Bradley Nassif – The Evangelical Theology of the Orthodox Church – An LOI Conversation

Book cover

The Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative (LOI) has organised on 12 April a Zoom conversation around Bradley Nassif’s book The Evangelical Theology of the Orthodox Church published by St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press in 2021 (The text is also available as ebook).

The conversation was moderated by Ralph Lee, moderator of LOI, and included fr. Dragos Herescu, Principal of the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, UK, myself, and the author of the book.

You may watch the conversation at the link below (please subscribe to the LOI channel on YouTube, if you want to be informed of future uploads).

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Metr. Kallistos of Diokleia – The Unchanging Gospel in an Ever-Changing Culture

Programme begins at minute 25.

5 March 2016 – North Park University, Chicago, Il.

The Inaugural Event in the Engaging Orthodoxy Speaker’s Series

An Orthodox Introduction to the 2nd Edition of the Romanian Translation of ‘Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism’ – 3

5. WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN CONCRETE TERMS IN ROMANIA IN REGARD TO DIALOGUE?

In terms of events that have given concrete expression to the concern for dialogue between Orthodox and Evangelicals in Romania, a number of initiatives may be mentioned.

In 2009, the Babes-Bolyai University, through the Centre for Lifelong Learning, the Faculty of Orthodox Theology, the Centre for Biblical Studies, World Vision International and the Iasi-based Adoramus publishing house, held a conference at Cluj-Napoca with the title The Paschal Mystery and the Liturgical Life of the Church, at which Dr Bradley Nassif, professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at North Park University, Chicago, was an invited speaker.

The conference was followed by the launching of the Romanian translation of the book Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. Three Perspectives. Those who spoke on this occasion were Professor Nassif, Dr Danut Manastireanu and the Revd Professor Stelian Tofana. All three speakers stressed, in their addresses, the book’s significance for non-official theological dialogue between Orthodox and Evangelicals in Romania.

Following these two events, and on the same day, there was also a round-table discussion on the subject “Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. Perspectives in Dialogue”, which took place at the university staff club. Those who attended this discussion were priests and teachers from the Cluj-Napoca Faculty of Orthodox Theology and a number of Evangelical pastors and believers from Cluj and from other Romanian cities.

An Evangelical Introduction to the 2nd Edition of the Romanian Translation of ‘Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism’

 

In the spring of 1995 I was coordinating the academic research programme at what has now become the Emanuel University of Oradea. At the first scholarly colloquium which I organised in this role I had the providential opportunity to come to know the Revd Professor Stelian Tofana, of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Cluj, and since then we have maintained an especially close bond. This accounts for our decision to share the writing of a Romanian preface to the second edition of this work: Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. We are united both by a common interest in Eastern theology and spirituality, which each of us approaches from his own perspective, and by our firmly held personal conviction of the pressing need for theological and ecclesial dialogue between the different Christian traditions in our cultural context.

Over the years we have been involved together in many activities which have put flesh on the bones of these shared convictions. We have participated in academic conferences both within Romania (in Oradea, Cluj, Bucharest and elsewhere) and abroad (including Bossey, in Switzerland, and Durres in Albania) that have been organised both by Evangelicals and by the Orthodox; we have contributed to the resulting publications of their proceedings; we have joined in organising the promotion of books relevant to this dialogue; we have collaborated in spiritually-oriented training sessions for the staff of World Vision (an organisation I have been working for since December 1999); we have each sought to make more widely known within our own constituency the treasures of thought and spirituality to be found in the tradition of the other – and, last but not least, we have often enjoyed table fellowship in one another’s homes, which has provided occasions to celebrate what unites us in spite of the specific differences which define each of our ecclesial identities.

The Story of My Involvement with THE WAY – An Introduction to Orthodox Christianity

In May 2009, Bradley Nassif, Professor of Theology at North Park University in Chicago visited Romania for the launch of the Romanian translation of the book Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (J. Stamoolis, (gen. ed.), Grand Rapids, Mi.: Zondervan, 2006), which took place at the University of Cluj. During that visit, Dr. Nassif told me about an Orthodox project that might benefit from any potential support I could provide through the budget I was managing as part of my World Vision responsibilities for the Middle East & Eastern Europe Region, as Director for Faith in Development. The project, formally initiated in June 2004 at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS) in Cambridge, under the leadership of Professor David Frost, later Principal of the college, was called THE WAY (it took its name from the earliest term by which followers of Christ referred to themselves), and aimed ‘to teach basic Orthodox Christianity as a journey of life, centred on Christ, in terms that communicate to a secular and largely pagan world’.

Robert Letham – Sub privirea Apusului

Tocmai am primit un exemplar al cartii lui Robert Letham, Sub privirea Apusului. O perspectiva reformata asupra ortodoxiei rasaritene, publicata de Editura Faclia din Oradea, specializata in literatura teologica de inspiratie reformata.

Lucrarea reprezinta traducerea cartii Through Western Eyes. Eastern Orthodoxy: A Reformed Perspective. Asa cum reiese de aici, prima observatie care se cere facuta este lipsa de inspiratie a titlului. ‘Through’ in limba engleza inseamna ‘prin’, NU ‘sub’. Dincolo de asta, n-am avut inca vreme sa evaluez calitatea traducerii. Vom vedea.

Aceasta este a treia traducere aparuta in limba romana pe tema relatiei intre evanghelism si ortodoxie. Prima, cu un titlu asemanator celei de mai sus, este cartea lui Donald Fairbairn, Ortodoxia rasariteana din perspectiva occidentala, aparuta mai intii in 2005 la Multimedia, Arad si republicata de Faclia in 2013. A doua este Ortodoxie si evanghelism: Trei perspective, de Bradley Nassif et al, publicata de Editura Adoramus din Iasi si de Editura Casa cartii din Oradea (cartea este eouizata si se pregateste, daca va exista finantarea necesara, o noua editie).

Metr. Kallistos Ware Lectures at North Park University

Metropolitan Kallistos Ware has visited and lectured at North Park University in Chicago (a liberal arts university rooted in the Northern Baptist tradition).

My friend Dr. Bradley Nassif, an Orthodox theologian who teaches at that school has just sent me the links to his lectures. Find them and listen or download them below.

Metr. Kallistos at North Park University in Chicago

I have just received word from my good friend Dr. Bradley Nassif, who teaches at North Park University in Chicago, a school rooted in the moderate Baptist tradition, that Metr. Kallistos,of Diokleia, from Oxford University, will visit this university in February 2011, lecturing, among other themes, also on the Evangelical-Orthodox dialogue.

Here is the announcement:

The Way – A Presentation

In May 2009 we were launching in Cluj the Romanian translation of Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. in the presence of one of the authors, my friend Dr. Bradley Nassif, Professor at North Park University in Chicago. To my joy, the 500 copies we have printed have been sold out in less than four months and we are now discussing about a new print run and a revised edition. It was the fulfilment of part of my dream to create the conditions for initiating a theological dialogue between Evangelicals and the Orthodox in Romania.

As I was explaining on a previous post on this blog, during that visit in Romania, Dr. Nassif told me for the first time about The Way, an Orthodox adult catechism that was reinventing for the eastern context the approach of the Alpha Course, that was so successful in Protestant and Catholic contexts.

The Way

In May 2009, when we launched in Cluj the Romanian translation of Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism (Ortodoxie si evanghelism. Trei perspective – which is already sold out and we hope to be able to publish some time in the near future a second edition), Bradley Nassif, one of the authors of that book spoke to me for the first time about The Way, asking if there is any way I could help with this project, which was for some time in financial difficulties.

Articol al lui Bradley Nassif in Revista teologica, Sibiu

Revista teologică, a Mitropoliei ortodoxe a Ardealului de la Sibiu, a publicat în primul său număr din 2009, pp. 203-252, articolul Dr. Bradley Nassif, intitulat “Începuturile unui dialog global ortodox-evanghelic”.

Textul a fost tradus de Paulian Petric după Bradley Nassif, „Eastern Ortodoxy and Evangelicalism – The Status of an Emerging Global Dialogue”, în Daniel B. Clendenin, (ed.), Eastern Orthodox Theology – A Contemporary Reader, (Paternoster Press şi Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2003), pp. 211–248. Articolul este adaptat după Bradley Nassif, „Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism: The Status of an Emerging Dialogue”, Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology (18, 1, 2000), pp. 21–55.

Iată mai jos textul articolului în format PDF.

Bradley Nassif – Inceputurile unui dialog global ortodox-evanghelic, Revista teologica

Bradley Nassif – Misterul pascal in viata Bisericii

Marţi 5 mai, Dr. Bradley Nassif, de la North Park University din Chicago, a susţinut la Facultatea de studii europene din cadrul Universităţii Babeş-Bolyai din Cluj cursul deschis cu tema ” The Paschal Mistery in the Life of the Church”.

Detalii cu privire la lansarea de carte din 5 mai

Adresa exacta a Facultatii de Studii Europene (Amfiteatrul Jean Monnet) unde va avea loc, marti 5 mai 2009, incepind cu ora 9.00 am cursul “MIsterul pascal in viata liturgica a Bisericii”, sustinut de Prof. Bradley Nassif, si, incepind cu ora 12.00 lansarea cartii Ortodoxie si evanghelism. Trei perspective, este Str. Em. de Martonne nr. 1 , 400090 Cluj-Napoca. Pentru cei mai putin familiarizati cu zona, este vorba de o straduta (semnalata cu rosu pe harta) care uneste str Kogalniceanu cu str. Bratianu.

In aceeasi incinta se afla si Clubul Casei Universitarilor, unde va avea loc, incepind de la ora 16.00 masa rutunda pe tema dialogului teologic dintre ortodocsi si evanghelici.

Ortodoxie si evanghelism – lansare de carte la Cluj

UNIVERSITATEA BABEŞ-BOLYAI
RECTORAT

LANSARE DE CARTE

UBB 90

Coordonator: Nicolae Bocşan
n ziua de 5 mai 2009, orele 12⁰⁰,
în Curtea Colegiului Academic

Bradley Nassif et al
ORTODOXIE ŞI EVANGHELISM. TREI PERSPECTIVE
Editura Adoramus, Iaşi, 2009
Prezintă: prof. dr. Bradley Nassif
Pr. prof. dr. Stelian Tofana
dr. Dănuţ Mănăstireanu

***

Nicolae Păun (ed.)
EVALUĂRI INTERNAŢIONALE ALE UNIVERSITĂŢII BABEŞ-BOLYAI
Cluj University Press, 2009
Prezintă: Toader Nicoară

Ovidiu Ghitta (ed.):
ISTORIA UNIVERSITĂŢII DIN CLUJ
Cluj University Press, 2009
Prezintă: Nicolae Bocşan

***

Diana Reţe (ed.):
UNIVERSITATEA DIN CLUJ. DISCURSURI RECTORALE (1919-1939)
Cluj University Press, 2009
Prezintă: Ovidiu Ghitta

***

Doru Radosav (ed.):

BIBLIOTECA UNIVERSITARĂ „LUCIAN BLAGA” ALBUM
BCU Cluj, 2009
Prezintă: Nicolae Sabău

***

Monica Fekete:IL TOPOS DEL LOCUS AMOENUS NELLA LETTERATURA ITALIANA DEL MEDIOEVO E DEL RINASCIMENTO
Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2008
Prezintă: Helga Tepperberg

Scot McKnight şi neoreformatii

Prietenul meu virtual Marcel Cosma mi-a semnalat două texte publicate recent de teologul biblist american Scot McKnight pe blogul său numit Jesus Creed de pe site-ul Belief Net. Scot predă studii religioase la North Park University din Chicago, unde este coleg cu bunul meu prieten Dr Bradley Nassif, cunoscut expert în dialogul teologic ortodox-evanghelic.