Encounter’, in : Mortensen, Viggo (ed.), Theology and the Religions. A Dialogue, Grand Rapids,
MI/Cambridge : Eerdmans, 2003, pp. 46-63. ‘Furthermore, the cultural turn in the humanities
has had its impact on the academic study of religions, inasmuch as religious studies are now
more and more understood as a ‘social/cultural anthropological discipline’ dealing with religions
as cultural phenomena’, p. 55.(^30) McCutcheon, Russel T./Braun, Willi, Guide to the Study of Religion, London/New York : Cassell,
- Also in the book of Russel McCutcheon, Critics, not Caretakers. Redescribing the Public
Study of Religion, New York : SUNY Press, 2001. The same author argues that we should exam-
ine religion only as a social phenomenon, p. x.
(^31) About the evolution in the ecclesiastical structure through the ages in East and West see more
in Petrou, J., Christianity and Society, Thessaloniki : Vanias, 2004, pp. 80-105.
(^32) Many scholars had proposed a ‘liturgical renewal’ and a renewal of theology, in order to corre-
spond to the requirements of the modern cultural environment, but also with the needs of the
church.
138 Responsible Leadership : Global Perspectives