invited by the Volos Academy for Theological Studies

Upon the invitation of Professor Papanikolaou by the Volos Academy, a series of public lectures and a special theological seminar, organized by the Volos Academy for Theological Studies, were successfully held in Thessaloniki, Volos and Athens.

Since 2013, the Volos Academy, generously sponsored by the Orthodox Foundation, Virginia H. Farah Foundation, provides an annual public lecture and a special theological seminar, where eminent and renowned Orthodox thinkers and theologians are invited. In this context and during these years, Rev. Dr. Andrew Louth (Professor Emeritus of Patristic and Byzantine Studies, Durham University, Visiting Professor of Eastern Orthodox Theology, Vrije University, Amsterdam), Rev. Dr. John Behr (Dean and Professor of Patristics, St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York, USA), and Dr. Richard Swinburne (Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Christianity, Oxford University, Fellow of Oriel College of the British Academy, Great Britain) have been invited, followed by this year’s invitee Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou, Professor of Theology and the “Archbishop Demetrios” Chair in Orthodox Theology and Culture, Co-founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, and Senior Fellow at the Emory University Center for the Study of Law and Religion.

Professor Papanikolaou was born/raised in Chicago, Illinois (USA). His areas of expertise are Eastern Orthodox theology, Trinitarian theology, and political theology. He is currently developing an expertise on the relation between theological anthropology, violence and virtue ethics. He has authored and published many essays, articles and entries in Encyclopedias, while he has published two individual books: Being with God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press 2006 and The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy, Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press 2012. He has been co-editor in several books such as (with George Demacopoulos) Orthodox Readings of Augustine, Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press 2008• (with Elizabeth Prodromou), Thinking through Faith: New Perspectives from Orthodox Christian Scholars, Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press 2008• (with George Demacopoulos), Orthodox Constructions of the West, New York: Fordham University Press 2013.

In the public lecture, given in Thessaloniki and co-organized by the Dean’s Office of the School of Theology of the University of Thessaloniki (Wednesday, May 11, 2016, and attended by the Metropolitan of Demetrias Ignatius, the President of the Theology Department, Professor Panayotis Skaltsis, representing the absent Dean, many Professors, students and intellectuals), in Volos (Thursday, May 12, 2016, Thessalia Conference Center, Melissatika, Volos) and in Athens (Monday, May 16, 2016, K. Palamas University Hall, Athens, attended by the Dean of the School of Theology, Professor Apostolos Nikolaides, who also greeted the event, as well as by the Metropolitan of Pergamon John D. Zizioulas, many Professors, students and intellectuals), Professor Aristotle Papanikolaou spoke (in Greek) on the topic “War and Violence: The Politics of Theosis and the refugee crisis,” where, after describing particular conditions of violence (as in the case of the American vetarans combacts in Iraq or the refugees) he discussed how St. Maximus’s understanding of the virtues can both illuminate and help us think of restoring the increased capacity to love as God loves in and through the experience of violence.  He finally elaborated on the anthropology of theosis as a learning how to love in terms of the virtues by discussing St. Maximus the Confessor’s understanding of the ascetical life as a learning how to love.

In the special theological seminar took place in Athens (Saturday, May 14, 2016), Professor Papanikolaou spoke on the topic “From Sophia to Personhood: The development of the 20th c. Orthodox theology from S. Bulgakov, through V. Lossky and D. Stanilaoe to Metropolitan John D. Zizioulas”. In his presentation, he demonstrated the contextuality of contemporary Orthodox theologies of personhood. He argued that these theologies of personhood are an example, first, of hermeneutical contextuality, by which he means an attempt to interpret the tradition while simultaneously engaging the thought-forms and questions of a given time and space. Such hermeneutical contextuality is a given dimension of being human and, in this sense, all Orthodox theology, patristic and contemporary, is hermeneutically contextual. He also argued that Dumitru Stǎniloae’s and John Zizioulas’s development of the Orthodox trinitarian theology and theology of personhood, which they inherited from Bulgakov and Lossky, is an example of what he calls existential contextuality, by which he means an attempt to affirm the relevancy of the theology of personhood by relating it to a dimension of human experience. He ended by demonstrating how contemporary theologies of personhood, understood as events of irreducible uniqueness and freedom of necessity realized through ascetical practices designed for learning how to love through the acquisition of virtues, are relevant to the experiences of violence. Except the featured speaker, round table participants included Dr. Petros Vassiliadis, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Theology, University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and Rev. Dr. Nikolaos Loudovikos, Professor, Higher Ecclesiastical Academy of Thessaloniki (Greece), Visiting Professor, The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, Researcher Professor Winchester University (UK).

On the occasion of Professor Papanikolaou’s visit in Greece, the Greek publication of his book The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy, translated by Dr. Nikolaos Asproulis, (Academic Associate of the Volos Academy and the journal Theologia), and published by the Volos Academy Publications in the books series “In Dialogue” (Volos, 2016) under the title The Politics of Theosis. Orthodoxy meets Democracy,” was presented during the 13th International Book Exhibition in Thessaloniki in a round table discussion moderated by the Director of the Volos Academy, Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis and reviewed by the Publisher and Writer Petros Papassarantopoulos and Dr. Petros Vassiliadis, Professor Emeritus of the University of Thessaloniki.