Janice Yianibas

Oneness of Politics and Religion Janice Yianibas

A historical and anthropologic retrospective on the evolution of politico-religious politic man from the time of Adam until today. The two most important aspects of mans developmental civilization and his continuance are politics and religion. In a historical sense the two have gone hand in hand, regardless of the modern concept of separating church and state. It is the authors premise that politics and religion should be in juxtaposition as they were in the Byzantine period. The author does not overlook the fact that both politics and religion have had their character stained. But the stains are superficial and fade from view when the substantive qualities of both axiomatic systems are brought into focus. One of the interesting tools the author uses in bringing these substantive qualities to light is discussing the two systems in terms of their paternalistic and maternalistic behavior and thereby setting up, through empirical evaluation, a natural order of things according to what paternalism and maternalism make of man. For the historical and social testing ground the author especially looks into the Byzantine period for testing the good and evil precepts of his theory. From this study comes a oneness, an Ecumenical Legacy, the author calls it, of politics, religion and ethics, a divine direction for man, Synodically oriented, that is realistic and optimistic, too, a joining of those normally interpreted opposites seldom seen these days.