Category: OTSA Faith and Public Life
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Ephesians 5:20-33 as the Epistle Reading for the Rite of Marriage: Appropriate or Problematic?
by Rev. Dr. Alkiviadis Calivas and Rev. Dr. Philip Zymaris | ελληνικά | ру́сский In modern times the appropriateness of the established Epistle Lesson (Ephes. 5:20-33) in the rite of marriage has been questioned. How is it perceived by the contemporary listener and what does it say about spousal relationships? At a basic level this established passage […]
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The Benedict of History versus The Benedict Option
by George Demacopoulos Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option has much to commend it. Among other things, it aptly recognizes that the landscape of American religious practice is rapidly changing and in some depressing ways. It affirms that a faith divorced from real-life practice is useless. And it recognizes that Christians benefit when they mine […]
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Science, Truth, and the Current Political Climate
by Gayle E. Woloschak, Tatjana Paunesku, and Katarina Trajkovic Orthodox involvement in world affairs is increasingly becoming necessary; a faith that cares about “true worship” must be ready to defend not only spiritual Truth but the truths that underlie it as well. Orthodox Christians, and indeed most religious traditions, value truth and truthfulness. For Orthodox, there […]
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Political Polarization and Christian Unity
by Will Cohen When politics is as toxic as it’s become today in North America, Church unity would seem more than ever to require quarantining the life of faith from current political and social questions. Broader society’s most polarizing issues do get taken up eagerly, it’s true, in Christian congregations (of whatever tradition) that lean […]
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The Power of Sexual Purity
by David C. Ford and Mary Ford In this modern day and age, when sexual promiscuity – i.e., any sexual relations outside marriage – abounds all around us, why would anyone choose to live in sexual purity? How could refraining from all sexual relations outside of marriage ever be more fulfilling, more satisfying, than having […]
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Orthodox Christianity: Offering Material Piety to Twenty-first Century America
by Carrie Frederick Frost Material piety was central to the early Church and it flourishes to this day within Orthodox Christianity. That Christians would love the material, created world makes perfect sense—their God took on matter in order to appear in the world of His creation. And early Christians understood that their path to God […]