4 {"" Signed ,-kw ft{ (Candidate) Date /' l-lWn --- *-,'I )o ,f STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote. Other sources are acknowledged by midnotes or footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signed (Candidate) Date frr* //'Z,:t ,j STATEMENT 2 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if approved, to be available for photocopying by the British Library and for Inter-Library Loan, for open access to the Electronic Theses Online Service (EthoS) linked to the British Library, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside or ganizations. /) Signed /h-o, (Candidate) Date ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was envisioned, obviously in a much more primitive state, at the Capabilities Conference in Pavia Italy, September 2004. There I first saw the basic connection between the image-likeness (Eastern Orthodoxy) and capability-functioning (capabilities approach) distinction that sparked this study. It was also there that I met one of my supervisors, Severine Deneulin, who has not only been a fantastic academic advisor, but a wonderful friend and support. I also want to thank Roland Hoksbergen of Calvin for his encouragement over the years, as well as my supervisor for Staniloae, Silviu Rogobete. Thanks are due to Young Life for allowing me to pursue this, as well as Northwestern (and especially Dave Nonnemacher’s work along with Doug Carlson) and other colleges such as Calvin (and especially Jeff Bouman there) and Gordon who have sent their students to our Romania semester abroad, trusting that I would finish this project. I would also like to thank the many volunteers who have worked in various capacities with our organization, but especially the semester-abroad program administrators: Janelle Vandergrift, Daniel Heffner, Kadie Becker, and Alice McFarlane. I would also like to thank the SG Foundation and Patricia Beville for funding the first and final years of this research. Thanks are also due to OCMS and the staff there for their support. This PhD was built largely on late evenings, weekends, and vacation-time at the beach. Thanks and deep gratitude are due especially to my wonderful wife Brandi, daughter Briana and son Gabriel for their sacrifices and patience as this process endured much longer than any of us hoped. I promise to make up for it in the next few years by taking many real vacations together. Heartfelt thanks are also due to my colleagues at New Horizons, especially those that have been the long-term pillars, Diana Certan, Maria Neagu, and Ilie Popescu. The leadership team has kept me from a lot of busy-work and demonstrated remarkable independence of judgement and leadership, without which this research simply would not have been possible. This has been such a gift to me personally, and to our family life, and is the actual lived theology of “Bearing one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”. I hope and pray this investment in academic research will advance the youth development we all believe so strongly in. iii Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................. III LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. VI 1. INTRODUCTION: EASTERN ORTHODOXY AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES ................................. 1 2. JUSTIFYING THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN EO AND DS (METHODOLOGY) .................................. 17 2.1 EO Natural Theology ...................................................................................................... 17 2.2 God as Supreme Reason and Person ............................................................................... 26 2.3 Recovering “nature” in the Trinity and bridging with the social sciences ...................... 30 2.4 Development Studies: “Change for the Better”.............................................................. 37 2.5 Transcending Liberalism (and Communitarianism) ........................................................ 42 3. THE DIALOGUE IN CONTEXT: THEOLOGY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES ................................. 51 3.1 Background Considerations ............................................................................................ 51 3.2 The Marxist Precedent .................................................................................................... 62 3.2.1 Liberation Theology .............................................................................................. 63 3.2.2 Marxist inspired
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