Fordham University Press Fundamentalism or Tradition: Christianity after Secularism (Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought)

Review Fundamentalism or Tradition is a valuable piece of scholarship, which has the potential to substantially contribute to the contemporary study of the phenomena of modernization and secularization, including various responses to those processes--notably the phenomenon of fundamentalism.---Davor Dzalto, Sankt Ignatios Academy, Stockholm School of Theology A rich collection of essays examining the complex relation between tradition, secularization and fundamentalism within Orthodox and Catholic Christianity. It illuminates the varied forms of renewal and reformulation of Orthodox Christian thought in our contemporary global age.---José Casanova, Georgetown University Christian tradition eludes precise definitions and comprehensive formulations for the simple reason that it is a living thing, encompassing every dimension of spiritual life and aspiration. Religious fundamentalism emerges only when tradition has begun to die or has suffered assault. The secular age is a crisis for Christian communities not merely because it entails a cultural rejection of Christian tradition, but because it corrupts the tradition from within with the beguiling but deeply destructive "fundamentalist option." The essays in this collection explore the crisis with rare depth and insight.---David Hart Product Description Traditional, secular, and fundamentalist―all three categories are contested, yet in their contestation they shape our sensibilities and are mutually implicated, the one with the others. This interplay brings to the foreground more than ever the question of what it means to think and live as Tradition. The Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century, in particular, have emphasized Tradition not as a dead letter but as a living presence of the Holy Spirit. But how can we discern Tradition as living discernment from fundamentalism? What does it mean to live in Tradition when surrounded by something like the “secular”? These essays interrogate these mutual implications, beginning from the understanding that whatever secular or fundamentalist may mean, they are not Tradition, which is historical, particularistic, in motion, ambiguous and pluralistic, but simultaneously not relativistic. Contributors: R. Scott Appleby, Nikolaos Asproulis, Brandon Gallaher, Paul J. Griffiths, Vigen Guroian, Dellas Oliver Herbel, Edith M. Humphrey, Slavica Jakelić, Nadieszda Kizenko, Wendy Mayer, Brenna Moore, Graham Ward, Darlene Fozard Weaver Review A rich collection of essays examining the complex relation between tradition, secularization and fundamentalism within Orthodox and Catholic Christianity. It illuminates the varied forms of renewal and reformulation of Orthodox Christian thought in our contemporary global age." -- José Casanova, Georgetown University Christian tradition eludes precise definitions and comprehensive formulations for the simple reason that it is a living thing, encompassing every dimension of spiritual life and aspiration. Religious fundamentalism emerges only when tradition has begun to die or has suffered assault. The secular age is a crisis for Christian communities not merely because it entails a cultural rejection of Christian tradition, but because it corrupts the tradition from within with the beguiling but deeply destructive “fundamentalist option.” The essays in this collection explore the crisis with rare depth and insight. -- David Hart Fundamentalism or Tradition is a valuable piece of scholarship, which has the potential to substantially contribute to the contemporary study of the phenomena of modernization and secularization, including various responses to those processes―notably the phenomenon of fundamentalism. -- Davor Džalto, Sankt Ignatios Academy, Stockholm School of Theology About the Author 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 als