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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Editorial Service by George Demacopoulos
Public Orthodoxy, 2015
Co-Editor of online scholarly editorial forum, Public Orthodoxy. www.publicorthodoxy.org
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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.
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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.
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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.
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A collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2010.
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Collection of papers based on Fordham University Conference of the same name in 2007
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Articles/Essays by George Demacopoulos
Fundamentalism or Tradition: Christianity after Secularism, 2020
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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
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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.
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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.
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Translated by br. James Karepin from a presentation at Bosé, Sept. 12, 2015.
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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.
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War and Violence in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition, ed. by Perry Hamalis (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2018), 2018
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Neo- Patristic Synthesis or Post-Patristic Theology: Is Orthodox Theology Contextual, ed. by Pantelis Kalaitzidis (Volos, Greece: Volos Theological Academy, forthcoming)
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The Roman Bishop in Late Antiquity, ed. by Geoffrey Dunn (London: Ashgate, 2015)
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Books (Monographs) by George Demacopoulos
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.
Editorial Service by George Demacopoulos
Edited Volumes & Translations by George Demacopoulos
Articles/Essays by George Demacopoulos
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.
This essay was initially published on www.publicorthodoxy.org