Synoro, Atheism in contemporary world, issue 35, (1965), 74 pages.

             Five studies with regard to contemporary atheism are published in this issue of Synoro. Olivier Clement seeks in the second part under the title “Atheism, a means of purification?”, of the specifically written for the magazine of study “The complex of sadist father”, certain theological roots of the phenomenon of contemporary atheism, in other words alterations of Christianity. He examines specifically its appearance as religion of law and punishment, which were identified with it in the mind of many intellectuals and led them far from faith.      

 Dina Kouroukli in the second study “Contemporary opinions for atheism” deals with the causes and appearances of contemporary atheism such as the weakness of equitable comprehension of the root (substance) of the religious phenomenon, the indifference of contemporary person toward the fundamental questions on human existence and the general confrontation of it in a characteristic resilience, the disappointment from the degraded religiosity that leads to refusal and agnosticism (Sartre). In the end of her exceptional study the writer finds the solution in the personal search and finding of truth by the contemporary person instead of the passive acceptance of anything offered “eksothen” (from outside).

             The third study by Chr. Yannaras deals with the theology of hell and the fall as it is revealed mainly in contemporary western art. Contemporary art, a lamentation of deprival of the contemporary person from the absence of God, is faced in this text as a positive point in relation to Christian moralist word for the new appearance of the prophetic word that goes through a chronic crisis.

             P. Evdokimov in the next study attempts a detection of philosophical weakness in completing a theory of atheism. Even though philosophy constitutes the space of birth and expression of atheistic word, in reality it does not argue the refusal of faith in the context of concrete system but it is based on the philosophical confrontation of sociological character of phenomena that abstains from real faith. The way out of Eydokimov’s reflection on the causes of contemporary atheism and of the ground on which its forms are based are summarized in the phrase “the big danger for Christianity today does not emanate from atheism but from ignorance, indifference, mediocrity of Christians”.

             Atheism as inter-ecclesiastic question, since it appears when the ecclesiastical criterion of truth is disregarded to the benefit of “religiosity”, is examined in the short last passage by Martin Jordan. He summarizes the regard on atheism of all the writers in this issue, who refer to the phenomenon of contemporary atheism as if it constitutes the obligatory presence of a reason so that the weaknesses of philosophical acceptance of the existence of God as well as the absence of terms of theory of the constantly revealed God “in Church” are covered.

The issue is completed with the interesting travelogue of Nikos Zias in the temples of Serbia which he examines from the architectural and iconographical point of view. Moreover we find two literary notes by E. Dambouneli, an autobiographic text of F. Kontoglou on the occasion of his repose (1965), two poems of Archbishop of Australia Stylianos Charkianakis and a short story of Matthew Mounte. The permanent column Comments closes the issue with reports on new publications, correspondence and annotation of articles of past issues.