The Orthodox Church and National Identity in Post-Communist Romania

This book explores the Romanian Orthodox Church's arguments on national identity to legitimize its own place in a post-communist Romania. The work traces the clergy's deployment of the concepts of Christian Orthodoxy and Latin legacy as part of an uncharted constellation of arguments in contemporary intellectual history. A survey of public intellectuals' opinions on national identity complements the Church's views. The investigation attempts to offer an insight into the Church's efforts to re-assert itself, given free rein in a post-dictatorial world of accelerated modernization. After clarifying and surveying the Church's claims on institutional and national identity, the book then also explores the secular ideas on the subject. The subsequent analysis treats this material as speech acts (statements doing, not only saying, something) which are occasionally out of sync. Against a background of secularization, the Church's rhetoric articulates a distinct line of thought in the post-89 intellectual landscape.

Addresses the topic of Romanian national identity through the lens of the country's Orthodox Church Examines the intellectual context of post-communist Romania, by comparing the Church's and secular views Appeals to scholars and students within the fields of intellectual history, South-East Europe studies, religious studies, and political history

Auteur
Adrian Velicu is a guest researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He is the co-editor of European Cultural Memory Post-89 and the author of several monographs.

Texte du rabat

This book explores the Romanian Orthodox Church s arguments on national identity to legitimize its own place in a post-communist Romania. The work traces the clergy s deployment of the concepts of Christian Orthodoxy and Latin legacy as part of an uncharted constellation of arguments in contemporary intellectual history. A survey of public intellectuals opinions on national identity complements the Church s views. The investigation attempts to offer an insight into the Church s efforts to re-assert itself, given free rein in a post-dictatorial world of accelerated modernization. After clarifying and surveying the Church s claims on institutional and national identity, the book then also explores the secular ideas on the subject. The subsequent analysis treats this material as speech acts (statements doing, not only saying, something) which are occasionally out of sync. Against a background of secularization, the Church s rhetoric articulates a distinct line of thought in the post-89 intellectual landscape.

Contenu

1. Introductory Matters.- 2. A Resurgent Church.- 3. A Rampant Church.- 4. Secular Counterpoint.- 5. Undercurrents of Identity Discourse.