Three PhD Positions: Rewriting Global Orthodoxy at Radboud University

In cooperation with the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Radboud University seeks to hire three PhD candidates for the ERC project ‘Rewriting Global Orthodoxy: Oriental Christians in Europe between 1970 and 2020’.

Over the last fifty years, Oriental Orthodox Christians (Armenians, Copts, Syriacs/Arameans, Ethiopians and Eritreans) from the Middle East and Africa have settled in Europe, fleeing war-related violence and societal pressures. One of the prominent aspects of religious practice of these transnational Oriental communities is their strong emphasis on the writing and publishing of texts. These include traditional religious texts (from liturgy to history), re-translated and re-contextualised texts, and completely new texts. The project takes these textual practices as its main source to understand how these Oriental Christians inscribe themselves in European societies and so contribute not only to the transformation of their own transnational churches but also to that of Orthodoxy worldwide. It hypothesises that diachronic and synchronic comparison among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox churches will show that this rewriting includes the actualisation of their religious heritage vis-à-vis ethnic and national self-definitions, vis-à-vis European society, and vis-à-vis other churches, particularly Orthodox ones.

The project consists of several sub-projects, including a database of books, pamphlets and magazines produced by Oriental Christians in Europe over the past fifty years, and three case studies of the textual practices of Oriental Christian churches in Europe on the (1) Syriac Orthodox; (2) Coptic Orthodox; and (3) Ethiopian/Eritrean Tawahedo churches. Each of the three PhD candidates is expected to study one case study, contribute to the database and analyse their findings in the broader context of the project, interpreting the literary heritage of these churches in the contemporary European context. The full research proposal is available upon request.

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Three PhD Positions: Rewriting Global Orthodoxy at Radboud University