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Ioannis Karavidopoulos, Irenaeus Bishop of Lyon, Demostration of Apostolic Preaching. (Introduction – Translation – Comments) by Ioannis Karavidopoulos, Thessaloniki 1965, pp. 89.

Ioannis Karavidopoulos with this work presents for the first time a Greek translation and commentary of the Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching by Irenaeus, Bishop of Leiden. The translation was based on newer European translations of the Armenian text, discovered in the beginning of the 20^th century and which in turn is a translation of the – lost – original in Greek.

            The translation of the Demonstration is preceded by an extensive three-part introduction by Ioannis Karavidopoulos. The first part includes a presentation of the personality and the writings of Irenaeus. In the beginning there is reference to his biographical information and a list of his writings, salvaged and lost and finally, influences on his theological thinking.

            The second part of the introduction analyses the theology of Irenaeus. In this context, the author highlights his main positions on the Holy Gospel and Tradition, on God, Trinitarian theology, anthropology, Christology, redemption and eschatology, as they are projected through his only two surviving works, the Demonstration and the Control and Negation of Forged Knowledge.

            The third and last part of the introduction refers wholly to the Demonstration. Initially there is reference to the Armenian translation’s discovery. Then the author describes briefly the aim, structure and character of the work, Irenaeus’ intended readers and the time of writing, as well as evidence determining its authenticity and genuineness. Another point emphasised by the author is the use of the Holy Gospel in the text of the Demonstration. The introduction concludes with a presentation of existing translations and publications of the Armenian text and refers the French and English translations used by the author. In this context there is an explanation of the difficulty of the translation in Greek.

            After the introduction there is the Greek translation of the Demonstration text, while commentary, definitions of biblical passages referred to and all the relevant explanations are in footnotes by John Karavidopoulos, located underneath the main body of the text.

Kasselouri-Hatzivasiliadi Eleni, Feminist Hermeneutics. The “Gender” Factor in Modern Biblical Hermeneutics, Thessaloniki: Pournaras Press, 2003, pages 175.

This book is an introduction to feminist hermeneutics, which is a special sector of feminist theology and aims to present the factors that led to the thematization of gender as a particular perspective and interpretation of the biblical sources of Christianity.

     In the Introduction the writer examines concisely the concept of interpretation and hermeneutics as a special branch of the biblical science and, next, the emergence, during the last three decades, of the “gender” factor in modern social anthropology, the science of religion, theology and, finally, in the hermeneutics of the written texts of Christianity.

     In the first chapter the object of discussion is the birth and evolution of feminist hermeneutics. Initially, the author talks about the contribution of the modern methods: the historical-critical, morphohistorical and the method of the final compilation and edition of texts, while there is special reference to Woman’s Bible by Candy Stanton, published in 1885. There is also mention of the stages of development of feminist theology and hermeneutics during the 20^th cent. and the problem of the sexist and patriarchal character of the language itself in the texts of tradition is located. Feminist hermeneutics is neither of one sort nor monolithic, as the writer presents the different trends, developed within it (the radical one, with Mary Daly as its main representative and the revisionary ones with Rosemary Radford Ruether, Letty Russel, Phylis Trible, E. Schuessler-Fiorenza as their representatives). After the preceding historical information, the chapter ends with the underlining of the importance and dynamics that feminist hermeneutics introduces to modern theological research.

      In the second chapter feminist hermeneutics correlates with other approaches, which have caused a “change of example” in modern interpretation, and specifically with contextual interpretation, the theology of deliverance, the criticism of the reader’s response, the rhetorical and narrative analysis, the sociological interpretation of the texts and the various trends that developed in the frames of social and cultural anthropology, as well as psychoanalysis.

      In the third chapter there is an attempt of a dialogue of feminist hermeneutics, which developed in the West and in western Christian confessions, with the Orthodox theology of the East. The views of prominent Orthodox theologians on woman and feminist theology are presented (Elizabeth Behr-Sigel, Deborah Belonick, Kyriaki Karidoyiannes-FitzGerald, Eva Katafygiotou-Topping), there is mention of the organization of Orthodox conventions, the edition of journals and the writing of relevant studies. Next, the author focuses on the introduction of the “gender” factor in the Orthodox biblical hermeneutics by younger Orthodox theologians (Veselin Kesich, Evanthia Adamtziloglou, Savvas Agouridis, Ivan Z. Dimitrov, I. Karavidopoulos).

      Concluding on the issue of the dialogue of feminist hermeneutics with Orthodox theology, the writer considers that this dialogue can be based only on the starting principles of the Orthodox faith, that is on the Church as Eucharistic body of equality, brotherhood, freedom and reconciliation, of men and women, eschatologically oriented towards the new world, inaugurated by Christ within History. Self-criticism and penitence are the prerequisites-also from the Orthodox side-of this new world of the Kingdom of God.

Keselopoulos Anestis, Man and Natural Environment, Domos Publications, Athens 1992, 245 pages.

With his study An. Kaselopoulos aims to present an unknown dimension of the ecological problem. This is no other than its theological dimension and, moreover, in the way it is offered in the texts and teaching of Symeon the New Theologian, which he attempts to present and include in the context not only of the Holy Scripture and the rest of the patristic tradition, but also in the liturgical and, generally, the devotional terrain of the life of the Church. The aim of this study is, thus, to present, on the one hand, the theological dimension of the problem in the relationship between man and creation and, on the other, to project the Eucharistic utility of the world, as the Orthodox Church experienced it.

The theme is negotiated in five chapters. The first refers to the relationship of God with the world, which is the relationship of the creator to his creation. He underlines the creation of the world “ex nihilo” and the common participation of the three Faces of the Triadic God in it. The second chapter examines man as a factor, which intervenes between God and the soulless creation, since he is the recipient of the commandment to “work” and “guard” the world. Through humans’ physiology and their creation in God’s image, the author moves on to the examination of man’s position in the world. In the third chapter, there is talk about the abuse and unnatural use of the creation. He highlights and defines fall as autonomy of the matter and the world, as worship of the creation “instead of the creator” and refers to types of abuses in the world.

The fourth chapter presents the Eucharistic use of the world, the way it is projected in the texts of Symeon the New Theologian and experienced by the Church as a countering to abuse and consumption ethos and an ascetic – Eucharistic way of being and living. Finally, the fifth and final chapter refers to the metamorphosis and in Christ rehabilitation and renewal of the world. The author analyses how the divine incarnation and presence of Christ in the world offers the possibility of benediction to the created nature and the world through the church-going of the world and the emergence of matter as part of life in the sacrament of the Divine Eucharist.