Looking East in Winter: Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition

by Rowan Williams

Publisher:

Bloomsbury Continuum

, 2021

In many ways, we seem to be living in wintry times at present in the Western world.

In this new book, Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and a noted scholar of Eastern Christianity, introduces us to some aspects and personalities of the Orthodox Christian world, from the desert contemplatives of the fourth century to philosophers, novelists and activists of the modern era, that suggest where we might look for fresh light and warmth. He shows how this rich and diverse world opens up new ways of thinking about spirit and body, prayer and action, worship and social transformation, which go beyond the polarisations we take for granted.

Taking in the world of the great spiritual anthology, the Philokalia, and the explorations of Russian thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discussing the witness of figures like Maria Skobtsova, murdered in a German concentration camp for her defence of Jewish refugees, and the challenging theologies of modern Greek thinkers like John Zizioulas and Christos Yannaras, Rowan Williams opens the door to a 'climate and landscape of our humanity that can indeed be warmed and transfigured'.

This is an original and illuminating vision of a Christian world still none too familiar to Western believers and even to students of theology, showing how the deep-rooted themes of Eastern Christian thought can prompt new perspectives on our contemporary crises of imagination and hope.

Features

Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury, has now immersed himself in a new study of the Eastern Orthodox tradition with some startling new conclusions.
Dr Williams is well known throughout the English speaking world as a lecturer and broadcaster.
His books command a loyal readership whether they are more popular (such as The Way of St Benedict and Holy Living) or more intellectually demanding (On Augustine).

Praise for Looking East in Winter

The language is precise and exact, yet also evocative and elegant.

An austere read, reflecting a lifetime's intellectual engagement with Orthodoxy. It is at the same time full of warmth. Williams' account of holy folly is wonderful.

There is no theological writer in English whose prose is more lucid, more crystalline, more careful, than Lord Williams of Oystermouth, known more widely as Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012 ... Looking East in Winter is a brilliant exploration of modern Orthodox theology ... Archbishop Rowan has completed another remarkable book, the reading of which is itself a meditative and nourishing experience.

Product Details

• Title: Looking East in Winter: Contemporary Thought and the Eastern Christian Tradition
• Author: Rowan Williams
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Continuum
• Print Publication Date: 2021
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9781472989239, 9781472989246, 1472989244, 1472989236
• Resource ID: LLS:9781472989239
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-05-15T04:34:37Z

About Rowan Williams

Rowan Williams was educated in Swansea (Wales) and Cambridge. He studied for his theology doctorate in Oxford, after which he taught theology in a seminary near Leeds. From 1977 until 1986, he was engaged in academic and parish work in Cambridge, before returning to Oxford as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity. In 1990, he became a fellow of the British Academy.

In 1992, Professor Williams became Bishop of Monmouth, and in 1999 he was elected as Archbishop of Wales. He became Archbishop of Canterbury in late 2002 with 10 years’ experience as a diocesan bishop and three as a primate in the Anglican Communion. As archbishop, his main responsibilities were pastoral—whether leading his own diocese of Canterbury and the Church of England, or guiding the Anglican Communion worldwide. At the end of 2012, after 10 years as archbishop, he stepped down and moved to a new role as Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Professor Williams is acknowledged internationally as an outstanding theological writer and teacher as well as an accomplished poet and translator. His interests include music, fiction, and languages.