The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 5, Eastern Christianity: 05

Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 8/17/2006
EAN 9780521811132, ISBN10: 0521811139

Hardcover, 742 pages, 23.4 x 16.2 x 4.7 cm
Language: English

This volume brings together in one compass the Orthodox Churches - the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople and the Russian, Armenian, Ethiopian, Egyptian and Syrian Churches. It follows their fortunes from the late Middle Ages until modern times - exactly the period when their history has been most neglected. Inevitably, this emphasises differences in teachings and experience, but it also brings out common threads, most notably the resilience displayed in the face of alien and often hostile political regimes. The central theme is the survival against the odds of Orthodoxy in its many forms into the modern era. The last phase of Byzantium proves to have been surprisingly important in this survival. It provided Orthodoxy with the intellectual, artistic and spiritual reserves to meet later challenges. The continuing vitality of the Orthodox Churches is evident for example in the Sunday School Movement in Egypt and the Zoe brotherhood in Greece.

Part I. The Ecumenical Patriarchate
1. The Byzantine commonwealth 1000–1500 Jonathan Shepard
2. Byzantium and the West 1204–1453 Michael Angold
3. The culture of lay piety in medieval Byzantium 1054–1453 Sharon E. J. Gerstel and Alice-Mary Talbot
4. The rise of Hesychasm Dirk Krausmüller
5. Art and liturgy in the later Byzantine Empire Nancy Ševčenko
6. Mount Athos and the Ottomans 1350–1550 Elizabeth A. Zachariadou
7. The Great Church in captivity 1453–1586 Elizabeth A. Zachariadou
8. Orthodoxy and the West
Reformation to Enlightenment Paschalis M. Kitromilides
9. Bars'ky and the Orthodox community Alexander Grishin
10. The legacy of the French Revolution
Orthodoxy and Nationalism Paschalis M. Kitromilides
Part II. The Russian Church
11. The Russian church
the first centuries 1000–1400 Stephen Rowell
12. Russian piety and Orthodox culture 1380–1589 Stella Rock
13. Art and liturgy in Russia
Rublev and his successors Lindsey Hughes
14. Eastern Orthodoxy in Russia and Ukraine in the age of counter-Reformation Robert O. Crummey
15. The Russian Orthodox church in Imperial Russia 1721–1917 Simon Dixon
16. Russian piety and culture from Peter the Great to 1917 Chris Chulos
Part III. Eastern Christianities
17. East Christianities (11th–14th centuries)
Copts, Melkites, Nestorians and Jacobites Françoise Micheau
18. The Armenians in the era of the Crusades (1050–1350) S. Peter Cowe
19. Church and Diaspora
the case of the Armenians S. Peter Cowe
20. Church and nation
the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwahedo church (from the 13th to the 20th century) Donald Crummey
21. Coptic Christianity in modern Egypt Anthony O'Mahony
22. Syriac Christianity in the modern Middle East Anthony O'Mahony
Part IV. The Modern World
23. Diaspora problems of the Russian emigration Sergei Hackel
24. The Orthodox church and Communism Michael Bourdeaux and Alexandru Popescu
25. Modern spirituality and the Orthodox church John Binns.

'It is easy and enlightening to follow the historical treat through the chapters of this book, which in a clear language defines the the technical terms, and produces very sound explanations on practically all aspects of Orthodoxy and Eastern Christianity. The book is written not only with scholarly precision, but also with love and dedication.' Neotestamenica