Abstract

This paper discusses the complex and ambivalent relationship between contemporary Greek theology and the West. If in previous times Western theology had a strong influence on theology in Greece, starting with the "theology of the '60s," Greek theology (following the famous "return to the Fathers") aims to be released from the "Babylonian captivity" to Western theology in terms of its language and its presuppositions, seeking for the authentic Orthodox tradition and using the East-West divide as a central hermeneutical key. As a result, anti-westernism became the hallmark and the dominant "paradigm" for Orthodox theology in Greece for the second part of the 20th century. The present paper focuses on two eminant theological figures of Greek anti-westernism, Fr. John Romanides and his opposition between "Romiosyne" and "Francosyne," and Christos Yannaras, whose structural anti-westernism and emphasis on the East-West divide was instrumental in shaping the agenda and the problematic of contemporary Greek theology.

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