ORIC Sixth International Theological Conference
In cooperation with the Theological School of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University in Tbilisi, Georgia
READING SCRIPTURE AS ORTHODOX THEOLOGIANS
1-7 December 2023 Kutaisi-Tbilisi
Call for papers
We are delighted to announce that the ORIC members were invited this year by the Dean of the Theological School of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani University in Tbilisi to hold our conference in Tbilisi. The University will be happy to cover our accommodation expenses in Tbilisi.
The budget flights to Georgia from most destinations are the Wizz Air flights to Kutaisi. We will meet for a retreat (Kutaisi-Mtskheta-Tbilisi) on Friday-Sunday 1-3 December and will have the official part of the conference at the faculty from Monday to Thursday, 4-7 December.
The arrival date will be Friday, 1st December (to Kutaisi), and the departure from Tbilisi will be on Thursday, 7th December.
The meeting aims to discuss how scripture is used and interpreted within the Orthodox Church. We are going to engage with the following questions:
What is the relation between personal freedom of interpretation of the scriptures and conformity to the mind of the Church?
Is there a particularly Eastern Orthodox way of reading the Scriptures? How do we relate scripture and tradition? Is preserving the original phronema of the Orthodox Church, the working concept for Orthodox Theologians? How do we understand getting into the mind of the early Church when interpreting scripture?
What does it mean to us to interpret scripture within the Church, through the Church and as a product of the Church? What does it mean to interpret the scriptures according to the Fathers? Does interpreting Bible within the Church form a spiritual and theological framework that creates boundaries that we, as Orthodox Christians, do not cross?
Why should we be engaged in the academic study of the Bible? What is the importance/relevance of the historical-critical method for Eastern Orthodox theology? How is the study of the scriptures from an academic perspective combined with the prayer and sacrament life of the Church?
What does it mean for Christian Scriptures to be inspired? How do we discern the proper scriptural exegesis from eisegesis, i.e., reading meaning into the Biblical text and conforming it to our own opinion? Are all the parts of scripture equally profitable?
How is scripture used as part of the sacramental life of the Church? How does the specific reading of the Bible during the Church year express the Theology of the Church?
Please feel free to come up with other questions about our understanding of the scriptures.
Please submit your paper proposals by 30 May 2023 to connect@orthodoxresearchgroup.com