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This book opens a new research field in Balkan contextual theology. By embracing culturally rich traditions of the Western Balkans as its starting point, it explores their existential and theological bearings. Placed at the crossroads of civilisations and religions, this region has witnessed some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. At the same time, it has produced unique textures of inter-cultural life. The volume addresses some of the most poignant phenomena endemic to the region, such as sevdalinka music, intimate forms of neighborhood, archetypes of 'sacred warriors,' the experience of democratic jet lag, collective melancholy, and intergenerational trauma. As the first book of this nature, it aims to encourage further development of contextual theological thinking in the region and promote its international reception.
List of contents
Introduction: Balkan the Unifier and Balkan the Divider
Stipe Odak and Zoran Grozdanov
Part I: Religion, Politics, Identity
1. Religion and National/Ethnic Identity - Theological and Contextual Positions in Islam
Enes Karic
2. Religion and National/Ethnic Identity - Theological and Contextual Positions in Orthodoxy
Vukasin Milicevic
3. Divided Ecumenism - Christian Churches at the Fault Lines
Radmila Radic and Neven Vukic
4. IncarNation: On the Possibilities of Balkan Contextual Theology
Zoran Grozdanov
5. Gender and Religion in The Balkans: The Example of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rebeka Anic and Zilka Spahic Siljak
6. "Democratic Jet-Lag" and EUgoslav Yutopias
Davor Dzalto
Part II: Violence, God, Memory
7. Prayer as the Curse: Religious Tabooization of God
Marko Vucetic
8. Balkan Love Triangle - God, Love, and Violence
Drago Bojic and Viktor Ivancic
9. Theology in the Spirit of Palanka: Catechism of Croatian Catholic and Serbian Orthodox Ethnonationalist Imaginaries
Branko Sekulic
10. Lost Bodies, Missing Persons and Extended Mourning
Jadranka Brncic
11. Identities Built on the Memory of Wrongdoing and Ecumenism of Compassion
Ivan Sarcevic
12. The Grace of Not Remembering: Painful Memories and Their Theological Implications
Miroslav Volf
Part III: Culture, Life, Longing
13. Inat, the Explosive Instinct of Freedom: Towards the Theology of Spite
Amila Kahrovic Posavljak
14. Other God or God of the Other: Sevdah, Queer Laments and the Balkan Religious Imagery
Miljenko Jergovic
15. Neither Exclusionary Religious Nationalisms, Nor Abstract Religious Humanisms: Belonging and Border-Living in the Balkans
Slavica Jakelic
16. Komsiluk: The Starting Point of the Balkan Contextual Theology
Stipe Odak
17. The Rootless God - Theology of Emigrations
Alida Bremer and Ivana Bodrozic
18. Paradise Lost: Theology of Nostalgia and Hope
Josip Novakovich
About the author
Stipe Odak is a Lecturer and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium).
Zoran Grozdanov is an Assistant Professor at the University Centre for Protestant Theology Matthias Flacius Illyricus at the University in Zagreb, Croatia.
Summary
This book opens a new research field in Balkan contextual theology. By embracing culturally rich traditions of the Western Balkans as its starting point, it explores their existential and theological bearings.
Report
"Balkan Contextual Theology is a rich book, as polyphonic as is the Balkans that divides and unites. It is about liberated religions and nations after the collapse of Yugoslavia. This book is the first contextual and politically critical theology for the Balkans. Its theology is a model for other difficult regions." - Jürgen Moltmann, University in Tübingen, Germany
"Balkan Contextual Theology introduces and explores the culturally rich religious traditions of the Western Balkans. A very significant contribution to Christian political theology. I highly recommend it." - Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard University, USA
"Scholars of religion usually talk about the Balkans. This book lifts up the unique questions and challenges posed to theology from within the Balkans, as well as the particular cultural, historical, and intellectual resources for enriching theological thinking. With contributions from scholars across disciplines, this book offers a much needed and valuable contribution to contextual theology." - Aristotle Papanikolaou, Fordham University, USA
