Online media in the wake of tragedy could be doing something good. It may be a modern means of activating an ancient genre: a particular subset of human sorrow.
The tensions within Orthodoxy are partly theological. But there is also a more worldly clash of interests, including the rivalry between Constantinople and Moscow.
Waiting while depressed is like being anywhere but the present, pulled toward the past and future by anxiety. Silent waiting tries to do something different.
Religious liberty has a damaged “brand” these days, and Catholic institutions have played a role. The nation's largest church now needs to lower the temperature.
The most debilitating conceptual limitation in Whitmarsh’s story is an unawareness of what “theism” is—or, how “classical theism" differs from polytheistic myth.