Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines that the interdisciplinary study of Orthodox Christianity in various local/national contexts is presently conducted more systematically than in the past and attracts wider attention worldwide. Scholarly and interdisciplinary interest in Greece's Orthodox Christianity has certainly existed in previous decades, yielding significant results. Yet, despite the numerous and, in many cases, heated discussions surrounding several areas pertaining to the current relationship between Orthodox Christianity, culture, society, identity and politics at large in Greece, many of these discussions still suffer from either old-fashioned anti-religious biases or both covert and open apologetic tendencies in favour of the church. The book also offers a fresh glimpse of the various facets of contemporary Greek Orthodoxy and its ongoing efforts to cope with the challenges of the twenty-first century.