East and West

[Leopold Green]

How to use Accordance to understand the development of the Western (Roman) church and the Eastern Orthodox church... similarities and differences and how this comes down to our own day

[Abram K-J]

I nominate @R. Mansfield!

[R. Mansfield]

14 hours ago, Abram K-J said:

I nominate @R. Mansfield!

 

I'll think about it. 

 

In the meantime, there's an interesting conversation in the book Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. Even though that book focuses on Evangelicalism in Western Christianity more than Roman Catholicism, there are fundamental issues that affect all of Western Christian thought. 

In the section titled Theological Paradigms Contrasted, there is this significant point made that affects differences between Eastern and Western thought:
 

Quote

 

From an Orthodox perspective, the late Russian philosopher L. A. Zander set out these differences in the negative:

• The East was not influenced by Augustine; its anthropology is different from that of the West.
• The East was not influenced by Anselm; its soteriology is different from that of the West.
• The East was not influenced by Thomas; its methodology is different from that of the West.21

21 See L. A. Zander, Vision and Action (London: Gollancz, 1952), 59.

 

 

Now, after posting the above, I had to evaluate whether or not I am walking the fine line between discussing this topic theologically (which would be against forum guidelines) or just providing some historical information. I believe I am doing the latter since I am primarily referring anyone interested in this topic to a resource available for Accordance. 

 

Although in my life I've found myself in thought and practice on both the western and eastern sides of the Bosporus, I'm not even certain I could offer a webinar on a topic like this that would be balanced enough to satisfy a general audience (let alone what would probably be a majority Western one). However, perhaps if I could find a partner holding the more Western viewpoint, we could have a discussion of the topic (but not a debate). 

And if anyone cares to have a more theologically-based discussion on this kind of topic, that is allowed in private messages.

[Erhard]

This would certainly be an interesting topic. I suspect it would be hard to fit all the information into a webinar, but would look forward to a webinar on this.

[R. Mansfield]

I've not given up on this idea. I would be willing to represent the East (to the best of my ability) but would need a partner to represent the West. Not that I couldn't do that, too, but I am afraid my leanings would skew the presentation. And even with a co-presenter, I would want to make certain we could present the content as a discussion and not a debate.

[ukfraser]

Is there enough material to present east as one session and west as another?

I am aware that lots of resources tend to major on western dev and so would welcome a really detailed session on the east as there are several strands in itself.

 

then a third for discussion?

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by ukfraser

[R. Mansfield]

3 minutes ago, ukfraser said:

Is there enough material to present east as one session and west as another?

I am aware that lots of resources tend to major on western dev and so would welcome a really detailed session on the east as there are several strands in itself.

 

then a third for discussion?

 

Well, we're retooling our eAcademys a bit so as to have just two sessions. What we found was that when we have three we have a smaller crowd for the third session. That's probably because the third session comes at the end of the day for folks on the east coast. But we're still thinking through all of it. 

 

We were planning to have the next eAcademy on April 1, but it looks like it will probably get pushed off to May 5.