Course aims:

to know and understand the mission’s exigencies;
to explain the mission’s effects upon the Church;
to know, define and understand the Church’s missionary work;
to develop the most important missionary aspects;
to define and describe the key concepts, theories, methods specific to the discourse missiological and to develop in students some specific skills about the quantitative and qualitative theological research.

Course Entry Requirements:

n/a

Course contents:

1. The Orthodox Diaspora - analysis, nuance and redefinition: the Romanian "Exile" - historical context and social and religious repercussions; 2. The Orthodox Diaspora - analysis, nuance and redefinition: Pastoral-missionary challenges of the Orthodox communities in the diaspora; 3. Human Rights - Theological Marginalities in a Political Project: Considerations on Human Rights from the Perspective of Orthodox Theology; 4. Human rights - the theological fringe of a political project: the mission of re-Christianizing human rights; 5. The Christian religion and the possibility of a geographical-demographic movement of Christianity in the world; 6. Neo-liberal ideology and the danger of perverting the concept of Human Rights in today's society; 7. Metamorphoses of how we perceive death in contemporary culture; 8. Liturgical-missionary incursion regarding the meaning of the funeral service; 9. The current position on cremation in the Roman Catholic Church and the current position of the local Orthodox Churches on the issue of cremation; 10. Orthodoxy as ecumenical participation and commitment; 11. Ecumenical theology and the aspiration for catholicity 12. Orthodoxy and its theological significance in today's society. Seminar: 1. Negative opinions regarding the presence of the Orthodox Church in the Ecumenical Movement; 2. Brief history of the pan-Orthodox assemblies; 3. Preparations of the Holy and Great Synod of Crete (2016); 4. The main themes of the Holy and Great Synod (Crete, 2016); 5. The diaspora - a new missionary reality; 6. Inter-Christian and interreligious dialogue; 7. Bearing Christian witness through sanctity of life: marriage and monasticism; 8. Christian education in the dynamics of the mission 9. The issue of inculturation; 10. The Church's Mission in the Internet Age; 11. Atheism, a form of unbelief; 12. Cremation: Missionary Challenge or Christian Counter-testimony?

Teaching methods:

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

Learning outcomes:

Ability of applying the principles for understanding a missiological document in an appropriate manner, respectively, to take into account all elements involved (linguistic, socio-cultural, religious), and interpret both in a synchronous and diachronic mode; critical reading skills on bibliographic sources and ability to initiate own research.

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

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

Recommended reading:

Ion Bria, Ortodoxia în Europa. Locul spiritualității române, Editura Mitropoliei Moldovei și Bucovinei, Iași, 1995, x.
Nicolae Achimescu, Religie, modernitate și postmodernitate, Trinitas Publishing House, București, 2013, x.
Christos Yannaras, Abecedar al credinței. Introducere în teologia ortodoxă, Editura Bizantină, București, 1996, x.
Alexander Schemann, Church, world and mission. Reflections on Orthodoxy in the West, St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, New-York, 2008, x.
George Remete, Ființa și credința, Paideia Publishing House, București, 2016, x.
Răzvan Porumb, Orthodox and Ecumenism. Towards an Active Metanoia, Peter Lang, Oxford, 2019, x.
Mihai Himcinschi, Misiune și dialog. Ontologia misionară a Bisericii din perspectiva dialogului interreligios, Reîntregirea Publishing House, Alba Iulia, 2020, x.