Orthodox Missiology (II)

Course Code: TP308 • Study year: III • Academic Year: 2022-2023
Domain: Theology • Field of study: Pastoral Orthodox Theology
Type of course: Compulsory
Language of instruction: Romanian
Erasmus Language of instruction: English
Name of lecturer: Razvan Brudiu
Seminar tutor: Razvan Brudiu
Form of education Full-time
Form of instruction: Lecture
Number of teaching hours per semester: 42
Number of teaching hours per week: 3
Semester: Summer
Form of receiving a credit for a course: Grade
Number of ECTS credits allocated 4

Course aims:

to know and understand the mission’s exigencies;
to apply theories and methods to the missionary practical realities;
to know and understand the concept of Trinity and missions;
to explain the mission’s effects upon the Church;
to define and apply the concept of missionary exigency from a theoretical standing point.

Course Entry Requirements:

n/a

Course contents:

1. The expansion of new religious movements; 2. Brief history of the heretical and sectarian phenomenon. Explanatory notions: Church, religious cult, denomination, heresy, schism and sect; 3. The causes of the emergence of neo-Protestant cults; 4. The emergence of neo-Protestant cults in Christianity; 5. The Baptists: new considerations on Baptist missionary work; 6. The Baptist denomination; 7. The Pentecostal denomination or the Apostolic Church of God; 8. Seventh-day Adventists - "Seventh-day Adventist Church"; 9. Seventh-day Adventists in Romania. Expressions of the Adventist denomination; 10. The Mormons - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; 11. Jehovah's Witnesses; 12. New syncretistic religious movements; 13. Occultism and Satanism; 14. Magic, witchcraft and pseudo-medical practices. Seminar: 1. Syncretism. Features and typologies; 2. New Age syncretism; 3. The anti-calendar movement; 4. The Maglavit phenomenon; 5. The Vladimirești movement; 6. M.S.I.A.- "Movement for Spiritual Integration in the Absolute"; 7. Dowsing; 8. Oriental religious movements: Zen and Ananda Marga ("The Path of Bliss"); 9. Transcendental Meditation and Sahaja Yoga; 10. Osho Meditation and Sathya Sai Baba; 11. The Secret (Hidden) Church of the Mother of God; 12. Reincarnation in the New Age movement; 13. Orthodox mission facing the proselytism of certain Oriental groups; 14. Missionary remedies to fight occult phenomena

Teaching methods:

Lecture, exemplification, conversation, debate, PowerPoint presentation, video-projections.

Learning outcomes:

critical, selective and systematic attitude towards missiological information; ability of applying the principles for understanding a patristic document in an appropriate manner, respectively, to take into account all elements involved (linguistic, socio-cultural, religious).

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

Written paper-interpretative essay – 30%. Frontal evaluation / Oral exam: 70%

Recommended reading:

Petre I. David, Invazia sectelor în România, Europolis Publishing House , Constanța , 2000 , x
Gheorghe Petraru, Dimensiunea penitențială și euharistică a vieții creștine, Doxologia Publishing House , Iași , 2015 , x
Dan Bădulescu, Împărăția răului: New Age. Originile, istoricul, doctrinele și consecințele sale din perspectivă ortodoxă, Christiana Publishing House , București , 2001 , x
David Pestroiu, Martorii lui Iehova, Reîntregirea Publishing House , Alba Iulia , 2013 , x
Jean Vernette, Les Sectes et l'Eglise catholique. Le document romain, Editions du Cerf , Paris , 1993 , x
Radu Petre Mureșan, Alternative spirituale în România - secolul XXI - perspectivă ortodoxă, Agnos Publishing House , Sibiu , 2011 , x
Arsenie Vliangoftis, Ereziile contemporane - o adevărată amenințare, Evanghelismos Publishing House , București , 2006 , x