Public lecture by Sebastian Rimestad: Orthodox Christianity and Religious Authority. The Case of Western Europe

On February 14 and 19, everyone is welcome to attend public lectures by Sebastian Rimestad from the University of Leipzig. He will explore topics such as Orthodox Christianity and religious authority in Western Europe, as well as the "Ortho-Bros" movement and political cleavage in the USA.

Orthodox Christianity and Religious Authority. The Case of Western Europe

14 February 2025, 10:15 at Ülikooli 18-230. The lecture can be followed also via Zoom.

Religious authority within Christianity is vested in the divine authority of God mediated through Christ. Since the first centuries of Christianity, this authority has been a prerogative of the bishops, who are responsible for the right understanding of the Christian faith. However, due to various historical and social developments leading up to the modern world, this authority has waned in favour of legal-rational authority (Max Weber). Such authority is legitimated through education and appointment, and since the church has become just one institution among others in the modern social world, its authority has lost much of its originally all-encompassing nature.

The lecture will highlight what happens when one understanding of Christian authority (the Eastern Orthodox one) is suddenly transplanted to another context (Western Europe) through forced and voluntary migration. This was the case throughout the 20th century in three significant waves, when Orthodox Christians settled all over Western Europe. The lecture will analyse how Orthodox Christians negotiated their role and religious identity in the new context, focusing on their intellectual discourse about authority.

Public lecture on February 19: Ortho-Bros and the Political Cleavage in the USA

Dr Sebastian Rimestad, Leipzig University

Sebastian Rimestad studied political science international relations, and religious studies in Aberdeen, Tartu, and Erfurt. His PhD-dissertation covered the Orthodox Church in the first Estonian and Latvian republics (1917-1940) and his second book was about religious authority among Orthodox Christians in Western Europe. Since 2021, he has a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG – Heisenberg), working for the Institute for the Study of Religion at Leipzig University (Germany). His research topics are religion in modern societies, contemporary Orthodox Christianity, religious conversion, as well as religious pluralism in North-East Europe.

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