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This article is four years old. It remains as relevant today—if not more so—as it was in 2014. The final paragraph offers preemptively a stark counterpoint to the escapism that The Benedict Option seems to recommend three years later. Orthodoxy in Dialogue stands at the ready to host the critically important dialogue to which Father Herbel invites his readers in his conclusion. 

A recent [March 30, 2014] Pappas Post article has highlight that 90% of people in America with Greek heritage are no longer Greek Orthodox. It has been making rounds amongst Orthodox and seems to be stirring up some amount of surprise. Frankly, I’m not so sure it should surprise us. It may surprise us because in many Greek parishes Greek heritage is emphasized. It may also surprise us because Orthodox literature since the 1980s has tended to overemphasize (in some cases simply exaggerate) the movement of converts entering into American Orthodoxy. Converts have been a significant movement within Orthodoxy. Given my most recent book on this very topic, I would be the last person to deny that. However, if one reads the introduction even in there, one will realize that Orthodoxy brings in about as many as it loses. Our growth, to be blunt, seems statistically insignificant. That there is growth may be a good thing, but we also need to be honest about the losses. So, if we’ve done our research, we shouldn’t be surprised to learn of losses.

So, what seems to be happening? Well, one factor mentioned in the article was the high percentage of Orthodox marrying outside the Orthodox Church. In America, marrying someone of another faith, especially of another form of Christianity, is quite common. So that this happens shouldn’t surprise us either. If one reads the article carefully, one will note that what starts out blaming inter-faith marriages turns into a call for Orthodox to make our parishes more open and loving to inter-faith families and to find a way to engage the contemporary world. Read More

On January 26 we emailed The American Conservative to invite Mr. Dreher to write for us. On April 12 (yesterday) we tried again. Neither time did he respond to us directly. Today he wrote the following indirect response to explain why he would not write for us.

We wish to thank Mr. Dreher for the boatload of new readers that he has brought to Orthodoxy in Dialogue in just a few hours.

Rod Dreher

Two of the most dodgy words in contemporary religious discourse are “fundamentalism” and “dialogue”. They don’t mean what they seem to mean; in fact, they are often used as a way to gain power.

To explain what I mean, consider that Marquette University, a Jesuit university, is holding a “Pride Prom” this weekend. When some outside the university angrily questioned what a Catholic university is doing sponsoring an LGBT dance, a university spokesman responded: Read More

As a new editor of Orthodoxy in Dialogue, one of the first tasks I considered necessary was to look closely at the Archives and take stock of the wide array of subjects on which we have published thus far. In the eight short months of our existence, we have published articles by 18 different women authors, meaning that roughly 20% of our authors are women. Considering that Orthodox bloggers and academics online tend to be overwhelmingly male, this isn’t a bad number. But we, the editors, feel that we can do much better than this.

The importance of female voices cannot be understated. If we are to have real, honest conversations about the Orthodox Church today, we must have more women speaking up, and doing so with authority. In saying that, however, I want to be wary of falling into the all-too-common trap of relegating female writers to subjects that society considers to be traditional “women’s topics.” This, in my opinion, tends to be counterproductive in the long run, causing women to view themselves as lesser in the eyes of the Church, and their opinions to only be important in specific situations. Sexism is alive and well within Orthodoxy, and we wish for Orthodoxy in Dialogue to be a place where women can actively write, participate, and lead discussion on any issue related to the Church.

I would like to take this opportunity to openly invite women who are reading this to consider writing for us. You certainly do not have to be an academic or a theologian (but if you are either of those things, we want to hear from you, too!). You don’t even have to be Orthodox. Your insight is important, your experiences help others, and we will only grow stronger as a resource for open and constructive dialogue with more voices like yours. Read More