David J Dunn

Into Orthodoxy Again

Last night was Forgiveness Vespers in the Orthodox Church. That is how we begin Great Lent. We form a line of people that snakes around the church, asking forgiveness from each other, one-by-one. I bow in a sign of humility, touch the ground with my hand, and say, “Forgive me a sinner.” The other replies, “God forgives.” Sometimes they say, “God forgives, and I forgive.” Then they ask forgiveness in the same way.

The hardest part about Forgiveness Vespers is looking the other person in the eye, but it is also the most essential thing. I may not know the other person well, maybe I am distracted by my kids or my aching back, or sometimes there has been real conflict that I do not want to face, but looking the other person in the eye reminds me that love is never abstract. It was Dostoevsky who wrote that it is easy to love humanity. Loving the human being in front of me is far more difficult. Continue reading “Into Orthodoxy Again”

Protestantism…Plus Incense!

Adolf von Harnack's Mustache, pictured here with Adolf von Harnack — Adolf von Harnack’s Mustache, pictured here with Adolf von Harnack

I recently finished reading Orthodox Constructions of the West, a collection of essays edited by George Demacopoulos and Aristotle Papanikolaou. One of my favorite essays in the series comes from Paul L. Gavrilyuk. He notes how much the Orthodox historian George Florovsky’s project is methodologically similar to the Protestant Adolf von Harnack, an ironic parallel with important implications for the way Protestant converts to Orthodoxy treat the tradition.

Harnack claimed that Christianity must be purged of its Hellenistic influences and return to the simple faith preached by Jesus, a message of the fatherhood of God and the kinship of humanity. If only those damned Greeks had not come along with their philosophy and screwed everything up with all this trinity and other such nonsense! Florovsky, on the other hand, argued that Orthodoxy must return to the fathers in order to escape its corrupting captivity to western thought. It is important to differentiate Florovsky from Florovsky lite, which you can hear when modern polemicists talk about the church fathers and mothers as if they all basically agreed with each other. Florovsky knew it was more complicated than that. Rather, he stressed learning “the mind of the fathers,” which meant to be shaped by the Holy Spirit into a people who are able to participate in a critical-constructive dialog with modernity, but without being swallowed by it. Continue reading “Protestantism…Plus Incense!”

Sophiology in Context

The following is an excerpt of an invited chapter on intersections between Edwards and Orthodoxy. It is still a bit of a rough draft. Be nice.

By Fr. Damian (St. Sophia mission), via Wikimedia Commons

Sophiology is the child of Russia’s “Silver Age,” which one might think of as the 1960s of the late 1800s. It was a period of immense religious, philosophical, and artistic experimentation. Intellectual radicalism and political radicalism often go hand-in-hand, and Russia at the time was no exception. Conservative “slavophiles” were engaged in a kind of culture war with the more liberal “westernizers.” The former upheld the old traditions and Christian faith of Holy Russia. The latter wanted to remake their homeland in the image of secular Western Europe.[1] Because the church was effectively an arm of the state, radical intellectuals tended to see it as a backwards and corrupt institution (and rightly so). Vladimir Solovyov broke the mold, navigating between the Scylla of autocracy and the Charybdis of secularism by deploying the metaphor of Holy Wisdom – Sophia – to incorporate culture, and thus openness to its insights, into the stream of church tradition. This made Solovyov something of a radical slavophile; he critically incorporated western philosophy (especially German idealism) and western values (such as individual rights) into a political philosophy that was deeply informed by Russian Orthodox spirituality.[2]

Continue reading “Sophiology in Context”

Gay Orthodox Tortoises (Yeah! That title should do the trick!)

Thanks in advance, Disney, for not suing me.

Pinochio had Jiminy Cricket. I have Mary Evelyn Smith. She is apparently my conscience. I have been writing on gay marriage again, and it’s her fault click here if you want to know why I hate writing on gay marriage). Mary Evelyn posted an article by Maria McDowell on my Facebook timeline that raises some important questions about the way gay parishioners have to navigate life in the Orthodox Church.

Gay people in the Orthodox Church? Yes. We have them.

Continue reading “Gay Orthodox Tortoises (Yeah! That title should do the trick!)”

Orthodoxy and “Homosexuality”

Trisagion anyone? — The church’s teaching on gays and lesbians has been consistent for 2000 years. Also, heliocentrism!

Pretending to be an ostrich is not an effective Christian social theory, but we Orthodox do just that when it comes to sex and gender-identity issues. For example, now that I have said those words, someone is sure to tell me that I am sowing confusion. “You see,” they will say, “the Orthodox Church has been clear and consistent in its position on ‘homosexuality’ for centuries.”

Except it hasn’t! The claim itself is offensive! Why? Well, obviously, those of us who keep talking about “homosexuality” are either ignorant of the clear teachings of the church or we are just stubborn, preferring intellectual gymnastics to intellectual humility necessary to accept what the truly spiritual Orthodox Christians know in their hearts what’s right.

(For the record, I do believe in, and try to practice, intellectual humility.) Continue reading “Orthodoxy and “Homosexuality””

I Would Change Nothing: A New Year’s Reflection

I slept through the transition from 2013 to 2014. Because I am old and I have three kids. Also, I kind of just don’t care.

I have never been able to get excited about New Years Eve/Day. I have decided not to feel bad about that anymore. I mean, I sometimes enjoy parties and being with friends. (Actually, I sometimes enjoyed parties and being with friends; did I mention that I have three little energy-vampires flitting around my house?) But as far as the whole out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new thing went, I was always like, “Meh.”

Continue reading “I Would Change Nothing: A New Year’s Reflection”