Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Fyodor Dostoevsky

The discussion about the labels “fundamentalist” and “liberal” as well as the role of dialogue in contemporary Eastern Orthodoxy lead me to do the following reflection on the role of Christian morality in the public sphere. The problem seems to be that there are two conflicting anthropologies which determine the role attributed to Christian morality in the public debate.

On the one hand, we have the traditional anthropological pessimism which was radically restated by Hobbes following the denominational wars that were the consequences of the radical dissolution of norms in the form of the Western Reformations of the 16th century. According to this anthropology, humans have an inescapable capacity for evil which must be restrained through power and norms. Otherwise the human condition will become the war of everyone against everyone (bellum omnium contra omnes).

On the other hand, we have the anthropological optimism of the Enlightenment (e.g., Rousseau), which holds that evil is caused by ignorance and that evil can be destroyed by education. Ironically, anthropological optimism negates human freedom, since evil is not the result of a choice but of external circumstances which can be abolished. Dostoyevsky frequently attacked this anthropological optimism due to its negation of human freedom, which also includes the capacity to become evil (e.g. Notes from Underground and A Writer’s Diary). Read More

Read More

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