ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on selected material from all periods of Orthodox history and culture, but mainly from the Greek-speaking world, it offers a differentiated view of the complex yet asymmetrical relations between the tradition-boundedness of Orthodox Christianity and innovative changes and challenges of all kinds. The official standardization of church doctrine through the influential Ecumenical Councils contributed further to the emergence of the central notion of Orthodoxy, the sole correct and normative religious truth, which had to be distinguished from deviations. After all, Orthodox Christianity in its many local variations represents a uniform and homogeneous religious system, and this is reflected in the respective local Orthodox traditions'. The important gap between Lutheran theologians was caused by their completely divergent approaches to and evaluations of the church tradition. Further, biblical studies in the Orthodox world still remain very traditional, which clearly distinguishes them from the huge development achieved in this domain in the Western Christian world, both Protestant and Roman Catholic.
