Description

While the population of Orthodox Christians exceeds 300 million worldwide, in the United States less than one percent of citizens identify as Orthodox Christians.  Most Americans have little experience with or knowledge of the second largest Christian tradition in the world, or its role in contemporary geopolitical crises in the Middle East, Eurasia, and Eastern Europe, where most Orthodox Christians live.   To the extent that there is a view of the Orthodox Christian world in the U.S. and Western Europe, it is seen as monolithic by the public as well as policy makers. 
The Orthodox Christian Studies Center (OCSC) of Fordham University seeks support for a project that will bring together scholars, journalists and political experts to bridge the gap between academic and public discourse about encounters between Eastern and Western Christianity. The project will question long-standing narratives about the conservative “nature” of Orthodox Christianity and its links to anti-modern political platforms, and it will examine the changing character of this religious tradition in relation to human rights. Participants will examine divisions within and between traditionally Orthodox countries, in Eastern Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East, as well as less well-known Orthodox perspectives that are more amenable to human rights.
The project organizers argue that after the fall of the Soviet Union and the subsequent alliance between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin, religion emerged as a tool exploited by Vladimir Putin and others to construct an East-West divide.  At the same time, in the West, narratives of a “clash of civilizations” helped shape U.S. and European foreign policy, and the Orthodox Church was seen as irreconcilable with modernity.  One of the key points of contention is the doctrine of universal human rights, which is invoked in the Orthodox world in contradictory ways.  Russia, for example, justifies its aggression in Eastern Ukraine on the basis of the religious and cultural unity of the Orthodox “Russian World,” rooted in the 10 th century conversion of Prince Vladimir.  Yet that aggression is also resisted by Ukrainian Orthodox Christians using the contemporary language of human rights.
Three annual conferences will bring together scholars, journalists and policymakers, resulting in a range of publications to provide more nuanced analysis of the relationship of Orthodox tradition to Western democratic values.  The gatherings will introduce scholars and others who typically do not interact, and will facilitate collaborative effort and multidisciplinary learning. The goal is to contribute to scholarship, through the production of books and articles, as well as to a more informed, responsible public discourse and foreign policy, through public events, op-eds, blogs and podcasts.
Orthodox Christian Studies was launched as an academic program at Fordham in 2007, and the OCSC was founded in 2012. OCSC hosts conferences and public events; it also produces a blog with readership in 120 countries, a book series (Orthodox Christianity and Contemporary Thought), and a peer-reviewed journal that will launch in 2018.  Professors George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou, co-directors of the Center, will also co-direct this project. 
 
Recommendation:                                       That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a three-year grant of $360,000 to Fordham University for a project on Orthodox Christianity and human rights.