Eastern Orthodox Studies Unit

Ethnography and Ecclesiology in the Orthodox Christian World (co-sponsored with the Ecclesiological Investigation Unit)

The Eastern Orthodox Studies Unit and the Ecclesiological Investigations Unit invite proposals for a session that considers the impact of ethnographic methods on the study of Orthodox ecclesiology. Anthropologists and other social scientists are now engaging with theological ideas, texts, and lived practices, fertilizing a shift in how they understand what constitutes the Orthodox Church. Theologians too are taking up social scientific methods in their work, in order to grasp the forms of theological understanding that actually animate particular communities’ lives. Together, these developments can lead to uncharted territory in Orthodox ecclesiology. What are the parameters of the conversation that is taking shape around empirical, descriptive, interpretive, or inductive approaches to ecclesiology? What are the benefits and risks of these developments? How might developments in ethnographic theology or the study of ecclesial practices outside Orthodox Christianity need to be adapted for Orthodox Christian contexts? We encourage submissions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives and geographical foci as we seek to cultivate a generative dialogue on this emerging conversation.