Theology as an Ethnographic Object: An Anthropology of Eastern Christian Rupture

Abstract

This paper draws upon over three years' research among Eastern Orthodox (principally Antiochian and Greek) communities in London and Mount Athos, Greece. This research came to engage theology quite heavily as part of the ethnographic facts of the fieldsites. This paper reviews some of the existing ways that theology (as both discipline and practice) relate to ethnographic enquiry, particularly as it has arisen in the dialogue with the Anthropology of Christianity and frames this in light of the historical development of Anthropology and its relationship to theology and Christianity. The paper then advances a methodological argument, in favour of further means of relation, specifically in terms of theology as a cultural artefact. Drawing on local practices of liturgical theology and Eastern Orthodox forms of allegorical interpretation, I argue for the inclusion of theological insight and practice within the social scientific study of religion. Working in an Orthodox setting requires the investigation of liturgical theology and brings to light important aspects of the relationship between temporal and sempiternal domains of action. Particularly as it relates to liturgical theology and the practices of interpretation, ethnographic enquiry into Orthodox theology asks for a reconsideration of social scientific methods of analysis and representation.

Introducción - antropología(s) del cristianismo en América Latina

“…Entre los tópicos que alimentaron el interés de la antropología del cristianismo aparecen están las tensiones entre tradición y modernidad, continuidad y cambio, y cultura y cristianismo (Ludueña, 2022). En este orden, puede observarse que lo católico como lo urbano, en menor medida, exhiben una presencia débil en la casuística de la antropología del cristianismo, con algunas excepciones orientados al estudio de cristianismos orientales (Bandak, 2014;Buchli, 2010;Carroll, 2017;Hann & Goltz, 2010;Keane, 2014) y -ciertamente-catolicismos (Brown & Feener, 2017). En adición, debe notarse que en gran medida los casos tratados por la antropología del cristianismo se concentraron…”

“…Así lo hizo Robbins (2004) con las iglesias pentecostales en Papúa Nueva Guinea; Cannell (1999Cannell ( , 2005 con el uso y la apropiación de los símbolos cristianos en Filipinas y, más recientemente, la relación entre parentesco y mormonismo en los Estados Unidos; Barker (1985Barker ( , 1993Barker ( , 2012 con las misiones anglicanas entre los maisin de Papúa; y Engelke (2007) analizó la iglesia Johane Masowe en Zimbabue. Entre los temas abordados los hay sobre el ritual y experiencia religiosa, materialidad ritual, y cambio cultural y misionalización (Bandak, 2014;Buchli, 2010;Cannell, 2006;Carroll, 2017;Chua, 2012;Engelke, 2007;Howell, 2008;Keane, 2014). también, Garriott & O'Neill, 2008).…”

Cultural Routes in Kynouria of Arcadia: Geospatial Database Design and Software Development for Web Mapping of the Spatio-Historical Information

“…The religious monuments of orthodoxy are not just architectural creations. Orthodoxy is not a religion like all others but is Resurrection, Revelation, and Life [17,18].…”

Understanding Islam between Theology and Anthropology: Reflections on Geertz’s Islam Observed

“…The third investigates the way theological discourse provides anthropology with key concepts on how to conceive of "the other" as the subject matter of fieldwork ethnography. Carroll (2017) adds another two ways of interaction between theology and anthropology. Relying on Michael Scott's coined term "Ethno-theology," Carroll speaks of indigenous communities as active producers of theological discourse.…”