Annotation
This course alerts students to the differences between the Eastern and Western Christian mindsets and the influence of those mindsets on the way each group approaches Scripture and Christian life. Using selections from appropriate primary sources, students will study the teaching of the Eastern Orthodox Churches on the relation between Scripture and tradition and on God, humanity, and salvation. By the end of the course, students should be able to: (1) recognize the influence of cultural mindsets on the way a given group of people understands Christian theology and life; (2) explain at least six major differences between Eastern and Western cultural mindsets; (3) articulate the difference between the Western understanding of authority and the Eastern understanding of tradition; (4) explain the significance of the different approaches to the doctrines of God, creation, and fall in East and West; (5) grasp the Orthodox idea of theosis and the relation of saints and icons to salvation in Orthodoxy; (6) recognize and enumerate the major differences between official and popular Orthodoxy; (7) appreciate the fact that Orthodoxy has much to teach the Western Christian world; (8) be willing to learn from Eastern Orthodoxy, as well as evaluate it critically; (9) be willing to assess their own expressions of faith, where it is appropriate to do so.