Serbian Orthodox Fundamentals

The Quest for an Eternal Identity

Description
Table of contents
Reviews

This book is a comprehensive exposition of the interaction of a national (the Serbian people) and a religion (the Orthodox Christian faith) content, in the formation of a distinctive national identity and a mode of being. Its interdisciplinary approach, drawing on sociology, social anthropology, theology, political theory, Balkan historiography, and Serbian folklore, is deployed to provide a powerful and original analysis of how Serbian Orthodoxy has resulted in the sacralisation of the Serbian nation by framing the parameters of its existence. Addresses the following questions: what 'makes' a Serb? Are meaningful assumptions possible by introducing Serbian Orthodoxy as the primal point of reference? Why does religion appear to have an especially strong appeal?

Preface

1. Nation, Religion and Fundamentalism

2. Orthodoxy and Serbian National Identity

3. Homo-Femina Serbicus

4. The Pursuit of "Secular" Salvation

5. The Pursuit of "Sacrificial" Salvation

6. "To Love Your Neighbour as Yourself"

7. The Balkan Orthodox Commonwealth

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

American Historical Review

"Mylonas has constructed a dense and fascinating analysis of the relationship between Serbian Orthodoxy and Serbian national identity ... In the end, one is left praising the extraordinary depth of Mylonas's analysis and eager for a response from and dialogue with Serb scholars."

John Hutchinson, London School of Economics

"Its most important contribution is to elaborate how Serbian Orthodoxy forms a sense of holiness in creating autonomous ethnic religious structures, a lineage of ethnic saints drawn from the ruling dynasty, vernacular scriptures and ceremonies, that then construct a sacred history, focusing on the Kosovo myth."