George Demacopoulos | Fordham University (original) (raw)
Books (Monographs) by George Demacopoulos
Fordham University Press, 2019
Colonizing Christianity employs postcolonial critique to analyze the transformations of Greek and... more Colonizing Christianity employs postcolonial critique to analyze the transformations of Greek and Latin religious identity in the wake of the Fourth Crusade. Through close readings of texts from the period of Latin occupation, this book argues that the experience of colonization splintered the Greek community over how best to respond to the Latin other while illuminating the mechanisms by which Western Christians authorized and exploited the Christian East. The experience of colonial subjugation opened permanent fissures within the Orthodox community, which struggled to develop a consistent response to aggressive demands for submission to the Roman Church.
Gregory the Great (bishop of Rome from 590 to 604) is one of the most significant figures in the ... more Gregory the Great (bishop of Rome from 590 to 604) is one
of the most significant figures in the history of Christianity.
His theological works framed medieval Christian attitudes
toward mysticism, exegesis, and the role of the saints in the life
of the church. With a comprehensive understanding of Christian
history that resists the customary bifurcation between Christian
East and Christian West, George E. Demacopoulos situates
Gregory within the broader movements of Christianity and the
Roman world that characterize the shift from late antiquity to
the early Middle Ages. This fresh reading of Gregory’s extensive
theological and practical works underscores the novelty and
nuance of Gregory as thinker and bishop.
By emphasizing the ways in which the rhetoric of Petrine privilege was employed, extended, transf... more By emphasizing the ways in which the rhetoric of Petrine privilege was employed, extended, transformed, or resisted between the reigns of Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, "The Invention of Peter" offers an alternative account of papal history that challenges the dominant narrative of an inevitable and unbroken rise in papal power from late antiquity through the Middle Ages. Demacopoulos unpacks the escalating claims to ecclesiastical authority, demonstrating how this rhetoric, which almost always invokes a link to St. Peter, does not necessarily represent actual power or prestige but instead reflects moments of papal anxiety and weakness. Through its nuanced examination of an array of episcopal activity--diplomatic, pastoral, political, and administrative--"The Invention of Peter" offers a new perspective on the emergence of papal authority and illuminates the influence of that Petrine discourse exerted on the survival and exceptional status of the Bishop of Rome.
This book examines the multiple, competing models of spiritual mentorship that emerged in the wak... more This book examines the multiple, competing models of spiritual mentorship that emerged in the wake of the legalization of Christianity in fourth century when monks, for the first time, rose to positions of ecclesiastical prominence through the office of bishop. How did they respond to their new environment? Which practices of spiritual direction and asceticism did they appropriate from their lives as monks when they began to instruct "ordinary" Christians? What did they believe constituted the criteria for spiritual authority? And how would they respond when those who remained in the monasteries began to critique them. By exploring five of the most influential Christian theologians of the late ancient period (Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Augustine, John Cassian, and Gregory the Great), Demacopoulos puts spiritual direction on solid historical ground by showing its importance in the early centuries of the Christian Church.
Editorial Service by George Demacopoulos
Public Orthodoxy, 2015
Co-Editor of online scholarly editorial forum, Public Orthodoxy. www.publicorthodoxy.org
The Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies is a double-blind, peer-reviewed scholarly journal publ... more The Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies is a double-blind, peer-reviewed scholarly journal publishing leading scholarship on all aspects of the thought, history, society, politics, theology and culture of Orthodox Christianity broadly conceived. Submissions are subject to rigorous peer review. Multidisciplinary and methodologically innovative approaches to both historical and contemporary topics exploring some aspect of Orthodox Christianity are welcome. The journal is published semiannually in both print and electronic versions. The Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies is published by Johns Hopkins University Press in cooperation with the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University.
Edited Volumes & Translations by George Demacopoulos
Traditional, secular, and fundamentalist—all three categories are contested, yet in their contest... more 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.
Based on 2013 Fordham conference of the same title. Essays from Stoeckl, Hammerli, Bretherton, D... more Based on 2013 Fordham conference of the same title. Essays from Stoeckl, Hammerli, Bretherton, Doak, Gregory, Clapsis, Hamalis, Wood, Barnes, Kaufman, Skedros, Hehir, and Hauerwas.
A collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2010.
Collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2007
Articles/Essays by George Demacopoulos
Fundamentalism or Tradition: Christianity after Secularism, 2020
Journal of Religion, 2017
Scholarship has long since demonstrated that colonialism does more than exploit a community mater... more Scholarship has long since demonstrated that colonialism does more than exploit a community materially. In colonial and postcolonial settings, indigenous populations lose control of what it means to be; they are challenged by what it means to exist in a world dictated by an alien discourse. In such a setting, through complicated and overlapping responses of acquiescence, assimilation, and resistance, boundaries are renegotiated and ethical prior-itizations transform. In a postcolonial setting, the naming of self and the naming of the good are recalibrated to account for the shadow of the former master. The postcolonial narration of self and other is an innovative, hybrid narration because it is defined by a shadow that once was not but now is. In such a setting, responses are disparate, with each voice longing in its own way for a return to the before. But there is no return. Polyphonic cries, some pointing back, some forward, many in multiple directions, splinter the community and the trauma of colonialism recycles seemingly forever. This article argues that a phenomenon of modern Orthodox Christian-ity—the rise of " traditional Orthodoxy " as a category of self-definition—is best understood as a postcolonial movement. 1 Specifically, it argues that the emergence of traditional Orthodoxy as a distinctive and constitutive marker of communal identity, one that sets its adherents apart ideologically, * I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and colleagues who read an earlier version of this article and offered many helpful suggestions for revision. I would especially like to acknowledge
This paper was initially delivered at the Bose Conference on Orthodox Spirituality in 2015. It a... more This paper was initially delivered at the Bose Conference on Orthodox Spirituality in 2015. It applies the resources of Postcolonial critique to a pair of anti-Latin canonical rulings by Demetrios Chomatenos during the era of the Fourth Crusade.
Primacy and the Church, 2016
Explores the ways in which the legends of St. Peter and St. Andrew were exploited by the papacy a... more Explores the ways in which the legends of St. Peter and St. Andrew were exploited by the papacy and the church of Constantinople during the middle ages in order to assert significance over and against one another. Calls on both churches to refrain from promoting ahistorical legends. In Chryssavgis (ed.) "Primacy in the Church" vol. 2, pp. 493-510.
Translated by br. James Karepin from a presentation at Bosé, Sept. 12, 2015.
Orthodox Constructions of the West, 2013
This co-written essay serves as the Introduction to the volume, _Orthodox Constructions of the We... more This co-written essay serves as the Introduction to the volume, _Orthodox Constructions of the West_ and lays the foundation for thinking about the conditions of modern Orthodox Christian identity construction.
War and Violence in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, ed. by Perry Hamalis (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2018), 2018
Neo- Patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic Theology: Is Orthodox Theology Contextual, ed. by Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Volos, Greece: Volos Theological Academy, forthcoming)
The Roman Bishop in Late Antiquity, ed. by Geoffrey Dunn (London: Ashgate, 2015)
Fordham University Press, 2019
Colonizing Christianity employs postcolonial critique to analyze the transformations of Greek and... more Colonizing Christianity employs postcolonial critique to analyze the transformations of Greek and Latin religious identity in the wake of the Fourth Crusade. Through close readings of texts from the period of Latin occupation, this book argues that the experience of colonization splintered the Greek community over how best to respond to the Latin other while illuminating the mechanisms by which Western Christians authorized and exploited the Christian East. The experience of colonial subjugation opened permanent fissures within the Orthodox community, which struggled to develop a consistent response to aggressive demands for submission to the Roman Church.
Gregory the Great (bishop of Rome from 590 to 604) is one of the most significant figures in the ... more Gregory the Great (bishop of Rome from 590 to 604) is one
of the most significant figures in the history of Christianity.
His theological works framed medieval Christian attitudes
toward mysticism, exegesis, and the role of the saints in the life
of the church. With a comprehensive understanding of Christian
history that resists the customary bifurcation between Christian
East and Christian West, George E. Demacopoulos situates
Gregory within the broader movements of Christianity and the
Roman world that characterize the shift from late antiquity to
the early Middle Ages. This fresh reading of Gregory’s extensive
theological and practical works underscores the novelty and
nuance of Gregory as thinker and bishop.
By emphasizing the ways in which the rhetoric of Petrine privilege was employed, extended, transf... more By emphasizing the ways in which the rhetoric of Petrine privilege was employed, extended, transformed, or resisted between the reigns of Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, "The Invention of Peter" offers an alternative account of papal history that challenges the dominant narrative of an inevitable and unbroken rise in papal power from late antiquity through the Middle Ages. Demacopoulos unpacks the escalating claims to ecclesiastical authority, demonstrating how this rhetoric, which almost always invokes a link to St. Peter, does not necessarily represent actual power or prestige but instead reflects moments of papal anxiety and weakness. Through its nuanced examination of an array of episcopal activity--diplomatic, pastoral, political, and administrative--"The Invention of Peter" offers a new perspective on the emergence of papal authority and illuminates the influence of that Petrine discourse exerted on the survival and exceptional status of the Bishop of Rome.
This book examines the multiple, competing models of spiritual mentorship that emerged in the wak... more This book examines the multiple, competing models of spiritual mentorship that emerged in the wake of the legalization of Christianity in fourth century when monks, for the first time, rose to positions of ecclesiastical prominence through the office of bishop. How did they respond to their new environment? Which practices of spiritual direction and asceticism did they appropriate from their lives as monks when they began to instruct "ordinary" Christians? What did they believe constituted the criteria for spiritual authority? And how would they respond when those who remained in the monasteries began to critique them. By exploring five of the most influential Christian theologians of the late ancient period (Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Augustine, John Cassian, and Gregory the Great), Demacopoulos puts spiritual direction on solid historical ground by showing its importance in the early centuries of the Christian Church.
Public Orthodoxy, 2015
Co-Editor of online scholarly editorial forum, Public Orthodoxy. www.publicorthodoxy.org
The Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies is a double-blind, peer-reviewed scholarly journal publ... more The Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies is a double-blind, peer-reviewed scholarly journal publishing leading scholarship on all aspects of the thought, history, society, politics, theology and culture of Orthodox Christianity broadly conceived. Submissions are subject to rigorous peer review. Multidisciplinary and methodologically innovative approaches to both historical and contemporary topics exploring some aspect of Orthodox Christianity are welcome. The journal is published semiannually in both print and electronic versions. The Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies is published by Johns Hopkins University Press in cooperation with the Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University.
Traditional, secular, and fundamentalist—all three categories are contested, yet in their contest... more 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.
Based on 2013 Fordham conference of the same title. Essays from Stoeckl, Hammerli, Bretherton, D... more Based on 2013 Fordham conference of the same title. Essays from Stoeckl, Hammerli, Bretherton, Doak, Gregory, Clapsis, Hamalis, Wood, Barnes, Kaufman, Skedros, Hehir, and Hauerwas.
A collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2010.
Collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2007
Fundamentalism or Tradition: Christianity after Secularism, 2020
Journal of Religion, 2017
Scholarship has long since demonstrated that colonialism does more than exploit a community mater... more Scholarship has long since demonstrated that colonialism does more than exploit a community materially. In colonial and postcolonial settings, indigenous populations lose control of what it means to be; they are challenged by what it means to exist in a world dictated by an alien discourse. In such a setting, through complicated and overlapping responses of acquiescence, assimilation, and resistance, boundaries are renegotiated and ethical prior-itizations transform. In a postcolonial setting, the naming of self and the naming of the good are recalibrated to account for the shadow of the former master. The postcolonial narration of self and other is an innovative, hybrid narration because it is defined by a shadow that once was not but now is. In such a setting, responses are disparate, with each voice longing in its own way for a return to the before. But there is no return. Polyphonic cries, some pointing back, some forward, many in multiple directions, splinter the community and the trauma of colonialism recycles seemingly forever. This article argues that a phenomenon of modern Orthodox Christian-ity—the rise of " traditional Orthodoxy " as a category of self-definition—is best understood as a postcolonial movement. 1 Specifically, it argues that the emergence of traditional Orthodoxy as a distinctive and constitutive marker of communal identity, one that sets its adherents apart ideologically, * I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and colleagues who read an earlier version of this article and offered many helpful suggestions for revision. I would especially like to acknowledge
This paper was initially delivered at the Bose Conference on Orthodox Spirituality in 2015. It a... more This paper was initially delivered at the Bose Conference on Orthodox Spirituality in 2015. It applies the resources of Postcolonial critique to a pair of anti-Latin canonical rulings by Demetrios Chomatenos during the era of the Fourth Crusade.
Primacy and the Church, 2016
Explores the ways in which the legends of St. Peter and St. Andrew were exploited by the papacy a... more Explores the ways in which the legends of St. Peter and St. Andrew were exploited by the papacy and the church of Constantinople during the middle ages in order to assert significance over and against one another. Calls on both churches to refrain from promoting ahistorical legends. In Chryssavgis (ed.) "Primacy in the Church" vol. 2, pp. 493-510.
Translated by br. James Karepin from a presentation at Bosé, Sept. 12, 2015.
Orthodox Constructions of the West, 2013
This co-written essay serves as the Introduction to the volume, _Orthodox Constructions of the We... more This co-written essay serves as the Introduction to the volume, _Orthodox Constructions of the West_ and lays the foundation for thinking about the conditions of modern Orthodox Christian identity construction.
War and Violence in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, ed. by Perry Hamalis (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2018), 2018
Neo- Patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic Theology: Is Orthodox Theology Contextual, ed. by Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Volos, Greece: Volos Theological Academy, forthcoming)
The Roman Bishop in Late Antiquity, ed. by Geoffrey Dunn (London: Ashgate, 2015)
A Companion to Gregory the Great, ed. by Bronwen Neil and Matthew Dal Santo (Leiden: Brill), 2013
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Christian Mysticism, ed. by Julia Lamm (Oxford: Blackwell’s), 2012
The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in the Western Christian Tradition, ed. by Paul Gavrilyuk and Sarah Coakley (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press), 2012
Power and Authority in Eastern Christian Experience, ed. by N. Soumakis (New York: Theotokos Press), 2011
Studia Patristica 48, 2010
Theological Studies 70, 2009
Journal of Late Antiquity, 2008
This study challenges the prevailing scholarly opinion that pope Gregory I's instruction to trans... more This study challenges the prevailing scholarly opinion that pope Gregory I's instruction to transform the pagan shrines of Kent into Christian churches was a direct countermand to his earlier missive that the shrines should be destroyed. By exploring Gregory's multi-faceted understanding of conversion and considering the depth and nuance of his pastoral strategies, it argues that the initial letter to Ethelbert, king of Kent, identifi ed the destruction of shrines as an example of the type of behavior that would be expected of a Christian monarch, but did not refl ect a carefully constructed strategy for conversion. Thus, the letter to Ethelbert was designed for the spiritual edifi cation of the king himself, whereas the subsequent epistle to Mellitus provided a clarifi cation of Gregory's plan for the pagan shrines and more fully refl ected the pope's syncretistic strategies for the conversion of non-Christian populations. In this way, both letters signify aspects of Gregory's rich pastoral consciousness and are more consistent with each other than is generally understood.
Orthodox Readings of Augustine (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press), 2008
Introductory essay in the volume, "Orthodox Constructions of the West," which provides an overvie... more Introductory essay in the volume, "Orthodox Constructions of the West," which provides an overview of the ways in which Orthodox Christians have historically engaged the writing of St. Augustine and situates the current "readings" within a broader East/West polemical narrative.
Thinking Through Faith, ed. by A. Papanikolaou and E. Prodromou (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press), 2008
Studia Patristica 41, 2006
Review of Rod Dreher's "The Benedict Option"
St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly
Speculum 88 no. 2, Apr 2013
Fordham University
The Medieval Review, 2012
Ancient History Bulletin, 2012
Kristina Sessa, The Formation of Papal Authority in Late Antique Italy: Roman Bishops and the Dom... more Kristina Sessa, The Formation of Papal Authority in Late Antique Italy: Roman Bishops and the Domestic Sphere. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Pp. xv+323. ISBN 9781107001060.
Theological Studies, 2009
Sobornost Incorporating Eastern Churches Review, 2008
Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2007
Journal of Religion, 2006
Theological Studies, 2001
St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 1998
Public Orthodoxy, 2020
An editorial on the moral and theological necessity to address systemic racism in our society.
Public Orthodoxy, 2020
An essay seeking to answer the question about universal salvation by looking exclusively at the t... more An essay seeking to answer the question about universal salvation by looking exclusively at the text of the Good Friday "Lamentation" Hymn.
Public Orthodoxy, 2019
An editorial examining the unprecedented and surprising decision by Pope Francis to send Ecumenic... more An editorial examining the unprecedented and surprising decision by Pope Francis to send Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew a bodily relic of St. Peter.
The Audacity of Converts, 2018
An editorial published at Public Orthodoxy concerning the accusation that the Ecumenical Patriarc... more An editorial published at Public Orthodoxy concerning the accusation that the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has succumbed to the "heresy of papism."
Op-ed for Public Orthodoxy on the numerous reasons why the Orthodox Church in the United States w... more Op-ed for Public Orthodoxy on the numerous reasons why the Orthodox Church in the United States would benefit from a merger of its two premier seminaries.
An op-ed posted on www.publicorthodoxy.org in coordination with the Orthodox Theological Society ... more An op-ed posted on www.publicorthodoxy.org in coordination with the Orthodox Theological Society in America's Special Project on the Great and Holy Council.
Politics may make for strange bedfellows but the political alliances forged by many American Chri... more Politics may make for strange bedfellows but the political alliances forged by many American Christians are worse than strange—they are ironic and self-contradictory.
This essay was initially published on www.publicorthodoxy.org
This Op-Ed was originally published in the Washington Post in April of 2013
An editorial first presented in June, 2015 concerning the upcoming Great and Holy Council of the ... more An editorial first presented in June, 2015 concerning the upcoming Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church, which will meet in Istanbul in June of 2016.
Orthodox Constructions of the West, Oct 1, 2013
The categories of East and West are always fluid, always multiform, and almost always projections... more The categories of East and West are always fluid, always multiform, and almost always projections of an imagined difference. And, yet, the category of the West has played an important role in the Orthodox imagination for its self-identity. It has functioned as an absolute marker of difference from what is considered to be the essence of Orthodoxy, and, thus, ironically, has become a constitutive aspect of the modern Orthodox self. We will attempt to unravel how the East has constructed the West and, through the use of critical theory, suggest some possible ways to make sense of why the West is so important to the East.