Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality
This book can be opened with
Sex is a difficult issue for contemporary Christians, but the past decade has witnessed a newfound openness regarding the topic among Eastern Orthodox Christians. Both the theological trajectory and the historical circumstances of the Orthodox Church differ radically from those of other Christian denominations that have already developed robust and creative reflections on sexuality and sexual diversity. Within its unique history, theology, and tradition, Orthodox Christianity holds rich resources for engaging challenging questions of sexuality in new and responsive ways. What is at stake in questions of sexuality in the Orthodox tradition? What sources and theological convictions can uniquely shape Orthodox understandings of sexuality? This volume aims to create an agora for discussing sex, and not least the sexualities that are often thought of as untraditional in Orthodox contexts.
Through fifteen distinct chapters, written by leading scholars and theologians, this book offers a developed treatment of sexuality in the Orthodox Christian world by approaching the subject from scriptural, patristic, theological, historical, and sociological perspectives. Chapters devoted to practical and pastoral insights, as well as reflections on specific cultural contexts, engage the human realities of sexual diversity and Christian life. From re-thinking scripture to developing theologies of sex, from eschatological views of eros to re-evaluations of the Orthodox responses to science, this book offers new thinking on pressing, present-day issues and initiates conversations about homosexuality and sexual diversity within Orthodox Christianity.
In this unique collection, Orthodox-identified authors expand Orthodox approaches to sexuality with sources and methods distinctive to Orthodox theology. Both where same-sex marriage is legal, and where homophobia reigns, Orthodox readers need this book.—Eugene F. Rogers, Jr., author of Sexuality and the Christian Body
I am deeply grateful to the scholars who contributed to this volume for providing us with new information and enlightening perspectives on Christianity and sexuality. It is refreshing to find so many chapters agreeing that all committed and faithful sexual partnerships among humankind may show authentic spiritual value. In a loving relationship—whether gay or straight—the presence of God may reside, as several chapters in this volume attest, as long as it opens up to the saving work of theosis.—Metropolitan Ambrosius, Helsinki, from the Foreword
Thomas Arentzen is a reader in church history and works as a researcher in Greek philology at Uppsala University and as a senior lecturer in Eastern Christian studies at Sankt Ignatios College, Stockholm School of Theology. He specializes in Byzantine literature and ecocriticism. Publications include The Virgin in Song: Mary and the Poetry of Romanos the Melodist (2017) and Byzantine Tree Life: Christianity and the Arboreal Imagination (2021), coauthored with Virginia Burrus and Glenn Peers.
Ashley M. Purpura (Edited By)
Ashley M. Purpura is an associate professor of religious studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. She publishes on gender and Orthodoxy, and is the author of God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium (2018).
Aristotle Papanikolaou (Edited By)
Aristotle Papanikolaou is Professor of Theology, the Archbishop Demetrios Chair of Orthodox Theology and Culture, and the Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He is also Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He is the author of Being with God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion, and The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy.
Foreword | ix
Metropolitan Ambrosius, Helsinki
Acknowledgments | xiii
Sexuality and Orthodoxy: An Introduction | 1
Thomas Arentzen and Ashley M. Purpura
PART I: THINKING THROUGH TRADITION
1 Relationality, Sexuality, and the Desire for God: Historical Resources | 23
Susan Ashbrook Harvey
2 Something New under the Sun: Sexualities, Same-Sex Relationships, and Orthodoxy | 46
Bryce E. Rich
3 Science, Homosexuality, and the Church | 66
Gayle Woloschak
4 Biblical Tradition and Same-Sex Relations: A Difficult Hermeneutical Path | 79
Ekaterini Tsalampouni
PART II: CULTURAL AND PASTORAL CONTEXTS
5 Civil Marriage and Civil Union from an Ecclesial Perspective: The Case of the Orthodox Church of Greece | 105
Pantelis Kalaitzidis
6 Eastern Orthodoxy Identity and “Aggressive Liberalism”: Nontheological Aspects of the Confrontation | 144
Dmitry Uzlaner
7 Salvation and Same-Sex Relations:
An Orthodox Response on the Decision by the Lutheran Church of Sweden | 154
Michael Hjälm
8 Homophobia in Orthodox Contexts: Sociopolitical Variables and Theological Strategies for Change | 172
Andrii Krawchuk
9 Meeting Michelle: Practical Theological Reflections on the Personhood of a Transgender Inmate | 192
Richard René
PART III: THINKING WITH TRADITION
10 A Desire for All Is the Desire for God:
“Sexual Orientation” in Light of Gregory of Nyssa’s Account of Gender, Desire, and the Soul’s Ascent to God | 215
Spyridoula Athanasopoulou-Kypriou
11 Intersex People: Not Physical Mistakes but God’s Image | 235
Kateřina Kočandrle Bauer
12 A Theology of Sex | 247
Aristotle Papanikolaou
13 The Antinomic Eschatological Transfiguration of Christian Eros and Sexuality | 265
Haralambos Ventis
14 Sex, Love, and Politics: An (Un)Orthodox Theological Approach | 281
Davor Džalto
15 From Adam to Christ: From Male and Female to Being Human | 303
John Behr
List of Contributors | 321
Index | 325
