Press release

The International Conference of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies has continued and completed its session on Sunday June 6, 2010, after the morning divine service at the Ascension's Church in Volos. The conference is covered by the web television-channel www.intv.gr with simultaneous translation (English-Greek).

Speakers of the final session were Rev. Dr. Emmanouel Clapsis, Professor of Dogmatics , Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, USA, Dr. Athanasios N. Papathanasiou, editor in chief of the theological journal Synaxis, Greece, and Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Greece.

Rev. Dr. Emmanouel Clapsis spoke on "Toward An Orthodox Theology of Religions". In an effort to move toward an Orthodox Theology of Religions, this paper examined the highly contended question of whether the salvific grace of God is limited only within the canonical boundaries of the Orthodox Church or it extends in different degrees and patterns to other Christian churches, to communities of other living faiths, to agnostics, or even to atheists. It was asserted that a sacramental and charismatic perspective of the Church does not allow the scope of God's salvific grace to remain only within the canonical boundaries of the Church. It was argued that the operation of God's Spirit in other Christian churches and in the world cannot be affirmed at the expense of the importance of the canonical limits of the Church. While maintaining that the fullness of God's salvific grace can be found within the canonical boundaries of the Church, the author suggested that there is a need to move beyond the understanding of God wherein He is limited to being either fully present or not present at all in the lives and actions of secular and religious others.The cosmic dimensions of the Eucharist, by which Creation through Christ and God's Spirit participate in God's being can be the basis of recognizing the salvific presence of God in the whole created world. The salvific presence of God's Spirit plays in the world cannot be disassociated from the salvific work of the incarnate Word of God. Christomonism should be substituted by Pneumatonism. The Holy Spirit either precedes Christ or follows Christ in God's efforts to save the totality of creation. The Trinitarian faith anchors God's revelation to the particularities of history-which climax in Jesus Christ-yet prohibits the limitation of God to any particularity vis-à-vis the universal action and presence of the Holy Spirit in the world. The Holy Spirit opens up the boundaries of whatever and whomever it touches and brings all into a sustaining and transformative relationship with the risen Christ in a transparent manner within church and in a hidden pattern in the life of the life of the world. The possibility of salvation that exists for those outside of the Church should lead Christians to an unshakeable hope that God, in His boundless love and mercy, communicate His salvific grace through other unknown and hidden ways to those who possess the natural knowledge of God and faith as well as an ethical consciousness characterized by a life of love yet who live beyond the distinctive boundaries of the Church. It argues that salvation is offered to all as a possibility through the Church and not apart from it. The paper concluded with the implications such recognition within the other has on the life and mission of the Church.

The International Conference of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies has continued its session on Saturday June 5, 2010. The conference is covered by the web television-channel www.intv.gr with simultaneous translation (English-Greek).

 Speakers of the first session were Dr. Assaad Kattan Director of the center of Religious Studies and Chair of Orthodox theology, University of Munster-Germany, and Rev. Dr. John Panteleimon Manoussakis Assistant Prof. of Philosophy, College of Holy Cross, Worcester-USA.

Pr. Assaad Kattan presented the theme "Essentialism Reconsidered. The Myth non Hermeneutical Approach to Orthodox Tradition". Although a great amount of the "influential" Orthodox theological discourse emphasized, and still emphasize, that Tradition is a dynamic and open product of the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church, it is by no means, seldom to see the Orthodox dealing with Tradition essentialistically as though it were a close, unchangeable entity.

PRESS RELEASE

The International Conference of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies has continued its session on Thursday June 4, 2010. The conference is covered by the web television-channel www.intv.gr with simultaneous translation (English-Greek).

 Speakers of the first session were Pr. Marcus Plested (Cambridge), Rev. Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk (St. Thomas University) and Rev. Pr. John Behr (St.Vladimir's Theological Seminary).

Pr. Marcus Plested presented the theme: "The Emergence of the Neo-Patristic Synthesis: Content, Challenges and Limits"  where he tackled the construct of a 'Neo-Patristic Synthesis', questioning the extent to which it may be considered either 'new', or ‘patristic', or 'synthetic'. Close attention was paid to the connection with analagous phenomena within Roman Catholic and other contexts. The paper delineated both the achievements and the limitations of this rich but problematic theological current. In particular, the speaker probed further the extent to which it remains conditioned by precisely the kind of imitative-reactive dynamic it sought to overcome and transcend. In this respect, treatments of Aquinas and other 'western' figures by Florovsky, Lossky, and others will be of especial importance. By way of conclusion, I shall draw some conclusions as to the future 'ways' of Orthodox theology.

PRESS RELEASE

OPENING SESSION OF THE VOLOS ACADEMY CONFERENCE ON:

‘NEO-PATRISTIC SYNTHESIS OR POST PATRISTIC THEOLOGY: CAN ORTHODOX THEOLOGY BE CONTEXTUAL?’

The International Conference on:  ‘Neo-patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic theology: Can Orthodox theology be contextual?’ has started today, June 3 2010. The Conference has been co-organized by the Volos Academy of Theological Studies (Greece), the chair of Orthodox Theology of Munster University (Germany), the Program of Orthodox Christian Studies of Fordham University (New York) and the Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter Orthodox, Inter-Confessional, Inter-religious studies (INTER) Cluj-Napoca.  The participants and attendants are well known theologians from various Christian traditions all over the world. Among them are three ecumenical observers who came in the frame of the cooperation of the Volos Academy and the ETE Program of World Council of Churches.

The opening session started with greetings given by His Eminence Metropolitan of Demetrias Ignatius, the co-organizers, read by the Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Pr. Petros Vassiliadis (University of Thessaloniki) and the Institute of ecumenical-patristic Greek Byzantine theology ‘San Nicola’ (Bary, Italy).  

Holy Metropolis of Demetrias

Volos Academy for Theological Studies

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Neo-Patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic Theology: Can Orthodox Theology be Contextual?

June 3-6, 2010, THESSALIA CONFERENCE CENTER,

(MELISSIATIKA), VOLOS

The conference is organized in collaboration with the Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University, the Chair of Orthodox Theology of Münster University, and the Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter–Confessional, and Inter-Religious Studies (INTER) Cluj-Napoca

                                                                                PROGRAMME

THURSDAY, JUNE 3rd 2010

18.00-18.30          Registration

18.30-19.00          Opening – Greetings

Session I

Moderator: Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis

Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies

19.00-19.30                          Rev. Dr. Vladan Pericic, Professor of Patrology, former Dean of the Theological Faculty, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Liturgical Theology as Contextual Theology in the Patristic Era and Today

19.30-20.00                          Dr. George Martzelos, Professor at the School of Theology, University of Thessaloniki, Greece

The Role of Contextual Theology in the Orthodox Tradition

20.00-30                                Discussion

20.30                                      Dinner

FRIDAY JUNE 4th 2010

Session II

Moderator: Dr. George Demacopoulos

Associate Professor of Theology, Co-Founding Director,

Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University

09.00-09.30                          Dr. Marcus Plested, Director of Studies, Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge, UK

The Emergence of the Neo-Patristic Synthesis: Content, Challenges and Limits

09.30-10.00                          Rev. Dr. Pavel L. Gavrilyuk, Associate Professor, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, USA

Florovsky’s Christian Hellenism: A Critical Evaluation

10.00-10.30                          Rev. Dr. John Behr, Dean, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, USA

                                                Going Beyond Neo-Patristic Synthesis

10.30-11.30                          Discussion

11.30-12.00                          Coffee-break

Session III

Moderator: Dr. Bruce Beck,

Director, Pappas Patristic Institute, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology,

Brookline, Massachusetts

12.00-12.30                          Archbishop Dr. Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, Russia            

Orthodox Tradition and Contextual Theology

12.30-13.00                          Dr. Tamara Grdzelidze, Programme Executive, Faith and Order, WCC

Contextualisation of the Church Fathers in the Context of Ecumenism

13.00-13.30                          Discussion

13.30-15.00                          Lunch

Session IV

Moderator: Dr. Tamara Grdzelidze

Programme Executive, Faith and Order, WCC

15.00-15.30                          Dr. Daniel Ayuch, Associate Professor, St. John of Damascus Orthodox Theological Institute of University of Balamand, Lebanon

The Relationship between Biblical and Theological Disciplines

15.30-16.00                          Dr. John Fotopoulos, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Saint Mary's College at Notre Dame, USA

Orthodox Theology and the Historical-Critical Method

16.00-16.30                          Discussion

16.30-17.00                          Coffee-break

Session V

Moderator: V. Rev. Dr. Maxim of Western America

Serbian Orthodox Church,

Professor at the School of Theology, University of Belgrade

17.00-17.30                          Dr. George Demacopoulos, Associate Professor of Theology, Co-Founding Director, Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University, New York, USA

History, Post-Colonial Theory, and Some New Possibilities for Retrieving the Theological Past

17.30-18.00                          Alexei V. Nesteruk, Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, University of Portsmouth, UK; Visiting Professor, St. Andrew’s Biblical Theological Institute, Moscow, Russia

Orthodoxy in the Scientific Age: From a Neo-Patristic Synthesis to Radical Theological Commitment

18.00-18.30                          Rev. Dr. Demetrios Bathrellos, Visiting Lecturer, Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge, UK;  Priest of the Aghia Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, Drafi, Attica, Greece

Systematic Theology as a New Form of Orthodox Theology

18.30-19.30                          Discussion

SATURDAY JUNE 5th 2009

Session VI

Moderator: Dr Demetrios Moschos

Lecturer at the Scholl of Theology, Athens University

09.00-09.30                          Dr. Assaad Elias Kattan, Director of the Center of Religious Studies and Chair of Orthodox Theology, University of Münster, Germany

Essentialism Reconsidered: The Myth of a Non-Hermeneutical Approach to Orthodox Tradition

09.30-10.00                          Rev. Dr. John Panteleimon Manoussakis, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, College of Holy Cross, Worcester, USA

God. Being and Event: The Intersection between Theology and Ontology

10.00-10.30                          Discussion

10.30-11.00                          Coffee-break

Session VII

Moderator: Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou

Associate Professor of Theology, Co-Founding Director,

Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University

11.00-11.30                          Metropolitan John Zizioulas, Member of the Academy of Athens, Ecumenical Patriarchate

                                                Actuality and Temporality of the Neo-Patristic Synthesis

11.30-12.00                          Fr. Andrew Louth, Professor of Patrology, University of Durham, UK

The Authority of the Fathers in “post-patristic Orthodox theology”

12.00-12.30                          Discussion

12.30-14.00                          Lunch

Session VIII

Moderator: Dr Vassilios Makrides

Professor of Sociology of Orthodox Christianity at Erfurt University (Germany)

14.00-14.30                          Dr. Michail Neamtu, Senior Fellow of CADI/ Eleutheria, Romania

Ethno-theology as a Particular Case of Contextual Theology

14.30-15.00                          Dr. Radu Preda, Associate Professor of Social Theology, Babes-Bolai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Director of the Romanian Institute for Inter-Orthodox, Inter-confessional, Inter-Religious Studies-INTER, Romania

Orthodox Social Theology as Contextual Theology

15.00-15.30                          Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou, Associate Professor of Theology, Co-Founding Director, Orthodox Christian Studies Program of Fordham University, New York, USA

                                                Orthodox Liberalism: Political Theology after the Empires

15.30-16.30                          Discussion

16.30-17.00                          Coffee-break

Session IX

Moderator: Dr. Radu Preda

Associate Professor, Babes-Bolai-University, Cluj-Napoca,

Director of the INTER (Romania)

17.00-17.30                          Dr. Peter Bouteneff, Associate Professor, St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, USA

Liberation Theologies: Challenges for Contemporary Orthodoxy from Contextual Theologies

17.30-18.00                          Dr. Eleni Kasselouri, Teaching at the Hellenic Open University, Member of the Academic Team of Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Greece

Feminist Theology and its Contextuality: A Challenge or an Opportunity for Orthodox Theology?

18.00-18.30                          Discussion

SUNDAY JUNE 6th 2010

Divine Service at the Christ’s Ascension Church, Volos

Departure of the buses for Thessalia Conference Center, Melissatika: 10.45

Session X

Moderator: Dr. Assaad Elias Kattan

Director of the Centre of Religious Studies

and Chair of Orthodox Theology, University of Münster

11.30-12.00                          Rev. Dr.  Emmanuel Clapsis, Professor of Dogmatics, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, USA

                                                Gospel and Cultures:  Toward a Theology of Religions

12.00-12.30                          Dr. Athanasios N. Papathanasiou, Editor in Chief of the Theological Journal Synaxis, Greece

Mission as a Challenge for Orthodox Contextual Theology

12.30-13.00                          Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Director of the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, Greece

Toward a Post-Patristic Theology?

13.00-14.00                          Discussion

14.00                                      End of the Conference-Lunch