Father Oleg Mumrikov (Doctor of Theology, lecturer at St Tikhon’s Orthodox Humanities University, teacher at the Moscow Theological Academy), asks a rather important question for the field of theology in a report presented during the session "On the Origin of the World and of Man" at the Moscow Theological Academy 20th International Educational Christmas Readings on 24 January 2012: how should one understand the array of facts, supporting evolutionary anthropogenesis, which have been gathered in anthropology?

The life and theology of William Hughes Hamilton, who died in February.

We often regard the author of the Gospel of Mark as an obscure figure about whom we know little. Many would be surprised to learn how much fuller a picture of Mark exists within widespread African tradition, tradition that holds that Mark himself was from North Africa, that he founded the church in Alexandria, that he was an eyewitness to the Last Supper and Pentecost, that he was related not only to Barnabas but to Peter as well and accompanied him on many of his travels.In this provocative reassessment of early church tradition, Thomas C. Oden begins with the palette of New Testament evidence and adds to it the range of colors from traditional African sources, including synaxaries (compilations of short biographies of saints to be read on feast days), archaeological sites, non-Western historical documents and ancient churches. The result is a fresh and illuminating portrait of Mark, one that is deeply rooted in African memory and seldom viewed appreciatively in the West. 

'Wisdom Songs' is a collection of five Centuries on the Holy Name, the Song of Songs, Holy Wisdom, the Mysteries of Glory and the Wisdom of Stillness.This ancient monastic wisdom genre was much loved by the desert fathers and hermits of old, nourishing saints and seers for hundreds of years. The crises of the environment, informational technology, interfaith and gender issues all call for wisdom. So it is no surprise to find Orthodox wisdom offering ancient remedies to renew the living tradition in order to address the most urgent needs of our time.

Nature's logic makes no qualitative judgements: earthquakes, disease, fire, and flood destroy human beings just as they also destroy irrational animals - without distinction. Decay, pain, panic, and death constitute the same conditions of existence for both Aristotle and his dog. Why? How is this irrationality compatible - how does it coexist - with the wonderful rationality (the wisdom and beauty) of nature?

In this talk, originally given at the Parish of Saint John of Kronstadt in Bath, England, Fr Yves Dubois examines the teachings of Saint John of Kronstadt, in the context of his own life and of 19th century Russia, looking at their application to the lives of Christians today.

A series of books by Cardinal Aloys Grillmeier, “Christ in Christian Tradition” is a classic of patrology without which work on sources from the 2nd - 6th centuries would be inconceivable today.The tasks of the research project are discussed by its current head, Theresia Hainthaler, Honorary Professor at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology (Frankfurt am Main, Germany).

Professor Archimandrite Job Getcha traces the origins and development of Russian monasticism, showing how both its roots and its spirituality are firmly based in the Byzantine Hesychast tradition, and highlighting the particular importance of the Athonite influence. Rather than being a poor cousin of the Byzantine monastic tradition, the Russian monastic tradition has, from the very beginning, been a part of it, bringing forth its own great scholars and ascetics.

Priest Andrew Louth, Professor at Durham University (UK), shares his thoughts on the use of the same religious terms in Christian theology and by the Neoplatonists.

In this sweeping survey the author traces the Church’s history from her Old Testament roots to the present. In his enduring devotion to the Orthodox understanding of the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit as “the two hands of the Father”, Fr Bobrinskoy brings his considerable knowledge and experience to bear in witnessing to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as the instrument of God's saving grace for all mankind.

Interview with Michel Willy Limambu, Academic General Secretary of the Catholic University of Congo, on the current situation of patrology in Africa.

In this address, given at the Vth International Consultation of Orthodox Theological Schools at Halki Theological School, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware examines the Orthodox view of the nature of theology and theological education. Who is worthy of being called a theologian? And yet, if a theologian is ‘one who prays’, should not all Christians aspire to be theologians?