“Christianity is also the fruit of Judaism’s intersection with classical Greek culture, and so by right belongs to the West.”" Judaism is an Eastern religion. And see more common traits between Jewish practice and words and the Orthodox Church than with the Roman Catholic Church - the term we use as “gehenna” for Purgatory/Hades (gehenna is from the Talmud), calling the Old Covenant the Old Church, the major OT prophets depicted as saints in Orthodox churches, praying while standing (the akathist), the practice of praying using Psalms.
There is deaf fundamentalism in Orthodoxy, there is also justified fundamentalism who listens to the Eccumenical movement and points out errors and there is fake fundamentalism of those who only seek self-worship and copy/paste the words of the Holy Fathers. But this article is definitely the work of a modern theologian who instead of discussing things with the fundamentalism seems to seek the vainglory on the internet by twisting everything into what is cool. If he is so up-to-date to what is “being Western” then how does he not know that in the West there are many non-Orthodox Christians who also fight against “modernity and its dual spin-offs, an open society and liberal democracy.” (His point 3 in the article).
Professor Ventis seems to not have studied in depth contemporary Western Christianity with whom, as an Eccumenist, he should study if he wants to find that common ground.
Maybe that is why the Eccumenism is stuck? Because what he says would vex many Eccumenists from the Vatican including Pope Francis who also spoke and criticised the self-entitled more evolved world of today.
He’s just one of those cool theologians that is proof that the rad trads of East and West are not insane.
May God enlighten Him!
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