Inheritance and change in Orthodox Christianity

Inheritance and change - the theme of this volume - is a significant dialectic in the lives of the communicants of the Orthodox Church. Her history and evolving institutional life have been in tension since the time of Saint Paul. The thrust of the fifteen essays collected in Inheritance and Change in Orthodox Christianity is toward an informed Orthodox Christian understanding of the historical process of stability and change in the Church. The First Council of Jerusalem generically models these historical processes. The Council's precedent-making acceptance of Paul's Greek converts without circumcision was informed by empirical rationality, Old Testament texts, and the religious inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Among the essay topics under study are the following: sociobiology and the Pentecost; the male priesthood; the American church-related university; the Americanization of the Orthodox Church; the Ecumenical Patriarchate and her American church; the organ and Orthodox Church music; social/ecclesial statistics of the United States; environmental stewardship; baptism and Resurrection; and the future Ecumenical Council of the Orthodox Church.