Orthodox Christianity has a living theology; it is not static but in perpetual engagement with sociocultural realities. Yet, Orthodox theology has yet to embrace the need for qualitative methods to understand the sociocultural and political dimensions of lived theology. Conversely, the anthropology of Orthodox Christianity is often reluctant to engage deeply with the theological ideas present in these communities. In tension with the secular underpinnings of the discipline, anthropology has often eschewed analyzing Christian theology. This panel constructs a radically interdisciplinary space where anthropology and theology are conversation partners. Understanding the dynamics of living theology requires social scientists to be conversant in theological histories, ideas, and controversies that are integral to the global formations of Orthodoxy. Panelists will attend to global Orthodoxy’s contentious imperial imaginary and postcolonial binds, discussing how these histories shape theology and religious practice today. By taking theology seriously among interlocutors, social scientists can better interrogate the ways such things as prayer and ecumenical tension have the potential to be geopolitical spaces of religious mediation. Decoupling our secular sensibilities from what is understood to be “religion,” panelists will show how theology is inseparable from the everyday formations of Orthodoxy–shaping aesthetics, publics, and politics.Chair: Kristina Stoeckl (Universität Innsbruck)Speakers:Candace Lukasik (Mississippi State University), Translating Tradition: Coptic Transmission and Contestations of Theological KnowledgeSarah Riccardi-Swartz (Northeastern University), The Changing Unchangable: Theological Innovation and Reactive OrthodoxyChristopher Sheklian (Radboud Universiteit), Hagiographic Emplacement: St. Servatius, the Armenian Community of Maastricht, and Oriental Orthodox Christians in EuropeDiscussant: Robert Saler (Christian Theological Seminary)