AlfonsBrüning and Evertvan derZweerde (eds.), Orthodox Christianity and Human Rights (Eastern Christian Studies 13), Leuven; Paris; Walpole, Mass.: Peeters, 2012, 399pp

Book ReviewsJohn H.Y. Briggs (gen. ed.), A Dic-tionary of European Baptist Lifeand Thought (Studies in BaptistHistory and Thought Vol. 13), MiltonKeynes and Colorado Springs: Pater-noster, 2009, xxiii, 541pp.

Baptists, with some 110 million adherentsworldwide, can justly claim to be thelargest aggregate of evangelical Protes-tants. Their greatest numerical strengthbeing in North America, and their almostuniversal global reach being the fruit ofmissionary enterprise dating from the late18th century, it can easily be forgotten thattheir historical origin in fact lies inEurope. The first Baptist congregation (asdistinct from the Anabaptist movementwhich sprang up in the radical Reforma-tion nearly a century earlier) was formedby English refugees in Amsterdam in1609, and while Baptists are not a majoritydenomination in any European countrytoday, they are nevertheless deeply rootedin the Christian scene over most of thecontinent, with varying degrees of activeecumenical commitment.

This book was been eight years in themaking. General editor John Briggs andhis team are to be congratulated on avolume which merits becoming a standardand essential reference work. The 700 arti-cles, covering all aspects of Baptist life,thought and history, in every country inEurope (and some contingent areas of

Asia and the Middle East), are authorita-tive, and crisply written by qualifiedwriters from every region of the conti-nent. Elements of belief and practice,worship and theology, spirituality, liturgy,personal and social ethics, mission,organizations Baptist and non-Baptist,bodies ecumenical and political, otherdenominations and communions andBaptist relationships with them are allcovered. The diversity of EuropeanBaptist viewpoints on some matters isreflected notwithstanding a watchful edi-torial eye being maintained to ensure con-sistent quality and style. One chargeinevitably laid against this kind of com-pendium is that many of the articles aretoo brief to go into any depth or to dojustice to the range of opinion amongBaptists. Accepting, however, that it is adictionary rather than “encyclopaedia,”and that it is intended to start the studentoff in the right direction (often aided bysuggestions for further reading), it fulfilsits purpose well. Articles on “Baptism”(two and half pages) and “Baptism andChristian initiation liturgy” (one page)naturally rate for longer treatment thanmany other topics. Moreover, regardlessof length of articles, there can be no com-plaints about their clarity. For exampleKeith Jones’s treatment of “Anabaptism ”is outstandingly lucid on the perenniallydebated questions of the differencesand historical continuities between theAnabaptist and Baptist movements, and

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317DOI: 10.1111/erev.12044Copyright © (2013) World Council of Churches. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

the relationships between contemporaryBaptists and Mennonites.

An entertaining, if incidental, result of analphabetical ordering of articles is thattopics not normally thought of in thesame breath are hereby juxtaposedwithout embarrassment. Thus forexample “Creeds” is followed by“Cremation,” “Eternal Life” by “EthicalInvestments,” “Missions” by “Mixed mar-riages,” while “Smyth, John” (the founderof that first Baptist congregation inAmsterdam) is preceded immediately by“Smoking and Tobacco.” A holisticapproach indeed.

One area where the editors have unfor-tunately had to retreat is biography. Theoriginal intention of including a wideselection of key European Baptist figureshad to be shelved because of the uneven-ness of coverage that was resulting fromone country to another. What has beenretained is a minimal selection of figureswho have played a founding or crucialEurope-wide role in Baptist life. It is sur-prising, nonetheless, to see that WilliamCarey, widely regarded as the founder ofmodern Western missions and therebythe most eminent Baptist historical figureon the oikoumene, is treated with such rela-tive brevity. Admittedly, the pioneer ofSerampore operated for most of his lifeoutside Europe. But his role in openingup Asia and the Christian West to eachother in a new way surely enhances ratherthan diminishes his “European” signifi-cance. Equally puzzling is the selection of

non-Baptist figures who have affectedthe movement as a whole. For example,while it is good to see the eminentSouth African missiologist David Boschincluded, there is no niche for KarlBarth, the European Protestant giant ofthe 20th century who delivered his ownmighty critique of infant baptism. Thereis, however, a promised BiographicalDictionary in the planning, and we mayhope that these inconsistencies will beredressed.

A curiously (and one trusts unintended)air is imparted by David Coffey, Presidentof the Baptist World Alliance, who in hisForeword hails the Dictionary as “a bookwritten by Baptists for Baptists,” as ifBaptists had a low expectation of (or wishfor) interest to be taken in them by otherChristian communions. That is an unfor-tunate impression, for the editors have infact taken pains to include ecumenicalissues and organizations, and Baptistinvolvement in them. John Briggs himself,for instance, gives a very through over-view of the highly significant 1982 Faithand Order document Baptism, Eucharistand Ministry and the Baptist responses toit. Baptists themselves, in Europe andelsewhere, will certainly profit greatlyfrom this work. But so too will readers ofany tradition and in any part of the worldwho will want to know and understandmore about this vital segment of worldChristianity, and it should thereforebe welcomed as a real contribution toadvancing ecumenical understanding andeducation.

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The Ecumenical Review Volume 65 • Number 2 • July 2013

318 Copyright © (2013) World Council of Churches

Keith Clements

Keith Clements’s latest work is EcumenicalDynamic: Living in More than One Placeat Once (WCC Publications).

Severin J. Lederhilger (ed.), AuchGott ist ein Fremder. Fremdsein –Toleranz – Solidarität (LinzerPhilosophisch-Theologische Beiträge24), Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,2012, 197pp.

This volume contains papers presented ina conference held in Kremsmünster,Austria, 13–15 June 2011, entitled “GodIs Also a Foreigner: Foreignness – Toler-ance – Solidarity.” The declared intentionof the organizers was to elicit a variety ofperspectives on migration. Thirteen pre-senters embody the intended diversity:they are Christians of all three majorconfessions: Roman Catholics, Protes-tants and Orthodox; Muslims and Jews;biblical, systematic, practical and ecu-menical theologians; clerics and laypeople; philologists, psychologists andspecialists in history and philosophy ofreligions.

The title of this volume is inspired by thefirst paper, by Anna Mitgutsch, whounderlines that a basic idea of Judaism isthat God has to remain a foreigner, sothat the hope that the Messiah willcome remains alive in the minds of thechosen people. Apart from this, AnnaMitgutsch’s paper presents and explainsfrom a Jewish perspective the most

important Old Testament texts thatconcern migration: Genesis 12:1 – thecall of Abraham; the exodus from Egyptto the promised land; the command-ments regarding strangers from theMoses law, and others. ChristophNiemand also reflects on the experienceof migration and of foreignness in theBible, extended also to New Testament.The third paper, by Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher, continues biblical reflections onmigration, concentrating on the book ofJonah and its “strange worlds.” Thefourth paper contains reflections onthe concept of the inaccessible, whichincludes people’s perceptions ofmigrants, but also the responsibilityof migrants regarding their ownperceptions. The fifth paper offers apsychological-theological perspective on“fascination and threat” represented byforeigners. Mouhanad Khorchide writesabout identity construction of youngMuslims living in Europe. His paper is aninteresting description of the complexityof the identity of the sons and daughtersof Muslim migrants who were born inEurope. Doris Peschke, director of theCommission of Migrants in Europe,presents the latest trends and patterns inmigration in Europe related especiallyto the dramatic changes that havetaken place recently in North Africa andthe Middle East. She then assesses thechances and limitations of the process ofintegration. Wolfgang Palaver, professorfor Christian sociology at the Universityof Innsbruck, writes about the experi-ence of the Catholic Church in working

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Book Reviews

319Copyright © (2013) World Council of Churches

on the integration of migrants at a parishlevel, especially in Austria.

A study from the perspective of philoso-phy of religion on discourse about Godin a “post-secular culture” is offered byHans-Joachim Höhn. He emphasizes thechallenges and difficulties of speakingabout God in the context of a culture thatdoes not necessarily feel the need for Godany more. Manfred Scheuer’s paperreflects, from a Roman Catholic perspec-tive, on the notions of “foreign God –foreign persons.” In a way, he continuesthe reflections of the previous study,using primarily the concepts and instru-ments of Catholic theology.

Under the motto “You are all children ofGod . . .” Michael Chalupka reflects onthe practice of evangelical diakonia inworking with migrants. His presentation isalso determined by his own experience asthe son of a migrant from Serbia. DragoVujic, Archpriest of the Serbian Ortho-dox Church in Vienna, writes about theexperience of his migrant communityliving in Austria. He describes the migrantexistence as a “blessing” in the sense thata migrant who lives close to his or herchurch is able to find a spiritual home inthe church. The last paper of this volumeis a homiletic reflection on migration, pre-sented by Gerold Lehner.

The very diverse perspectives in whichthe complex phenomenon of migrationis approached here make this volumeattractive and helpful equally for aca-

demic specialists as well as for practition-ers working with migrants diaconallyor pastorally. Some of the papers areuseful even for those who live asmigrants. Personally I was impressed bythe emphasis on the spiritual andeschatological dimensions of migration,which show up in several papers of thisvolume.

The present volume offers a mainly Euro-pean perspective on migration, its onlymajor limitation. Although the papers ofthis volume are independent from eachother, they together offer a clear logic andan internal coherence.

Daniel Buda

James Constantine Hanges, Paul,Founder of Churches: A Study inLight of the Evidence for theRole of “Founder-Figures” inthe Hellenistic-Roman Period(Wissentschaftliche Untersuchungenzum Neuen Testament 292),Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012, xxiii,550pp.

A new extensive monograph about theApostle Paul is proposed by JamesConstantine Hanges, Professor at theUniversity of Chicago, USA. The authorseeks to research “a very small part”of Greco-Roman antiquity, describing“the apostle Paul as a founder of culticcommunities according to a traditionalGreek model, the well-documented

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Greek cultural convention about thefoundation of various types of culturalinstitutions.” He argues that Paul’sunderstanding of his role and thefoundational activities through whichhe established his congregations andsubsequently managed them are expres-sions of this widely recognized Greekconception of the cult-founder (Pro-logue, p. v).

Hanges’s argument begins by clarifyingthe meaning of “founder” in the historyof religions and by comparing the figureof Paul to other founder figures fromthe Hellenistic world (pp. 1–46). Thesecond chapter continues the research on“the founder as paradigm” (pp. 47–139),proposing a survey of the Greek tradi-tions regarding foundation and identify-ing “a paradigm according to whichhistorical founder-figures, especiallythose who found cultic institutions,have portrayed the origin of theirfoundational activities in their personal,oracular selection by a god” (p. 137).This chapter analyzes an impressive arrayof ancient sources on the paradigmof foundation, including non-Greeksources, and compares them with Jewishsources.

Strong reliance on ancient sources ispresent also in the next three chapters, inwhich the author develops his hypothesisthat the Apostle Paul as founder ofchurches conforms to an establishedGreek pattern largely present amonghis contemporaries. The third chapter

(pp. 140–259) presents, translates andanalyzes the Greek text that describes theDelian Cult of Sarapis and its transferfrom Thessalonica to Delos and Opous,which implied also its transformationfrom a private to a public cult. At theend of this chapter, the author concludesthat “Paul shares this understanding ofthe founder’s experience with the God,and builds his cultic foundations in con-formance with the Greek cultural con-vention” (p. 259), as it is described by theDelian Cult. The fourth chapter (pp.260–316) describes “The Role of aFounder-Figure as Cult Authority andOrganizer” in antiquity, based on twotexts: The reformation of the House-Cult of Dionysius of Philadelphia andthe description of the Attic cult of Menfounded by Xanthos the Lykian Slave.The fifth chapter (pp. 317–77) presents“the enduring legacy of a founder” inthe Pagan-Hellenistic world, using asbasis a Greek text that describes the mys-teries of Andania.

The last chapter, which is the mostimportant part of this research, offersa comparison of Paul as founder ofchurches with the Hellenistic-Romancult practices presented in the previousthree chapters. The author describeshere “how the apostle to the gentilesmodels the Greek founder-figurecomplex in the establishing and manage-ment of his cultic communities” (p. vii).The conclusions of this volume areaccessibly summarized in its epilogue(pp. 464–75).

Book Reviews


Hanges’s solid research on Apostle Paulis well grounded in non-Christiansources that describe the religioussituation in the Greek-Roman-JewishMediterranean world in which earlyChristianity developed. It presents anoriginal hypothesis that is sustained withsolid arguments. It will be of interest notonly to biblical scholars and specialistsin early Christianity, but also tomissiologists. Hanges’s research showshow strong are the ties between religionand the larger cultural mentality in agiven context, such as that of Paul. Mis-sionary success depends strongly onknowing how to adapt the religiousmessage to the cultural structures andmentality of a new context beingaddressed. This book demonstrates con-vincingly that the Apostle Paul, certainlyone of the most successful Christianmissionaries, was very much aware ofthis reality.

Finally, the author himself indicated inthe prologue of this book (p. vii) theimportance of his work for ecumenicaltheology. He believes that his descriptionof Paul “carries important implicationsfor the ongoing debate, in particular,between Protestant and Catholic theolo-gians over the relationships between cha-risma and the institutional developmentof the church.” The language and styleused by the author are accessible evenfor readers who are not native Englishspeakers (such as the author of thisreview), engaging and enjoyable to read,despite its size.

Daniel Buda

Daniel Buda is programme executive forecumenical relations at the World Council ofChurches.

Alfons Brüning and Evert van derZweerde (eds.), Orthodox Christi-anity and Human Rights (EasternChristian Studies 13), Leuven; Paris;Walpole, Mass.: Peeters, 2012, 399pp.

The latest book published in the excellentseries Eastern Christian Studies – editedby the Institute of Eastern ChristianStudies, Nijmegen (the Netherlands) – is anew valuable contribution to understand-ing the values of Orthodox theology inthe contemporary socio-cultural context.The theme is illustrated by the relation-ship between Orthodox theology and thehuman rights issues, most of the studiesreunited in the volume having been pre-sented at the international conferenceorganized by the above mentioned Insti-tute (Instituut voor Oosters Christendom– IvOC): “Orthodox Christianity andHuman Rights,” 9–11 February 2009, atRadboud University, Nijmegen (theNetherlands).

Although human rights are not strictly areligious issue, their Christian foundationsare doubtless. This is the unanimousunderstanding of the authors contributingto this volume. It opens with three generalstudies in which are exposed human rightsdiscourse and its vicissitudes. Johannes vander Ven reminds us that it has been over 60

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years since the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights was adopted (UDHR,1948), and Everet van der Zweerdedeepens the religious and non-religiousfoundations of the UDHR, underlyingthat there is no confrontation betweenthem (respect for the human rights sets outthe framework within which people canfreely express their religious beliefs). ElenaPribytkova compares the two conceptionsof natural law: the “Orthodox” concep-tion of Vladimir Solovyov and the“Roman Catholic” conception of JacquesMaritain, who was one of the foundingfathers of the 1948 Declaration.

In the next section Mikhail V. Dmitriev,Tatiana Artemyeva and Alfons Brüningare trying to answer the following ques-tion: Are there two different civilizationsin the European culture: the humanist,Western one and the Orthodox, Easternone? In other words, Samuel P.Huntington’s noted thesis about “theclash of civilizations” is analyzed here interms of human rights. On one hand, it istrue that the concept of human rights wasborn in a particular socio-historical andcultural-religious context which is relatedto the Western world; on the other hand, acloser analysis notes that this does notresult in inevitable conflict with the valuesof the Orthodox Christian tradition.Therefore, both the contradictions andthe similarities between the two viewsmust be stated.

Several central terms are then presented:human rights in the 2008 bilateral discus-

sions of the Russian Orthodox Churchwith the Evangelical Church of Germanyand the Evangelical Lutheran Churchof Finland (Heta Hurskainen), SergeyBulgakov’s concept of human dignity(Regula Zwahlen) and the position ofChristos Yannaras on human rights(Kristina Stoeckl). The next sectionextends the analysis to the OrthodoxChurch in general: Christopher Marshand Daniel Payne write about religiosity,tolerance and human rights in theOrthodox world, citing some of themost authoritative voices in the con-temporary Orthodox theology: Arch-bishop Anastasios Yannoulatos, ChristosYannaras, Patriarch Kirill I (Gundyayev)of the Moscow Patriarchate and Metro-politan Hilarion Alfeyev. The two authorsstrengthen the idea that the differencesbetween East and West are much less pro-nounced than one might have expected.For example, the difference between theWestern notion of tolerance and theRussian notion of terpimost’ (“patience”)reminds one, according to them, of thetheoretical distinction between positiveand negative tolerance. However, this dis-tinction is a subtle one and is certainlynot mirrored in a “cultural” differencebetween East and West.

The other two studies, by Inna Naletovaand Maija Turunen, show other ambigui-ties regarding the Orthodox conceptionof human rights. The first finds a certainpredominance of “an authoritarian value-outlook” in the main approach of theOrthodox churches toward human rights

Book Reviews


– but an orientation toward the authorityof the Orthodox church does not neces-sarily mean rejection of the moderndemocratic principles of equality andrespect for other religions. The secondauthor presents the results of her study on“the practical presence” of human rightsamong Orthodox priests and believersin Russia. She observed that, althoughopinions expressed on values and onfreedom of religion are similar in manycases, the tone of official statementsdiffers from that of individual believers.So she finds that terpimost’ at grassroots inRussian parishes is in any case difficult tobe labeled as “negative tolerance.”

The subject of the fifth section is theChurch – State – Society relationship.Here we find studies by Philip Walters,Alexander Agadjanian, Radu Preda andDaniela Kalkandjieva, in which this rela-tionship is contextualized – in Russia,Romania and Bulgaria. Unity of theOrthodox churches in doctrine does notcancel but rather requires diversity (theprinciple of “unity in diversity”). Humanrights are approached differently inEastern European countries that used tobe under Soviet influence and becamelater members of the European Union.As Walters points out (on the basis of aseries of articles published in recent yearsin the journal Religion, State & Society), thereis increasing concern that a traditionalWestern “Enlightenment” model ofhuman rights – with its purely secular stateand essentially individual values – is not astrong fit with the reality in many Central

and Eastern European countries. Here,where Orthodox churches are predomi-nant, there is the tendency to recognizethe “traditional” religion as a safeguardfor common values and to see religionrights as communal.

The last section of the book is entitled“Activism and Reflection.” While PaulBaars presents the activity of Fr PavelAdelheim (Pskov diocese) as a humanrights activist within the church, MarinaShishova brings back into discussionthe document issued by the MoscowPatriarchate in 2008. She concludes thatthe sharp opposition between humanrights activists and the Orthodoxchurch, which can be encountered in thepredominantly Orthodox country, is not amatter of necessity; on the contrary,Orthodox Christianity implies humanrights principles.

Stressing the complexity of the relation-ship between the Orthodox Christian tra-dition and the “Western” concept ofhuman rights, the editors admit in theintroduction that the volume does notexhaust all the possible aspects of thisrelationship. On one hand, this is true:with minimal (but notable) exceptions, theRussian theological tradition is almostubiquitous in papers (not only do theformer Soviet authors prevail, but eventhe Western authors are in their vastmajority specialists in the Russian cultureand theology). Reading the papers ofauthors from other Orthodox countries(Bulgaria and Romania), we can notice



that the relationship between the Ortho-doxy and the Western tradition of humanrights is different than the one with theRussian theology and religious philoso-phy. It seems that their escape from theSoviet Union’s sphere of influence andrelease of East European countries fromcommunist dictatorships raised the ques-tion in a different way than in Russia,where the existence of an authoritarianregime makes us talk about a continuumwith, rather than a gap between, the wayhuman rights were perceived in the pastand the way they are perceived today. Onthe other hand, this volume has indisput-able merits in asserting the specific Ortho-dox Christian conceptions of humanrights. It is certainly an important contri-bution toward better understanding of anissue that is going to be more and morepresent within Orthodox Christianity.

Moreover, the plurality of approachesand the variety of relationships betweenOrthodox values and the issue of humanrights is helpfully analyzed: not only oftheology but also of social, religious,political sciences and philosophy. In con-clusion, even if it does not provide finalanswers, this volume is an indispensablemilestone for our current understand-ing of the sometimes rocky and evencontroversial relationship between Ortho-dox Christianity and human rights. Italso includes a comprehensive generalbibliography.

Ciprian Iulian Toroczkai

Ciprian Iulian Toroczkai is assistant professorat the Andrei Saguna Orthodox Faculty ofTheology, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu,Romania.

Book Reviews


Documents

AlfonsBrüning and Evertvan derZweerde (eds.), Orthodox Christianity and Human Rights (Eastern Christian Studies 13), Leuven; Paris; Walpole, Mass.: Peeters, 2012, 399pp