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Orthodox Christianity and Social Science

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Orthodox Christianity and Social Science Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 69(1-4), 137-164. doi: 10.2143/JECS.69.1.3214955 © 2017 by Journal of Eastern Christian Studies. All rights reserved. ORTHoDoX CHRISTIANITY AND SocIAL ScIENcE OVERCoMING OLDER CoMPLICATIoNS AND ATTEMPTING A PRoDUCTIVE INTERACTIoN VASILIoS N. MAKRIDES * THE STATE oF THE QUESTIoN What is the relationship between Orthodox Christianity and the broad domain of social science? Is there a real interaction between contemporary Orthodox thought and the numerous scholarly disciplines that fall under the broad umbrella of social science? In fact, the latter, also used in plural form, includes quite diverse branches, ranging from anthropology, sociology and psychology up to political science, human geography and communication studies. It is about academic disciplines that have become autonomous and experienced quite major developments, especially during the twentieth cen- tury and up until today. All this has had far-reaching consequences at an interdisciplinary level in many other scholarly domains.1 It is certainly not possible to examine within the limited scope and space of a single paper whether the findings of these numerous disciplines have been taken into account by contemporary Orthodox thought. Yet, it is still possible to pre- sent and discuss various aspects of this topic. In this paper, however, I will only take into account the perspectives of the Orthodox Christian side, and not those stemming from outside. In actual fact, Orthodox Christianity has increasingly become the object of research from a social scientific perspective during the last three decades in the wake of the radical changes in the former communist countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe – yet, in this paper, I can only partially and selectively discuss the findings. * University of Erfurt. 1 Elgin F. Hunt, David C. Colander, Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society (Boston/MA, 2008); Roger E. Backhouse, Philippe Fontaine, eds., The History of the Social Sciences since 1945 (Cambridge, 2010). 138 VASILIoS N. MAKRIDES We might pose from the outset the following questions: Why should Orthodox Christianity consider and reflect on the findings that research in the social sciences has produced? Is this an absolute must for its social image, presence and influence? Or, alternatively, can it survive and simply go on without taking all these worldly developments into consideration? It goes without saying that the answers to these questions need to examine the overall attitude of Orthodox Christianity towards the world as such and its related evaluation. In fact, this has been a perennial issue in the history of Christianity and has been addressed variously by Christian Churches and actors across history in East and West respectively. In addition, various strat- egies were deployed, aimed at addressing and, if possible, solving specific social problems and impasses. At the same time, it is also true that opinions within Christianity generally vary enough with regard to the appropriate attitude towards the world. The dialectic of living in the world and not being of this world (cf. John 17:14-15) has always constituted a dilemma for the various Christian Churches and actors across time, and this also holds true for today. At times and in specific contexts, other- and outerworldly orienta- tions held priority, whereas in other instances more worldly attitudes domi- nated the field of Christian social presence and action. The whole dilemma has been succinctly summarized by the Russian Orthodox theologian Georges V. Florovsky in his exposition of the antinomies between the “empire” and the “desert” in the development of the early Church.2 Needless to say, the entire issue is not marginal but central, and is closely related to the need for a contextualization of the Christian message, a process that essentially presupposes a rather constructive, if not categorically positive, evaluation and appropriation of the surrounding social environment and the world at large. Nevertheless, the whole topic has been, and still is, plagued by numerous debates among the Christian Churches including mutual criti- cisms. On the one hand, the Orthodox usually criticize Western Latin Churches for introducing worldliness and secularization to Church life, for deploying strong social activism and for forgetting the vital domain of escha- tology. On the other hand, Western Christians criticize the Orthodox Church for preferring and practicing an otherworldly escapism while 2 Georges V. Florovsky, ‘Empire and Desert: Antinomies of Christian History’, The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 3 (1957), pp. 133-159. ORTHoDoX CHRISTIANITY AND SoCIAL SCIENCE 139 avoiding social problems.3 Regardless of the correctness of such mutual criti- cisms, it is obvious that we are dealing here with various facets and processes of a contextualization of Christianity. It becomes evident, then, that not every contextualization is positive, welcome and acceptable, at least from an Orthodox Christian perspective, and the question is why. To begin with, the expression “contextual theology” is not unknown today in Orthodox thought and vocabulary.4 Various practices of a contextualization of the Christian message can be located in the history of Eastern Orthodox Christianity; for example, in the encounter between Hellenism and early Christianity and the decisive appropriation of the former by the latter.5 Another case in point concerns the Orthodox Christian missions in which a model of contextual- ization had been applied early enough and which has mutatis mutandis remained dominant in the Eastern Orthodox theology of mission. Charac- teristically enough, going back in history, we can see that the Orthodox East has proven to be much more contextual than the Latin West, which appeared to be more inflexible, authoritative and uniformist with regard to local cul- tures which were to be christianized.6 DEVELoPMENTS IN EAST AND WEST: A CoMPARISoN In order to understand the differences between East and West on this point, not least with regard to the appropriation of social science, it is vital to 3 On this topic in history and at present, see John Meyendorff, ‘The Christian Gospel and Social Responsibility: The Eastern Orthodox Tradition in History’, in Continuity and Discon- tinuity in Church History: Essays presented to George Huntston Williams on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, eds. F. Forrester Church and Timothy George (Leiden, 1979), pp. 118-130; Klaus Gnoth, Antwort vom Athos: Die Bedeutung des heutigen griechisch-orthodoxen Mönchtums für Kirche und Gesellschaft nach der Schrift des Athosmönchs Theoklitos Dionysiatis ‘Metaxy oura- nou kai gēs’ (Zwischen Himmel und Erde) (Göttingen, 1990). 4 See, for example, Nikos Nissiotis, ‘Ecclesial Theology in Context’, in Doing Theology Today, ed. Choan-Seng Song (Madras, 1976), pp. 101-124; Petros Vassiliadis, ‘Orthodoxie und kontextuelle Theologie’, Ökumenische Rundschau, 42 (1993), pp. 452-460. 5 Jaroslav Pelikan, Christianity and Classical Culture: The Metamorphosis of Natural Theology in the Christian Encounter with Hellenism (New Haven/CT and London, 1993). 6 Vasilios N. Makrides, ‘The “Individuality of Local Cultures”. Perceptions, Policies and Attitudes in the Context of Orthodox Christian Missions’, in Individualisierung durch christliche Mission?, eds. Martin Fuchs, Antje Linkenbach and Wolfgang Reinhard (Wies- baden, 2015), pp. 152-169. 140 VASILIoS N. MAKRIDES distinguish between pre-modern and modern forms of contextualization. In short, the discrepancy between East and West should be understood with reference to the radical transition that has taken place since the beginning of the modern era, and the concomitant changes that have profoundly affected the profile of Western Christianity as a whole, namely both Roman Catholi- cism and Protestantism. It is about the encounter with modernity, including its critical antireligious side, with which Western Churches had a conflictual, yet in the long run constructive and productive, encounter. This long process forced them to develop new contextual strategies to disseminate their mes- sage to the modern secular world successfully. It is in this frame that modern contextual theologies (from liberation to feminist) were articulated, which sometimes even took on quite radical and controversial forms, especially among Protestants. All this went hand in hand with the gradual accommoda- tion of Western Christianity with modernity, which deeply affected its attitude towards the world. In other words, Western Christianity became worldlier in modern times by deepening even further its traditionally exhibited world- relatedness. In fact, the Reformation was instrumental in bringing about these fundamental changes with far-reaching consequences. It is therefore not accidental that Western Christianity showed a deep interest in systema- tizing its social doctrine and ethics, and in developing further its social and political theology in order to respond successfully to the new challenges. Interestingly enough, social science is the outcome and the product of West- ern modernity, and it therefore owes much to the profound changes that took place in Western Europe during this long period of time. As a result, in the process of formulating contextual theologies, Western Churches took full account of various advances in the social sciences, despite the fact that initially this had mostly developed in a secular, if not antireligious, frame. All this may explain why Western
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