Orthodoxy and Anarchism: Contemporary Perspectives

This book brings together essays by contemporary Orthodox theologians and scholars on Orthodox Christianity that analyze various aspects of the complex relationship between anarchism, both as a concept and as a political philosophy, and Orthodoxy. As many studies have already shown, the dominant theological approaches in Orthodox political theology have been characterized by the search for some kind of “symphonia,” where a “harmonious” and (mutually) beneficial cooperation between the Church and the State has been sought. Although one can see many alternative attempts in contemporary Orthodox political theology to move away from traditional, monarchical, and (autocratic) symphonic models, the fact remains that most of those approaches still tend to provide theological articulations that rationalize and ultimately defend the dominant ideological systems (such as those of the “nation state” or “liberal democracy” for instance).There has been, however, another, marginal and marginalized tradition in Orthodox Christian political theology which can be labelled as “anarchist.” The purpose of this volume is to gather contemporary voices in and on Orthodox theology that explore this tradition in the history of Orthodox Christianity, or that themselves employ an “anarchist” approach to the socio-political sphere (including the Church in its institutional functioning).