The Healing Spirituality of Eastern Orthodoxy: A Personal Journey of Discovery
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 6
Abstract
It is generally assumed by western scholars and spiritual seekers that mystical, experiential religion and spirituality are primarily a hallmark of the far East, as exemplified by Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and tribal religions like native American shamanism. In this overview, based on thirty years of field research as a sociologist, I have tried to show that such mystical practices and spiritual approaches exist in Eastern Christianity among groups of lay people, as well as in ancient monasteries like those found on Mt. Athos in northern Greece. It is argued that these thousand-year-old practices in the Christian East may contribute to what some thinkers have called the “eye of contemplation”, namely the cultivation of the intuitive, spiritual side of human beings that has been repressed over the centuries because of the dominance of rationalism and scientific materialism.
Authors and Affiliations
Kyriacos C. Markides
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP25721
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8060109
- Views 309
- Downloads 9
Christianity, Antisemitism, and the Holocaust
There is, in principle, a fundamental difference between Nazi racial antisemitism and the traditional anti-Judaism of Christianity. The church’s official view has been that conversion transforms a Jew into a Christian,...
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Religions in 2017
Peer review is an essential part in the publication process, ensuring that Religions maintains high quality standards for its published papers. In 2017, a total of 265 papers were published in the journal. Thanks to th...
Beggar-Thy-Neighbour vs. Danube Basin Strategy: Habsburg Economic Networks in Interwar Europe
After the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire, leaders in successor states were eager to become economically independent from the former capital Vienna. They therefore quickly implemented a set of neomercantilistic meas...
Dyadic Adjustment and Spiritual Activities in Parents of Children with Cystic Fibrosis
Children’s diseases can negatively impact marital adjustment and contribute to poorer child health outcomes. To cope with increased marital stress and childhood diseases severity, many people turn to spirituality. Whil...
Shelley’s Unknown Eros: Post-Secular Love in Epipsychidion
Whether Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Epipsychidion—a Platonic poem on love addressed to the patriarchally imprisoned Theresa Viviani or “Emily”—receives praise or blame has generally been determined by two focal passages: a...