TC2001  CHRISTIAN UNITY: AN EASTERN PERSPECTIVE (A.A. 2024/2025)

• Unità Accademica

  Facoltà di Teologia

• Corso

  Licenza in Teologia con specializzazione in Teologia comparata delle tradizioni cristiane e studi ecumenici

Objectives: The goal of the course is to familiarise students with the Eastern Christian perceptions of the unity and divisions in the Church. The first great schism happened in the East in the fifth century. It became a “model” for the second great schism between East and West in the eleventh century. How these and other Christian splits are perceived in the East differs from the Western perception. There are commonalities and particularities in the Eastern and Western takes on the unity of the Church. They were demonstrated, for example, by the Panorthodox council that took part in Crete in 2016. Synodality and primacy will be the keys to achieve the course’s learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes: At the end of the course, the students are expected to be able to: a) explain the theological underpinnings of Christian unity; b) identify major ruptures of such unity from the early Christian era to our days; c) analyse both Western and Eastern takes on such ruptures; d) critically assess the successes and failures of the Church in tackling its divisions; e) apply to modern divisions the historical experiences of the church in dealing with the divisions of the past.

Contents: The course starts with the ecclesiological frameworks of ecclesial unity and addresses the theological paradox: how the Church is one and the Christians are divided? It continues with the explorations of early Christian divisions and attempts at their overcoming. “Byzantine ecumenism” generated the main ecumenical patterns during the first millennium. In the second millennium, the initiative was taken over by the Church of Rome. Both its successes and failures are critically explored from the Eastern point of view. The last part of the course focuses on the dialectics of the Orthodox contribution to the modern ecumenical movement and the anti-ecumenical resistance. The course concludes with the Catholic-Orthodox relations and discussions on primacy and synodality.

Methodology: Lectures; class presentations and discussion based on assigned readings.

Means of evaluation: Active participation and an oral exam.

• Informazioni
• Docenti
• Orario lezioni/Aula
• Bibliografia

Informazioni

• Semestre: 1° Semestre
• ECTS: 3

Docenti

Cyril Serhiy HOVORUN

Orario lezioni/Aula

Semestre	Giorno	Dalle	Alle	Aula	Piano	Palazzo	Note
1° Semestre	Lunedì	8.30	9.15	TBD	0
1° Semestre	Lunedì	9.30	10.15	TBD	0

Bibliografia

• Ferracci, L. – al., ed., A History of the Desire for Christian Unity, Brill, Leiden, 2021 ; Hovorun, C. – al., ed., La riconciliazione delle memorie: Ricordare le separazioni tra le Chiese e la ricerca dell’unità, San Paolo, Roma, 2021 ; HOVORUN, C. Meta-Ecclesiology: Chronicles on Church Awareness, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2015 ; Kalaitzides, P. – al., ed., Orthodox Handbook on Ecumenism: Resources for Theological Education, Regnum, Oxford, 2014 ; Serving Communion: Re-Thinking the Relationship between Primacy and Synodality, Tsehai, Los Angeles, 2019.