New Publication:
George E. Demacopoulos
FIVE MODELS OF SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
IN THE EARLY CHURCH
336 pp., soft cover, 17 X 23 cm, ISBN 978-618-5375-33-1, 16 €
The new book just published by Volos Academy is the Greek translation of George E. Demacopoulos monograph “Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church”. This monograph is the adaptation of his PhD dissertation in the University of North Carolina, USA, and it was initially published in English by the University of Notre Dame Press, in 2008. It has been translated in Greek by the Volos Academy Deputy Director, Nikolaos Asproulis.
George Demacopoulos’ research explores the different ways the monastic and lay communities conceived the meaning of spiritual direction. The central questions derive from the encounter of these two pastoral traditions. To what extent did ascetic notions of pastoral care affect the lay Church as monastic leaders gained greater authority? Or, more bluntly, what happened when monks became bishops? Did the new clerics conform to the patterns of pastoral care that were already operating in the lay Church, or did they bring with them the traditions that they had learned in the ascetic community? And if they tried to impose new patterns of supervision on the laity, were their pastoral initiatives met with resistance? This book explores the careers and ideas of five influential Christian authorities: Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Augustine, John Cassian, and Pope Gregory I (“Dialogue”), i.e. authors who shaped the medieval pastoral traditions of the East and the West. Each of the five struggled to balance the tension between his ascetic idealism and the realities of the lay Church. Each offered different (and at times very different) solutions to that tension. The diversity in their models of spiritual direction demonstrates both the complexity of the problem and the variability of early Christianity.
Prof. George E. Demacopoulos holds the Fr. John Meyendorff & Patterson Family Chair of Orthodox Christian Studies. He is Co-Founding Director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center in the same university and Co-Founding Editor of the Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies. A native of Tennessee, George Demacopoulos came to Fordham in 2002 after receiving his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Along with Aristotle Papanikolaou, George Demacopoulos co-founded Fordham's Orthodox Christian Studies Center, which is the only research university Center of Orthodox Christianity in the United States. The Center facilitates, funds, and publishes scholarly work related to the Orthodox Christianity broadly understood. On behalf of the Center, Drs. Demacopoulos and Papanikolaou have won a number of grants from prestigious institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Henry Luce Foundation, the British Council, and Leadership 100.
The book can be ordered from the Volos Academy for Theological (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and soon it will be available in selected bookstores.
