Orthodox Christianity and Modern Science

This volume focuses on the nature of the relationship between modern Science and Orthodox Christianity with its centuries-old tradition. Orthodoxy today shares a variety of-sometimes ambiguous-attitudes towards modern Science shaped by the texts of the Church Fathers, medieval and modern theologians and scholars, as well as contempor

The first volume of the new series Science and the Orthodox Church focuses on the nature of the relationship between modern Science and Orthodox Christianity with its centuries-old tradition. Orthodoxy today shares a variety of–sometimes ambiguous–attitudes towards modern Science shaped by the texts of the Church Fathers, medieval and modern theologians and scholars, as well as contemporary social realities. On the other hand, modern Science, which sprung from the seventeenth-century quest by Western-European philosophers for rationality, is faced with crucial and uneasy questions about the meaning of life and the position of Humankind within the natural world. The main goal of the volume is to define the patterns of the Science-religion relationship in the Orthodox world, especially in the light of the most recent trends in both Science and Theology. Is this a relationship of dialog or conflict? Of integration or independence? What is the impact of the revival of patristic studies and new theological currents on the relationship? But also what is the relevant impact of new scientific discoveries on the image of the Human and the Universe? Has the modern Science-religion dialog in the West influenced Eastern Christianity in its effort to create new perspectives and concepts in response to new challenges? These questions are crucial for understanding and mapping the current science-religion dialog in the Orthodox world, and apart from recording given views and opinions.

PREFACE LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS INTRODUCTION Vasilios N. Makrides and Gayle E. Woloschak Part I THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN TRADITION AND MODERN SCIENCE: AN UNEASY RELATIONSHIP? Modern Science and Orthodox Theology: An Uneasy yet Profound Relationship Metropolitan Nikolaos of Mesogaia and Lavreotiki The Ambiguous Relationship between Orthodoxy and Science as Part of the Pending Discussion between Orthodoxy and Modernity: From the Polemic against the Enlightenment to the Debate over Homosexuality Pantelis Kalaitzidis Orthodox Tradition and Science: Modernity as a Mediator Vasileios Thermos PART II THE GREEK PATRISTIC HERITAGE: ITS POTENTIAL FOR THE ORTHODOXY-SCIENCE DIALOGUE The Patristic Idea of Cosmic Liturgy as the Basis of the Relationship between Orthodox Theology and Science Sergey S. Horujy Philosophical Foundations of Mediation/Dialogue between (Orthodox) Theology and Science Alexei Nesteruk Maximus the Confessor and the Contribution of Orthodoxy to the Dialogue on Faith and Religion: A Response William R. Shea Using the Concept of Energy to Encounter Orthodox Theology with Physics: An Analogical Comparative Theological Approach (ACTA) Stoyan Tanev Science, Theology, and the Mind Christopher C. Knight God, the Great Writer and Great Computer Whizz: Comment on Christopher C. Knight's Paper Athanasios N. Papathanasiou PART III ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE: LOCAL SETTINGS AND SPECIFIC CONCERNS IN PAST AND AT PRESENT Science-Religion Interface: Agreements and Tensions of Orthodox Christian Pastoral Concern in the Biomedical Sciences Gayle E. Woloschak The Science-Theology Dialogue through the Inter-Orthodox Bioethics Committee Bishop Makarios of Christopolis Orthodoxy and Science in Bulgaria (20th-21st Century) Nina Dimitrova A Theology of the World: Dumitru St?niloae, the Traditional Worldview, and Contemporary Cosmology Doru Costache Evolution and Orthodox Theology in Russia: An Uneasy Way to the Dialogue Dimitry Kiryanov The Orthodox Tradition and a Personal View on the Universe 'from Within': A Russian Orthodox Perspective Kirill Kopeikin Theology in the Mirror: The Dictionary of Technology in Yugoslavia/Serbia as Revival of Orthodox Culture and Re-ideation of Technology Aleksandar Petrovic and Aleksandra P. Stevanovic Orthodox Christian Physicians and Scholars in the Ottoman Court Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu Orthodox Christian Physicians and Scholars in the Ottoman Court: A Commentary John Hedley Brooke

• Edited by Gayle Woloschak
• Edited by Vasilios Makrides