The Dialogue between Christianity and Science in the West and in the East
Juuso Loikkanen In recent decades, the relationship between Christianity and natural science has become a popular area of research in academia. In addition to finding its way into university philosophy and theology departments, several research centres have been established dedicated solely to the study of science and religion. Owing to popular atheist authors, like Richard […]
Studies for whom? Eastern and Western Readership in the Age of Globalization
Serafim Seppälä We scholars publish a lot, but for what purpose? For whom? Who reads our papers and where? This is a question which may need some consideration and elaboration every now and then. In fact, the situation has been rather confounding. A decade or two ago, unbelievable as it may sound, most academic articles […]
Revisiting the History of the Finnish Tolstoians
Rony Ojajärvi Finland, due to its long history and shared border with Russia, has been influenced by the religious traditions that developed in the soil of our eastern neighbour. The Tolstoian tradition is historically interesting in this sense. Leo Tolstoy, after fighting in the Russian army, made an about-turn and became a strong advocate of […]
Academic culture, boundary-crossing and pop-up
Sini Mikkola The cult of the temporary In 2015, The Guardian published an article discussing the pop-up phenomenon, referring to it as a ‘cult of the temporary’. This phenomenon, increasingly adapted in our culture during the past decade or so, can be seen as one method for arranging various short-term activities and creating temporary spaces […]
Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the West
Talvikki Ahonen For centuries if not millennia, Orthodox Christianity has maintained a complex cultural/political relationship with the “West.” The Great Schism of 1054 divided Christendom and formed the religious and cultural self-understanding of the Orthodox faithful as inherently opposed to the West. The vagueness of the term West has enabled a wide range of (often […]