Orthodox Christianity in 21st Century Greece: The Role of Religion in Culture, Ethnicity and Politics

"Edited by Victor Roudometof and Vasilios N. Makrides - Greece is one of the predominantly Orthodox countries that has never experienced communism, a country uniquely situated to offer insights about contemporary trends and developments in Orthodox Christianity. This volume offers a comprehensive treatment of the role Orthodox Christianity plays at the dawn of the twenty-first century Greece from social scientific and cultural-historical perspectives.

This book breaks new ground by examining in depth the multifaceted changes that took place in the relationship between Orthodox Christianity and politics, ethnicity, gender, and popular culture. Its intention is two-fold: on the one hand, it aims at revisiting some earlier stereotypes, widespread both in academic and others circles, about the Greek Orthodox Church, its cultural specificity and its social presence, such as its alleged intrinsic non-pluralistic attitude toward non-Orthodox Others. On the other hand, it attempts to show how this fairly traditional religious system underwent significant changes in recent years affecting its public role and image, particularly as it became more and more exposed to the challenges of globalization and multiculturalism.

Contents: Foreword, Grace Davie; Preface; Introduction: Tradition, transition and change in Greek Orthodoxy at the dawn of the 21st century: introductory considerations, Vasilios N. Makrides and Victor Roudometof; Part 1 Orthodox Christianity, Greek Ethnicity and Politics: The evolution of Greek Orthodoxy in the context of world historical globalisation, Victor Roudometof; A intriguing true-false paradox: the entanglement of modernization and intolerance in the Orthodox Church of Greece, Anastassios Anastassiadis; Scandals, secret agents, and corruption: the Orthodox Church of Greece during the 2005 crisis – its relations to the state and modernization, Vasilios N. Makrides; Domesticating Islam and Muslim immigrants: political and church responses to constructing a central mosque in Athens, Dia Anagnostou and Ruby Gropas; Non-Orthodox minorities in contemporary Greece: legal status and concomitant debates between church, state, and the international community, Prodromos Yannas. Part 2 Orthodox Christianity and Greek Culture: 'The traditional modern': rethinking the position of contemporary Greek women to orthodoxy, Eleni Sotiriu; The mosque that was not there: ethnographic elaborations on Orthodox conceptions of sacrifice, Dimitris Antoniou; Religion and welfare in Greece: a new, or renewed, role for the church?, Effie Fokas; Faith and trust: tracking patterns of religious and civic commitment in Greece and Europe. An empirical approach, Theoni Stathopoulou; Sacred words in a secular beat: the Free Monks phenomenon at the intersection of religion, youth and popular culture, Lina Molokotos-Liederman; Index.

Reviews: 'This is a deep, masterly and penetrating exploration of Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Greece. Intellectually powerful and methodologically rigorous, the chapters converge in a general cohesion of the cultural themes of the volume which bear directly on the public role of religion in Greek society and beyond. The result is an invaluable contribution to the study of a specific and rather under-researched area of contemporary European religious culture.' Nikos Kokosalakis, University of Liverpool, UK"

Available - April 2010 from Ashgate