Eastern Christian conceptions of personhood and their political significance

During the last century, multiple thinkers, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, argued that the Orthodox theology of personhood has specific implications for social and political thought. Some of them have even argued that the Orthodox conception of personhood may help us understand aspects of the political behavior of Orthodox-majority countries. While these theories raise very important questions, one should be careful not to think of Orthodox thought in monolithic terms. To illustrate this argument, this chapter examines two major Orthodox theologians, Christos Yannaras and Aristotle Papanikolaou, who have relatively similar opinions on the question of personhood but divergent views on its potential implications regarding the notion of human rights.