Periodic Reporting for period 4 - GlobalOrthodoxy (Rewriting Global Orthodoxy Oriental Christianity in Europe between 1970 and 2020)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2024-04-01 do 2024-09-30
Over the last fifty years, Oriental Orthodox Christians (Armenians, Copts, Syriacs/Arameans, Ethiopians and Eritreans) from the Middle East and Africa have settled in Europe, fleeing war-related violence and societal pressures. One of the prominent aspects of religious practice of these transnational Oriental communities is their strong emphasis on the writing and publishing of texts. These include traditional religious texts (from liturgy to history), re-translated and re-contextualized texts, and completely new texts. From simple leaflets and books to sophisticated internet productions where text is persuasively embedded in sound and image, these textual practices aim to transmit the religious heritage to a new generation in an increasingly globalized context.
Scholarship has largely ignored these texts, being too popular or too modern for scholars of the written religious traditions and too textual for social scientists working on these transnational communities, even though they constitute a crucial source for the study of the integration of these communities in Europe. Among other things, they highlight the hybrid character of many of these traditions, among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Christianities, and among European and global Christianity. Unfortunately, the popular nature of these texts, whether published on paper or digitally, threatens their long-term survival.
The project takes these textual practices as its main source to understand how these Oriental Christians inscribe themselves in European societies and so contribute not only to the transformation of their own transnational churches but also to that of Orthodoxy worldwide. It hypothesizes that diachronic and synchronic comparison among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches will show that this rewriting includes the actualization of their religious heritage vis-à-vis ethnic and national self-definitions, vis-à-vis European society, and vis-à-vis other churches, particularly Orthodox ones.
Scholarship has largely ignored these texts, being too popular or too modern for scholars of the written religious traditions and too textual for social scientists working on these transnational communities, even though they constitute a crucial source for the study of the integration of these communities in Europe. Among other things, they highlight the hybrid character of many of these traditions, among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Christianities, and among European and global Christianity. Unfortunately, the popular nature of these texts, whether published on paper or digitally, threatens their long-term survival.
The project takes these textual practices as its main source to understand how these Oriental Christians inscribe themselves in European societies and so contribute not only to the transformation of their own transnational churches but also to that of Orthodoxy worldwide. It hypothesizes that diachronic and synchronic comparison among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches will show that this rewriting includes the actualization of their religious heritage vis-à-vis ethnic and national self-definitions, vis-à-vis European society, and vis-à-vis other churches, particularly Orthodox ones.
Through fieldwork, collection of published materials, workshops, lectures, classes, professional and peer-reviewed publications, the building of a public database (The Four Corners of the World Library), and exhibitions, we have extensively mapped and analyzed the Oriental Orthodox publications in Europe. In this way, the study of these largely popular textual materials helps to understand a specific type of Christian religious practice in the context of diaspora and migration, a textual practice that is at the heart of how these communities position themselves in the European realm, as a teaching and learning community poised to transmit their heritage to the new generation in a way that suits the contemporary context. Additionally, the project added to our understanding at more conceptual and comparative levels.
Firstly, as hypothesized, the textual materials are an exciting and fruitful source that needs to be explored in more detail. If anything, our project has shown that these materials are there, can be collected and analyzed with a bit of effort and can be used in manifold ways to better understand the literary developments in these churches; most importantly they show how the earlier textual tradition (including longstanding traditional liturgical, theological and historical texts) are transmitted, translated and re-interpreted in the modern period and put to use to teach clergy and laity alike.
Secondly, the project has shown that these materials can serve as a source for delineating and analyzing Oriental Christian self-understanding in the European context, with individual texts showcasing discourses on language, communal history and theology. As importantly, the corpus of written materials as such, helps to better understand how language and literature, theology and learning, teaching and education function in these communities, ‘teaching tradition transnationally’. The corpus show how these churches use their ancient texts in new ways and complement them with new texts to adapt teaching and learning to current circumstances. Until our project foregrounded and collected these contemporary texts, they were mostly overlooked.
Thirdly, the project has shown how these books are also intrinsically part of religious practice as material objects. This addresses current understandings of religion that tend to separate ‘lived religion’ from the religion ‘of the books’, or that separates ‘folk’ religion from ‘elite religion’. What our project has brought to the fore, is that in this particular type of Christianity books are part of religious practice as much as of religious thought, as practice of the learned and the not so learned; they are part of how you do religion: by publishing, distributing and reading books, but also by carrying, displaying, touching and gifting them.
Thus, fourth, in the combination of meaning and practice, the books that we collected and analyzed have emerged as material objects, whose colors, images, sizes, feel, and smell are important in understanding their role in religious tradition and religious practice. In this, images in particular help us to track all kinds of connections within and outside of the communities, connections that are not always explicitly referred to in the texts. It emerged that images, more than texts, are easily shared between traditions, both within Orthodoxy, and within Christianity in a wider sense - as is confirmed by a quick look at the database starting page which features the covers of the books.
Finally, fifth, the ways in which we see these ‘bookish practices’ in this type of Orthodox Christianity, strongly suggests that this is in fact not unique for this particular strand of religion, but might be indicative of religious practices in many other religions with strong literary traditions as well, such as Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. At the same time, a focus on these bookish practices has made us aware of the fact that there are significant differences in the way books are part of religious practice, between the Oriental Churches, between various types of Christianity, and, analogous, also within Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.
Firstly, as hypothesized, the textual materials are an exciting and fruitful source that needs to be explored in more detail. If anything, our project has shown that these materials are there, can be collected and analyzed with a bit of effort and can be used in manifold ways to better understand the literary developments in these churches; most importantly they show how the earlier textual tradition (including longstanding traditional liturgical, theological and historical texts) are transmitted, translated and re-interpreted in the modern period and put to use to teach clergy and laity alike.
Secondly, the project has shown that these materials can serve as a source for delineating and analyzing Oriental Christian self-understanding in the European context, with individual texts showcasing discourses on language, communal history and theology. As importantly, the corpus of written materials as such, helps to better understand how language and literature, theology and learning, teaching and education function in these communities, ‘teaching tradition transnationally’. The corpus show how these churches use their ancient texts in new ways and complement them with new texts to adapt teaching and learning to current circumstances. Until our project foregrounded and collected these contemporary texts, they were mostly overlooked.
Thirdly, the project has shown how these books are also intrinsically part of religious practice as material objects. This addresses current understandings of religion that tend to separate ‘lived religion’ from the religion ‘of the books’, or that separates ‘folk’ religion from ‘elite religion’. What our project has brought to the fore, is that in this particular type of Christianity books are part of religious practice as much as of religious thought, as practice of the learned and the not so learned; they are part of how you do religion: by publishing, distributing and reading books, but also by carrying, displaying, touching and gifting them.
Thus, fourth, in the combination of meaning and practice, the books that we collected and analyzed have emerged as material objects, whose colors, images, sizes, feel, and smell are important in understanding their role in religious tradition and religious practice. In this, images in particular help us to track all kinds of connections within and outside of the communities, connections that are not always explicitly referred to in the texts. It emerged that images, more than texts, are easily shared between traditions, both within Orthodoxy, and within Christianity in a wider sense - as is confirmed by a quick look at the database starting page which features the covers of the books.
Finally, fifth, the ways in which we see these ‘bookish practices’ in this type of Orthodox Christianity, strongly suggests that this is in fact not unique for this particular strand of religion, but might be indicative of religious practices in many other religions with strong literary traditions as well, such as Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. At the same time, a focus on these bookish practices has made us aware of the fact that there are significant differences in the way books are part of religious practice, between the Oriental Churches, between various types of Christianity, and, analogous, also within Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.
The project, therefore, has impacted the field in various ways: in opening up a new field of study at the intersection of philological and social science approaches, in adopting a consistent comparative approach in the study of Oriental Churches that often are being approached from their respective disciplinary traditions, and in taking a digitally supported corpus approach that allows for in-depth analyses of the material.
Further, the collection of materials, the discussions about these materials and the database that collects and visualizes these materials ,underlines the importance of the publications, both within and outside the communities involved. This increases awareness of how these publications are part of the material heritage of these communities and thus contributes to preserving these for the future.
Finally, in light of the growing socio-political and religious importance of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches in Western Europe, this research has created a solid basis for further research into these communities, starting from their extensive engagement with European societies in language, theology and historical imagination, in ongoing exchange with Oriental and Eastern Orthodox traditions worldwide.
Further, the collection of materials, the discussions about these materials and the database that collects and visualizes these materials ,underlines the importance of the publications, both within and outside the communities involved. This increases awareness of how these publications are part of the material heritage of these communities and thus contributes to preserving these for the future.
Finally, in light of the growing socio-political and religious importance of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches in Western Europe, this research has created a solid basis for further research into these communities, starting from their extensive engagement with European societies in language, theology and historical imagination, in ongoing exchange with Oriental and Eastern Orthodox traditions worldwide.