Public Discourse and Orthodox Christianity

Dear Colleagues, 

This Special Issue of Religions explores the complex relationship between public discourse and Orthodox Christianity, with an emphasis on how these two categories, broadly conceived, shape and inform each other. One of the impetuses behind this volume is the “return” of Orthodox Christianity, over the past thirty years, to places of public prominence, especially in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, as well as contemporary efforts to reclaim some form of historical Orthodoxy, however imagined, as the foundation of today’s public Orthodoxy. Another impetus is the growing presence of Orthodox Christianity in public discourses outside cultures and societies conventionally recognized as Orthodox, mainly through the establishment of university-affiliated centers and fellowships, outreach programs, public forums, and social media.

The disciplinary scope of this volume includes anthropology, history, literary studies, and theology. Its chronological frame is broadly modern (circa 1700–present), and its geographical frame ranges from the local to the global.

General topics of this volume include:

• How Orthodox theologians, thinkers, and, more broadly, parishioners understand or imagine the public (and the private);
• The ways in which scholars, musicians, writers, filmmakers, artists, and/or social media influencers help to set the terms of public discourse about Orthodox Christianity;
• The ways in which Orthodox theologies, doctrines, liturgies and/or practices help to frame the contours and fix the boundaries of public discourse, as well as how they challenge and push beyond the established contours and boundaries of public discourse;
• How advocates for a particular understanding of Orthodox Christianity—whether “liberal” or “conservative”, “modernist” or “traditional”—have sought or are presently seeking to bring their version of Orthodox Christianity more firmly and actively into the public sphere;
• The relationship between public discourse and Orthodox Christianity within ostensibly Orthodox cultures and societies, e.g., Russia and Romania, as well as outside such cultures and societies, e.g., France and the United States;
• Whether the categories themselves, i.e., the categories “public discourse” and “Orthodox Christianity”, are stable and discrete enough to be understood and examined as separate categories.

Dr. Patrick Michelson
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.