Discovering the “Self”

What does it mean to “identify” who I am?—and where does this come from? In the Orthodox Tradition, the person is an identity that emerges through relationship (schesis, in the terminology of the Greek Fathers). The human being is constituted by a call from God, and its identity is constantly formed through the response to this call. Life in Christ means placing all our relations, in and through which we obtain our personal identity, in the person of Christ. The “new birth,” which is the essence of Baptism, is the acquisition of an identity not dependent on the qualities of nature but freely raising nature to a personal existence which emerges from the Father-Son relationship.

Now, questions of “identity” plague our society, including that of cultural, sexual, religious identity, etc. Worldly notions of “identity politics” often conflict and present challenges for the Church. These “contextual” questions of identity must be seen as part of a larger vision of identity itself.
What do we as pastors do when confronted by people who have different identities than that molded by the Church or try to change their identity or who don’t realize their identity has been changed?

​Our presenters will take a theological and a very practical approach to the topic and look at how certain challenges and opportunities in the world often shape our identity.