Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality

Thomas Arentzen (Edited By) Thomas Arentzen is a reader in church history and works as a researcher in Greek philology at Uppsala University and as a senior lecturer in Eastern Christian studies at Sankt Ignatios College, Stockholm School of Theology. He specializes in Byzantine literature and ecocriticism. Publications include The Virgin in Song: Mary and the Poetry of Romanos the Melodist (2017) and Byzantine Tree Life: Christianity and the Arboreal Imagination (2021), coauthored with Virginia Burrus and Glenn Peers. Ashley M. Purpura (Edited By) Ashley M. Purpura is an associate professor of religious studies in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. She publishes on gender and Orthodoxy, and is the author of God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium (2018). Aristotle Papanikolaou (Edited By) Aristotle Papanikolaou is Professor of Theology, the Archbishop Demetrios Chair of Orthodox Theology and Culture, and the Co-Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University. He is also Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion. He is the author of Being with God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion, and The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy.

Foreword | ix

Metropolitan Ambrosius, Helsinki

Acknowledgments | xiii

Sexuality and Orthodoxy: An Introduction | 1

Thomas Arentzen and Ashley M. Purpura

PART I: THINKING THROUGH TRADITION

1 Relationality, Sexuality, and the Desire for God: Historical Resources | 23

Susan Ashbrook Harvey

2 Something New under the Sun: Sexualities, Same-Sex Relationships, and Orthodoxy | 46

Bryce E. Rich

3 Science, Homosexuality, and the Church | 66

Gayle Woloschak

4 Biblical Tradition and Same-Sex Relations: A Difficult Hermeneutical Path | 79

Ekaterini Tsalampouni

PART II: CULTURAL AND PASTORAL CONTEXTS

5 Civil Marriage and Civil Union from an Ecclesial Perspective: The Case of the Orthodox Church of Greece | 105

Pantelis Kalaitzidis

6 Eastern Orthodoxy Identity and “Aggressive Liberalism”: Nontheological Aspects of the Confrontation | 144

Dmitry Uzlaner

7 Salvation and Same-Sex Relations:

An Orthodox Response on the Decision by the Lutheran Church of Sweden | 154

Michael Hjälm

8 Homophobia in Orthodox Contexts: Sociopolitical Variables and Theological Strategies for Change | 172

Andrii Krawchuk

9 Meeting Michelle: Practical Theological Reflections on the Personhood of a Transgender Inmate | 192

Richard René

PART III: THINKING WITH TRADITION

10 A Desire for All Is the Desire for God:

“Sexual Orientation” in Light of Gregory of Nyssa’s Account of Gender, Desire, and the Soul’s Ascent to God | 215

Spyridoula Athanasopoulou-Kypriou

11 Intersex People: Not Physical Mistakes but God’s Image | 235

Kateřina Kočandrle Bauer

12 A Theology of Sex | 247

Aristotle Papanikolaou

13 The Antinomic Eschatological Transfiguration of Christian Eros and Sexuality | 265

Haralambos Ventis

14 Sex, Love, and Politics: An (Un)Orthodox Theological Approach | 281

Davor Džalto

15 From Adam to Christ: From Male and Female to Being Human | 303

John Behr

List of Contributors | 321

Index | 325