THE INSTITUTE FOR ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN STUDIES: SUMMER SCHOOL ON 'COMMUNITY, DIFFERENCE AND DIVISION IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

 The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies Cambridge, UK

The team of lecturers will include: Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Revd Prof Andrew Louth, Revd Prof Nikolaos Loudovikos, Revd Dr John Jillions, Dr Elizabeth Theokritoff, Revd Dragos Herescu, Dr Razvan Porumb, Dr Christoph Schneider

The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS) offers a two-day Summer School from 30-31 August 2019 at Wesley House. This taught course is open to everyone and discusses the topic of Community, Difference and Division in the Orthodox Church. The Summer School will address the following questions:

• How are we to understand the unity of the Church and what are the main characteristics of the ecclesial community?

• What is the theologically correct understanding of creaturely differences within the ecclesial community?

• How can we distinguish between positive differences that need to be preserved and cultivated, and destructive divisions that need to be overcome?

• What is the relationship between the Church, cultural diversity and historical change?

All participants will be asked to do some preparatory reading before the Summer School starts. Texts will be made available prior to the course. Apart from lectures, there will be time for guided discussions and student presentations. Participation is open to everyone, but some basic theological knowledge about Orthodox theology is required to profit from the course. All participants will be given a Certificate confirming the successful completion of the Summer School. The level of teaching roughly corresponds to a second- or third-year BA course.

Programme of the Summer School:

FRIDAY 30 AUGUST
09:15-9:45: Registration in the Dining Room and coffee
9:45-10:00: Revd Dragos Herescu (IOCS) – Welcome & Introduction
10:00-11:30: Dr Christoph Schneider (IOCS) – Introduction: Unity, Difference and Division in Space and Time
11:30-12:00: Coffee break
12.00-13:30: Dr Elizabeth Theokritoff (IOCS) – Beyond Ethnicity and Jurisdiction: Unity and Difference in the Orthodox West
13:30-15:00: Light lunch
15:00-16:30: Revd Prof Nikolaos Loudovikos (University Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki) – What is Ecclesial Unity?
16:30-17:00: Coffee break
17:00-18:30: Very Revd Dr John Jillions (St. Vladimir’s Seminary, New York) Differences and Discernment in St Paul’s Corinth
18:45-19:30: Friends of IOCS Reception, organised and sponsored by Dr Elizabeth Theokritoff
SATURDAY 31 AUGUST
09:30-11:00: Revd Dragos Herescu (IOCS) – Multiple Modernities = Multiple Orthodoxies? The Making of Religious Identity for the Orthodox Abroad and in the “Home Countries”
11:00-11:30: Coffee break
11:30-13:00: Dr Razvan Porumb (IOCS) – The Fundamental and Enriching Complementarity of Pan-Orthodoxy: An Insight from the Ecumenical Scene
13:00-14:30: Light lunch
14:30-16:00: Very Revd Prof Andrew Louth (Durham University) – The One Church: A Plea for Diversity
16:00-16:30: Coffee break
16:30-18:00: Metropolitan Kallistos Ware – Primacy and Synodality in the Orthodox Church