Eastern Christianity comprises the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Northeastern Africa, India and parts of the Far East over several centuries of religious antiquity. The term is generally used in Western Christianity to describe all Christian traditions that did not develop in Western Europe. As such the term does not describe any single communion or common religious tradition, and in fact some "Eastern" churches have more in common historically and theologically with "Western" Christianity than with one another.

The terms "Eastern" and "Western" in this regard originated with divisions in the church mirroring the cultural divide between the Hellenistic east and Latinate west and the political divide between the weak Western and strong Eastern Roman empires. Because the most powerful church in the east was what has become known as the Greek Orthodox church, the term "Orthodox" is often used in a similarly loose fashion as "Eastern," although strictly speaking most churches consider themselves part of an orthodox and catholic communion.

Families of churches

Eastern Christians do not have shared religious traditions but many of these groups have shared cultural traditions. Christianity divided itself in the East during its early centuries both within and outside of the Roman Empire in disputes about christology and fundamental theology, as well as national divisions (Roman, Persian, etc.). It would be many centuries later that Western Christianity fully split from these traditions as its own communion (SEE: SCHISM). Today there are four main branches or families of Eastern Christianity, each of which has distinct theology and dogma.

the Orthodox Churches

the Oriental Orthodox (Miaphysite) Churches

the Assyrian Church of the East

the Eastern Catholic Churches

In many Eastern churches, parish priests administer the sacrament of chrismation to infants after baptism, and priests are allowed to marry before ordination. While all the Eastern Catholic Churches recognize the authority of the Pope, some of them who having originally been part of the Orthodox Church or Oriental Orthodox Church closely follow the traditions of Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy, including the tradition of allowing married men to become priests.

The Eastern churches' differences from Western Christianity have as much, if not more, to do with culture, language, and politics, as theology. For the non-Catholic Eastern churches, a definitive date for the commencement of schism cannot usually be given (see East-West Schism). The Church of the East declared independence from the churches of the Roman Empire at its general council in 424, which was before the Council of Ephesus in 431, and so had nothing to do with the theology declared at that Council. Oriental Orthodoxy separated after the Council of Chalcedon in 451.

Since the time of the historian Edward Gibbon, the split between the Church of Rome and the Orthodox Churches has been conveniently dated to 1054 (though the reality is more complex). This split is sometimes referred to as the ''Great Schism'', but now more usually referred to as the East-West Schism. This final schism reflected a larger cultural and political division which had developed in Europe and southwest Asia during the Middle Ages and coincided with Western Europe's re-emergence from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire.

Orthodox Churches

The Orthodox Church is a Christian body whose adherents are largely based in Russia, Greece, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, with a growing presence in the western world. Orthodox Christians accept seven Ecumenical Councils.

Orthodox Christianity identifies itself as the original Christian church founded by Christ and the Apostles, and traces its lineage back to the early church through the process of Apostolic Succession and unchanged theology and practice. Orthodox distinctives (shared with some of the Eastern Catholic Churches) include the Divine Liturgy, Mysteries or Sacraments, and an emphasis on the preservation of Tradition, which it holds to be Apostolic in nature.

Orthodox Churches are also distinctive in that they are organized into selfgoverning jurisdictions along national, ethnic, and/or linguistic lines. Orthodoxy is thus made up of 15 or 16 national autocephalous bodies. Smaller churches are autonomous and each have a mother church that is autocephalous.

The Orthodox Church includes the following churches:

Autocephalous Churches

* The Church of Constantinople

* The Greek Church of Alexandria

* The Church of Antioch

* The Church of Jerusalem

* Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)

* The Church of Greece

* The Church of Georgia

* The Church of Serbia

* The Church of Romania

* The Church of Bulgaria

* The Church of Cyprus

* The Church of Albania

* The Church of Poland

* The Church of Slovakia and the Czech Lands

* The Orthodox Church in America

Autonomous Churches

* The Church of Sinai (Jerusalem Patriarchate)

* The Orthodox Church of Finland (Ecumenical Patriarchate)

* The Church of Estonia (Ecumenical Patriarchate)

* The Church of Japan (Moscow Patriarchate)

* The Church of Ukraine (Moscow Patriarchate)

* Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia - Formerly claimed autocephaly, but unification with Russian Orthodox Church achieved on May 17, 2007

Exceptional churches generally considered to be orthodox in beliefs but otherwise not in communion with all of the above churches.

* The Church of Ukraine (Kyiv Patriarchate)

* The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church

* Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric

Most Orthodox are united in communion with each other, though unlike the Roman Catholic Church, this is a looser connection rather than a top-down hierarchy (see primus inter pares).

It may also be noted that the Church of Rome was once in communion with the Orthodox Church, but the two were split after the East-West Schism and thus it is no longer in communion with the Orthodox Church.

It is estimated that there are approximately 240 million Orthodox Christians in the world. Today, many adherents shun the term "Eastern" as denying the church's universal character. They refer to Eastern Orthodoxy simply as the ''Orthodox Church''.

Oriental Orthodox (Miaphysite) Churches

Oriental Orthodoxy refers to the churches of Eastern Christian tradition that keep the faith of the first three Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church: the First Council of Nicaea (AD 325), the First Council of Constantinople (381) and the Council of Ephesus (431), and rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Hence, these churches are also called ''Old Oriental Churches''.

Oriental Orthodoxy developed in reaction to Chalcedon on the eastern limit of the Byzantine Empire and in Egypt and Syria. In those locations, there are now also Orthodox Patriarchs, but the rivalry between the two has largely vanished in the centuries since schism.

The following Oriental Orthodox churches are autocephalous and in full communion:

Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church

Syriac Orthodox Church

*Jacobite Syrian Church

Indian Orthodox Church

Coptic Orthodox Church

*British Orthodox Church

*French Coptic Orthodox Church

Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church

Church of the East

Historically, the Church of the East was the widest reaching branch of Eastern Christianity, at its height spreading from its heartland in Persian ruled Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean, India, and China. Originally the church of Sassanid Persia, the Church of the East declared itself independent of other churches in 424 and over the next century became affiliated with Nestorianism, a Christological doctrine advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 to 431, which had been declared heretical in the Roman Empire. Thereafter it was often known as the Nestorian Church in the West. Surviving a period of persecution within Persia, the Church of the East flourished under the caliphate and branched out, establishing dioceses throughout Asia.

After a period of expansion under the Mongol Empire, the church went into decline through the 14th century, and was eventually confined largely to its heartland in what is now Iraq, northeastern Syria,southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and to the Malabar Coast of India. In the 16th century dynastic struggles sent the church into schism, resulting in the formation of two rival churches. Two modern churches developed from the schism, the Chaldean Church, which entered into communion with Rome as an Eastern Catholic Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East,the followers of these two churches are almost exclusively ethnic Assyrians. In India, the local Church of the East community, known as the Saint Thomas Christians, experienced its own rifts as a result of Portuguese influence.

Assyrian Church of the East

The Assyrian Church of the East emerged from the historical Church of the East, which was centered in Mesopotamia/Assyria, then part of the Persian Empire and spread widely throughout Asia. The modern Assyrian Church of the East emerged in the 16th century following a split with the Chaldean Church, which later entered into communion with Rome as an Eastern Catholic Church.

The Church of the East was associated with the doctrine of Nestorianism, advanced by Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople from 428 – 431, which emphasized the disunion between the human and divine natures of Jesus. Nestorius and his doctrine were condemned at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, leading to the Nestorian Schism in which churches supporting Nestorius split from the rest of Christianity. Many followers relocated to Persia and became affiliated with the local Christian community there; this adopted an increasingly Nestorian theology and was thereafter often known as the Nestorian Church. As such, the Church of the East accepts only the first two Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church — the First Council of Nicaea and the First Council of Constantinople — as defining its faith tradition, and rapidly took a different course from other Eastern Christians.

The Church of the East spread widely through Persia and into Asia, being introduced to India by the 6th century and to the Mongols and China in the 7th century. It experienced periodic expansion until the 14th century, when the church was nearly destroyed by the collapse of the Mongol Empire and the conquests of Timur. By the 16th century it was largely confined to Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey, northwest Iran and the Malabar Coast of India (Kerala). The split of the 15th century, which saw the emergence of separate Assyrian and Chaldean Churches, left only the former as an independent sect. Further splits into the 20th century further affected the history of the Assyrian Church of the East.

Eastern Catholic Churches

The twenty-two Eastern Catholic churches are all in communion with the Holy See at the Vatican, but are rooted in the theological and liturgical traditions of Eastern Christianity.

Many of these churches were originally part of one of the above families and so are closely related to them by way of ethos and liturgical practice. As in the other Eastern churches, married men may become priests, and parish priests administer the mystery of confirmation to newborn infants immediately after baptism, via the rite of chrismation; the infants are then administered Holy Communion.

Other Christians of Kerala, who were originally of the same East-Syrian tradition, passed instead to the West-Syrian tradition and now form part of Oriental Orthodoxy (some from the Oriental Orthodox in India united with the Catholic Church in 1930 and became the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church). The Maronite Church also claims never to have been separated from Rome, and has no counterpart Orthodox Church out of communion with the Pope. It is therefore inaccurate to refer to it as a "Uniate" Church. The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church has also never been out of communion with Rome, but, unlike the Maronite Church, it resembles Orthodox Church's liturgical rite.

Rejection of uniatism

At a meeting in Balamand, Lebanon in June 1993, the Joint International Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church declared that these initiatives that "led to the union of certain communities with the See of Rome and brought with them, as a consequence, the breaking of communion with their Mother Churches of the East … took place not without the interference of extra-ecclesial interests"; and that what has been called "uniatism" "can no longer be accepted either as a method to be followed nor as a model of the unity our Churches are seeking" (section 12).

At the same time, the Commission stated:

3) Concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches, it is clear that they, as part of the Catholic Communion, have the right to exist and to act in response to the spiritual needs of their faithful.

16) The Oriental Catholic Churches who have desired to re-establish full communion with the See of Rome and have remained faithful to it, have the rights and obligations which are connected with this communion.

22) Pastoral activity in the Catholic Church, Latin as well as Oriental, no longer aims at having the faithful of one Church pass over to the other; that is to say, it no longer aims at proselytizing among the Orthodox. It aims at answering the spiritual needs of its own faithful and it has no desire for expansion at the expense of the Orthodox Church. Within these perspectives, so that there will be no longer place for mistrust and suspicion, it is necessary that there be reciprocal exchanges of information about various pastoral projects and that thus cooperation between bishops and all those with responsibilities in our Churches, can be set in motion and develop.

Saint Thomas Christians

The Saint Thomas Christians are an ancient body of Christians on the southwest coast of India who trace their origins to the evangelical activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. By the 5th century the Saint Thomas Christians were part of the Church of the East, or Nestorian Church. Until the middle of the 17th century and the arrival of the Portuguese, the Thomas Christians were all one in faith and rite. Thereafter, divisions arose among them, and consequently they are today of several different rites.

Catholic–Orthodox ecumenism

Ecumenical dialogue over the past 43 years since Paul VI's meeting with the Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I has awoken the nearly 1000-year hopes for Christian unity. Since the lifting of excommunications during the Paul VI and Athenagoras I meeting in Jerusalem there have been other significant meetings between Popes and Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople. The most recent meeting was between Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I, who signed the ''Common Declaration''. It states that "We give thanks to the Author of all that is good, who allows us once again, in prayer and in dialogue, to express the joy we feel as brothers and to renew ''our commitment to move towards full communion''".

Dissenting movements

In addition to these four mainstream branches, there are a number of much smaller groups which, like Protestants, originated from disputes with the dominant tradition of their original areas, but are usually not referred to as Protestants because they lack historical ties to the Reformation, and usually lack a classically Protestant theology. Most of these are either part of the more traditional Old Believer movement, which arose from a schism within Russian Orthodoxy, or the more radical "Spiritual Christianity" movement. The latter includes a number of diverse "low-church" groups, from the Bible-centered Molokans to the anarchic Doukhobors to the self-mutilating Skoptsy. None of these groups are in communion with the mainstream churches listed above, aside from a few Old Believer parishes in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

There are national dissidents, where ethnic groups want their own nation-church like with the Macedonian Orthodox Church and Montenegrin Orthodox Church; both domiciles of the Serbian Orthodox Church. However, it should be noted that in Macedonia, the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church is minimal, due to Macedonia's efforts to create an autocephalous Macedonian primacy in the Orthodox Church. The vast majority of Orthodox ethnic Macedonians view the Serbian Orthodox Church as hostile to Macedonian history, national interests, and self-determination.

A little known movement of "reformers" in the Greek Orthodox Church traces its history to the 18th century. The leaders of this "schism" within the Orthodox Christian churches were called by a Greek word meaning 'unstable' (''astateos''). The children of these leaders left the East toward Western Europe, mainly Spain. In Ibero America these families are known by the derivative name 'Astacios' or 'Astacio.' One of their descendants was one of the first converts to the Pentecostal movement in 1916, Petra Astacio, of Montellano (Ponce, Puerto Rico). The Astacios have intermarried with native people of the Americas as well as with Spanish Jews (Sephardim) and Afro-Caribbeans.

Immigration trends

The basic trend among Eastern Christians in the 20th-century was immigration from the near east to the West. One thousand years ago Christians were the majority population in today's Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt. In 1914 they numbered 25% of the population in the Ottoman Empire. Christians in the beginning of the 21st century constitute a mere 6–7 percent of this region’s inhabitants: less than 1% in Turkey, 3% in Iraq. 12% in Syria, 39% in Lebanon, 6% in Jordan, 2.5% in Israel/Palestine and 15–20% in Egypt. This massive movement was stimulated by physical insecurity, indiscriminate plunder, religious persecution, and political discrimination directed by Islam at Christian communities in the area which what once the Christian Orient, or the Byzantine Orthodox Middle East.

Liturgy

The Eastern churches (excepting the non-liturgical dissenting bodies) each belong to one of several liturgical families:

Alexandrian Rite

Antiochene Rite

Armenian Rite

Byzantine Rite

East Syrian Rite

West Syrian Rite

See also

For other definitions and meaning for the word ''orthodox'', see ''Orthodoxy''.

Byzantine Empire

Christian meditation

Divine Liturgy

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

History of Eastern Christianity

List of Eastern Christianity-related topics

One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church

Orthodox Church in America

Syriac Christianity

Notes

Further reading

Julius Assfalg (ed.), Kleines Wörterbuch des christlichen Orients , Wiesbaden 1975

External links

Eastern Christian Churches

Eastern Catholics Information concerning Christians of Eastern rites who are in communion with, and under the jurisdiction of, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome.

A site advocating unity between Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians.

Eastern Christian Bible Resources - contains Lamsa Bible and more

Byzantine Chant Studies Page

The Greek Orthodox Church in Canada

Christos Jonathan Hayward, Eastern Orthodox author and theologian

Syro Malankara Catholic Church, International Homepage-- Eastern Syrian Church in India

Enrico Martino">Reportage on Eastern Churches, by Enrico Martino

OrthodoxWiki

Prologue from Ohrid - (Saints of the Orthodox Church)

Orthodox Church Fathers

Category:Eastern Orthodoxy Category:Eastern Catholicism Category:Oriental Orthodoxy Category:Christian terms

ar:مسيحية شرقية bg:Източнохристиянски църкви ca:Cristianisme oriental cs:Východní křesťanství de:Christlicher Orient es:Iglesias orientales eo:Orienta Kristanismo fr:Christianisme oriental it:Oriente cristiano la:Ecclesiae Orientales hu:Keleti keresztény egyházak ml:പൗരസ്ത്യ ക്രിസ്തുമതം nl:Oosters christendom ja:東方教会 pl:Kościoły wschodnie pt:Cristianismo oriental ru:Восточное христианство simple:Eastern Christianity sr:Источно хришћанство sh:Источно хришћанство fi:Idän kristilliset kirkot sv:Östlig kristendom th:ศาสนาคริสต์ตะวันออก vi:Kitô giáo Đông phương zh:東方基督教

David Bentley Hart (1965-) is an Eastern Orthodox theologian, philosopher, and cultural commentator. Educated at the University of Maryland, University of Cambridge and University of Virginia, he has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), Duke Divinity School, and Loyola College in Maryland. He was most recently a visiting professor at Providence College, having also previously held the Robert J. Randall Chair in Christian Culture there. Incidentally, Hart is a relative of early-20th century baseball player Jack Bentley.

Works

Hart's work exhibits a knowledge of the Western philosophical tradition, from classical antiquity to postmodernity, as well as a knowledge of world literature, art, history, and culture. His own theology and philosophy are deeply informed by the writings of the Church Fathers, and are engaged in many of the central themes of classical, modern and contentintal philosophy. Rowan Williams, John Milbank, Geoffrey Wainwright, Robert Jenson, Janet Martin Soskice, Reinhard Hütter, and others have praised his work. Many of the large themes of his work in philosophical theology are summarized in his essay "The Offering of Names" (see bibliography below). The fullest exposition of his theological vision, however, is his ''The Beauty of the Infinite'' (which, to this point, can be called his ''magnum opus'').

In recent years, Hart has also written extensively on evil and suffering. Many of these texts are haunted by an obvious horror at the suffering of children, and at times there are hints of what one might call asceticism with some reproaches to Gnosticism.

On May 27, 2011, Hart's book, Atheist Delusions, was awarded the Michael Ramsey prize in Theology.more info

Patristics

As a patristics scholar, he is especially concerned with the Greek tradition, with a particular emphasis on Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor. His writings on such figures are distinctive in that they are not cast in the mold of typical patristics scholarship; Hart is quite willing, for instance, to use Maximus as a "corrective" to Heidegger's "history of Being." The emphasis is very much on ideas and "deep readings," which seek to wrest from ancient texts insights that might fruitfully be brought into living contact with contemporary questions.

His work is controversial in some respects, and he has his critics, particularly among Protestant thinkers in the Reformed tradition. His defense of the classical doctrine of divine apatheia, of the analogia entis, and other aspects of Christian tradition are all worked out within the web of his own thought, and elicit extensive debate. Recent issues of The Scottish Journal of Theology and New Blackfriars have devoted special space to his work.

As a cultural critic, he appears "conservative" in many respects, but his politics are difficult to define. On a number of occasions he has called himself an "anarchist monarchist." He is as suspicious of classical liberal capitalism as of centralized state socialism, and so his criticisms of modern culture are largely free from any conspicuous partisan allegiances.

Bibliography

Books

''Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.

''In the Aftermath: Provocations and Laments''. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2008.

''The Story of Christianity: An Illustrated History of 2000 Years of the Christian Faith.'' London: Quercus: 2007.

''The Doors of the Sea.'' Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2005.

''The Beauty of the Infinite : The Aesthetics of Christian Truth.'' Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans: 2003.

Articles

Response to critiques of ''The Beauty of the Infinite'' by Francesca Murphy and John A. McGuckin, ''Scottish Journal of Theology'' 60 (February 2007): 95-101.

"Daniel Dennett Hunts the Snark", ''First Things'' 169 (January 2007).

Contribution to Theology as Knowledge: A Symposium, ''First Things'' 163 (May 2006): 21-27.

"The Lively God of Robert Jenson", ''First Things'' 156 (October 2005): 28-34.

"The Anti-Theology of the Body", ''The New Atlantis'' 9 (Summer 2005): 65-73.

"The Soul of a Controversy", ''The Wall Street Journal'' (April 1, 2005).

"Tsunami and Theodicy", ''First Things'' 151 (March 2005): 6-9.

"The Laughter of the Philosophers", ''First Things'' 149 (January 2005): 31-38. A review loosely structured around ''The Humor of Kierkegaard'' by Thomas C. Oden, containing a long excursus on Johann Georg Hamann.

"God or Nothingness" in ''I Am the Lord Your God: Christian Reflections on the Ten Commandments'' Carl E. Braaten and Christopher Seitz, eds. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005: 55-76.

"The Offering of Names: Metaphysics, Nihilism, and Analogy" in ''Reason and the Reasons of Faith.'' Reinhard Hütter and Paul J. Griffiths, eds. London: T. & T. Clark, 2005: 55-76.

"Tremors of Doubt", ''The Wall Street Journal'' (December 31, 2004). This article was the seed for the book ''The Doors of the Sea''.

"Ecumenical Councils of War", ''Touchstone'' (November 2004).

"The Pornography Culture", ''The New Atlantis'' 6 (Summer 2004): 82-89.

"Freedom and Decency", ''First Things'' 144 (June/July 2004): 35-41.

"An Orthodox Easter", ''The Wall Street Journal'' (April 9, 2004) (in "Houses of Worship").

"Religion in America: Ancient & Modern", ''The New Criterion'' (March 2004).

"A Most Partial Historian", ''First Things'' 138 (December 2003): 34-41. A review of ''Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England Volume III: Accommodations'' by Maurice Cowling.

"Christ and Nothing", ''First Things'' 136 (October 2003): 47-57.

"The Bright Morning of the Soul: John of the Cross on Theosis", ''Pro Ecclesia'' (Summer 2003): 324-45.

"Thine Own of Thine Own: the Orthodox Understanding of Eucharistic Sacrifice" in ''Rediscovering the Eucharist: Ecumenical Considerations'' Roch A. Kereszty, ed. (Paulist Press, 2003): 142-169.

"A Gift Exceeding Every Debt: An Eastern Orthodox Appreciation of Anselm's ''Cur Deus Homo''", ''Pro Ecclesia'' 7.3: 333-348.

"The Mirror of the Infinite: Gregory of Nyssa on the ''Vestigia Trinitatis''", ''Modern Theology'' 18.4 (October 2002): 542-56

"No Shadow of Turning: On Divine Impassibility", ''Pro Ecclesia'' (Spring 2002): 184-206.

Contribution to The Future of the Papacy: A Symposium, ''First Things'' 111 (March 2001): 28-36.

"The 'Whole Humanity': Gregory of Nyssa's Critique of Slavery in Light of His Eschatology", ''Scottish Journal of Theology'' 54.1 (2001): 51-69.

"Analogy" in ''Elsevier Concise Encyclopaedia of Religion and Language'' (Elsevier Press, 2001).

"The Writing of the Kingdom: Thirty-Seven Aphorisms towards an Eschatology of the Text", ''Modern Theology'' (Spring 2000): 181-202.

"Matter, Monism, and Narrative: An Essay on the Metaphysics of Paradise Lost" ''Milton Quarterly'' (Winter 1996): 16-27.

Book reviews

"Inside the mind of the Archbishop of Canterbury", The Times Literary Supplement (March 2008). A review of Rowan Williams's "Wrestling with Angels," edited by Mike Higton.

"Con Man", ''The New Criterion'' (September 2006): 124. A review of "The Theocons: Secular America under Siege" by Damon Linker.

"Beyond Disbelief", ''The New Criterion'' (June 2005): 78-81. A review of "The Twilight of Atheism" by Alister McGrath.

"Roland Redivivus", ''First Things'' 150 (February 2005): 44-48. A review of ''Orlando Innamorato'' by Matteo Maria Boiardo, translated by Charles Stanley Ross.

"The Laughter of the Philosophers", ''First Things'' 149 (January 2005): 31-38. A review loosely structured around ''The Humor of Kierkegaard'' by Thomas C. Oden, containing a long excursus on Johann Georg Hamann.

"When the Going was Bad", ''First Things'' 143 (May 2004): 50-53. A review of ''Waugh Abroad: Collected Travel Writing'' by Evelyn Waugh.

"Sheer Extravagant Violence", ''First Things'' 139 (January 2004): 64-69. A review of ''Taras Bulba'' by Nicolai Gogol, translated by Peter Constantine.

"A Most Partial Historian", ''First Things'' 138 (December 2003): 34-41. A review of ''Religion and Public Doctrine in Modern England Volume III: Accommodations'' by Maurice Cowling.

Review of Gianni Vattimo's ''Belief'', ''The Journal of Religion'' 82.1 (Jan. 2002): 132–133.

"Israel and the Nations", ''First Things'' 105 (August/September 2000): 51-54. A review of ''Church and Israel After Christendom: The Politics of Election'' by Scott Bader–Saye.

"Review Essay: On Catherine Pickstock's ''After Writing''", ''Pro Ecclesia'' (Summer 2000): 367-372.

"Beyond Reductionism", ''First Things'' 87 (November 1998): 55-57. A review of ''Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection'' by Louis Dupre.

See also

Hesychasm

N.O. Lossky

Vladimir Lossky

John Behr

Essence-Energies distinction

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

Neoplatonism

Apotheosis

Theophany

Michael Pomazansky

John S. Romanides

Sobornost

Philokalia

Phronema

Uniatism

Praxis

Archimandrite Sophrony

John Meyendorff

Rowan Williams

Dumitru Stăniloae

Seraphim Rose

John Zizioulas

Catholic–Orthodox theological differences

References

External links

The David Bentley Hart Appreciation Blog

Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from the United States Category:Eastern Orthodox theologians Category:Loyola University Maryland faculty Category:Duke University faculty Category:University of Virginia faculty

de:David Bentley Hart