The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou’s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person.

In The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy, Aristotle Papanikolaou explores the question of whether Orthodox Christianity and liberal democracy are mutually exclusive worldviews. His question is prompted primarily by the post-communist situation in the traditional Orthodox countries of Eastern Europe, where the Orthodox churches are for the first time engaging intellectually with the tradition of liberal democracy. Their response has been confusing, often employing rhetoric affirming democracy, but engaging in practices that could be argued as non-democratic, such as supporting restrictions on religious freedom.

Papanikolaou proposes a non-radical Orthodox political theology that extends beyond a reflexive opposition to the West and a nostalgic return to a Byzantine-like unified political-religious culture. The first comprehensive treatment from an Orthodox theological perspective of the issue of the compatibility between Orthodoxy and liberal democracy, Papanikolaou’s is an affirmation that Orthodox support for liberal forms of democracy is justified within the framework of Orthodox understandings of God and the human person. His overtly theological approach shows that the basic principles of liberal democracy are not tied exclusively to the language and categories of Enlightenment philosophy and, so, are not inherently secular.

Praised by William Schweiker (University of Chicago) as “a stellar contribution to the analysis of Orthodox thought and . . . to current debates about theology and politics,” and predicted by Charles Mathewes (University of Virginia) to be, “the standard Eastern Orthodox text in classes on theology and politics,” The Mystical as Political is a timely and thoughtful addition to theology, philosophy, and politics.

Aristotle Papanikolaou is professor of theology at Fordham University. He is the author of Being With God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion (2006), also published by the University of Notre Dame Press.

The Mystical as Political: Democracy and Non-Radical Orthodoxy
Aristotle Papanikolaou

Publication Date: October 25, 2012

The University of Notre Dame Press

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