Abstract
In the modern secular society people are not connected to each other by blood ties, their long historical coexistence or their religious self-identification, but are connected under the umbrella of a new cosmic ontology, that of citizenship. The cornerstone of citizenship is human rights. In the context of the secular ontology that began to emerge from early modernity and matured in its late phase, human rights constitute the fundamental condition or even a new doctrine with the purpose of consciously shaping and creating a model citizen in an anthropological, moral, and legal context. But even in the postmodern era where secularism has penetrated its existential reflection and feeling, religious feeling largely determines the relations and the way of expression of the human ‘being’ in society. Although human rights and citizenship are common sub-status of modern times, an existential quest remains a timeless demand of human nature. The theology of the person is an attempt to modernize Orthodox theology in order to develop answers to contemporary existential questions. It puts together a proposal of life for contemporary society, which includes the whole ecclesial experience and concerns the whole of cultural life. This paper shows how through the dialectic of Orthodox anthropology, with the theology of the person as its vehicle, and the citizenship, with human rights as its corresponding vehicle, the ideal of the contemporary social and anthropological demand of peaceful coexistence on the basis of understanding and mutual respect can be achieved.
Presenters
Georgios PantoglouStudent, Master, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Attiki, Greece
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Theology, Human Rights, Orthodox theology, Theology of Person, Post Modernism
