PRAWOSŁAWIE – „CHRZEŚCIJAŃSTWO PERYFERYJNE”? O TEOLOGICZNYCH UWIKŁANIACH TEORII ANTROPOLOGICZNEJ I STRONNICZOŚCI PERSPEKTYW POZNAWCZYCH ANTROPOLOGII CHRZEŚCIJAŃSTWA
IS ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY A PERIPHERAL CHRISTIANITY? THEOLOGICAL ENTANGLEMENTS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY, BIASED EPISTEMOLOGIES IN ANTHROPOLOGY OF CHRISTIANITY

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on underrepresentation of Orthodox Christianity in anthropological research, as well as on shortcomings of anthropological theory. Currently, anthropology is lacking analytical and theoretical tools for researching Orthodoxy as a religious doctrine in relation to its various practices of social life. The anthropology of Christianity, a relatively new subfield of anthropology of religion, develops theories based chiefly on research conducted in the Catholic and (neo)Protestant societies. In so doing, it neglects the Orthodox perspective. Anthropology, the product of a „unique Western historicity” – in Asad’s words – has been insufficiently refleksive concerning its own origins in Western social thought and (Western) Christian theology, which still presents methodological and theoretical obstacle in researching Eastern Christianity. The latter has been a periphery of anthropological interests, both as a research site and as a point from which anthropological definitions are formulated. The article seeks to deconstruct certain anthropological assumptions and premises leading to the current state of affairs, and to systematise the state-of-the-art of anthropology of Christianity and the anthropology of Orthodox Christianity.

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