Coping With Change : Orthodox Christian Dynamics Between Tradition, Innovation,and Realpolitik

The book offers glimpses of Orthodox Christian dynamics in various contemporary contexts, either in Eastern and South Eastern Europe or in the USA. Contrary to long-established notions of an Orthodox fixedness and immobility, this book attempts to show how Orthodox dynamics work in various ways and on different levels, at times towards a re-traditionalisation and at times with an innovative agenda, always depending on the particular constellations of each context and on the constraints of Realpolitik. Using various theoretical perspectives and disciplinary lenses, this book mainly focuses on issues of identity, politics, and jurisdiction, and brings to the fore a variety of policies and strategies that Orthodox institutions and individual actors use in their attempt to creatively engage with the numerous challenges of modernity and the global era.

Sebastian Rimestad is a Senior Researcher with a focus on Christianity at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany.

Vasilios N. Makrides is a Professor of Religious Studies (specialising in Orthodox Christianity) at the Department of Religious Studies, University of Erfurt, Germany.