Social Ethic or Spiritual Ethos? Non-Orthodox Christian and Coptic Orthodox Perspectives

Bibliographic Data

ID21593831
AuthorsStephen M Meawad (0000-0002-2255-9759, Caldwell University, Caldwell, NJ, USA, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume35
Issue2
Pages253-265
Publication date2022-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Christian Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0953-9468 • E-ISSN: 1745-5235
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/09539468211045339
OpenAlexW3213596257
LanguageEN
Citations received1

This article modestly anticipates the still-unfolding reception of the laudable document For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church by two broadly-envisioned communities—those of non-Orthodox Christians and Coptic Orthodox Christians. There is much to be commended by the former, especially regarding the document's balanced assessment amidst complicated issues uncharted in the Orthodox world. This balance is possible through the effective coalescence of a theocentric worldview, a comfort with mystery, and a loosely-defined Orthodox anthropology. Regarding the latter community, the document serves as a pioneering and bold example that does not neglect social relevance at the behest of theological commitments. At the same time, Coptic Orthodox Christians, in their insistence on the centrality of desert spirituality, are likely to question the document's sometimes tepid allusions to spiritual transformation, since the principal means out of which come social change, right action and good conscience for Orthodox Christians is through a life entrenched in Godward ascetic spirituality

Aesthetics · Asceticism · Conscience · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Ethos · Forgiveness · Political science · Sociology · Spirituality · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Ecology, and Ethics

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