Ecclesiological Investigations is co-sponsoring an online Webinar which will analyse recent document “For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church” and its Implications for the US and Global Contexts. This document was released in early 2020, after being authored by a commission of theologians specifically convened for the task by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. This document provides, in Patriarch Bartholomew’s assessment, “the parameters and guidelines for the social responsibility of our Church before the complex challenges and problems of today’s world, without at the same time overlooking the favorable potential and positive perspectives of contemporary civilization.”
As “For the Life of the World” has been promoted and discussed in diverse settings over the past year, a clear priority has been to evaluate not only what it means for the contemporary Orthodox community but also in what ways it resonates with other traditions with which the Orthodox Church shares its civic life. What does the document, in other words, offered and received in a spirit of good will, bring to the table in order to facilitate cooperation in terms of meeting the ethical challenged faced in local contexts by others who dwell in those contexts? And in what ways might it fall short of the “expansive theological dialogue” with other traditions that it attempts to conjoin with the “spiritual growth of the Orthodox faithful” in pursuit of social justice and sustainable peace worldwide?
This webinar will explore ecumenical dimensions to these questions.
Program:
Welcome
Rev. Dr. Nicolas Kazarian, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (3 min)
Introduction
Dr. Aaron Hollander, Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute (5 min)
The Document
Dr. James Skedros, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (10 min)
Responses
Bishop W. Darin Moore, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (10 min)
Dr. Barbara Hallensleben, University of Fribourg (10 min)
Rev. Margaret Rose, The Episcopal Church (10 min)
Discussion
All (40 min)
Closing
Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, National Council of Churches USA (2 min)
