by Fr. Vasileios Thermos
The Alliance of Compassion and Integrity: Church and Theology Facing Homosexuality and the Queer Movement by Fr. Vasileios Thermos offers a multidisciplinary exploration of homosexuality and queer issues through theological, psychological, and pastoral lenses.
The book examines the origins and experiences of homosexuality, societal perceptions, and the controversies surrounding change and same-sex relationships. It provides insights into the complexities of pastoral care and theological interpretations, including traditional and revisionist views.
Fr. Thermos addresses contemporary challenges like gender fluidity, queer theory, and the rise of sex transition, offering theological critiques and eschatological perspectives inspired by Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor.
Concluding with a call for compassion and integrity, the book presents a roadmap for principled theological engagement, making it a vital resource for theologians, clergy, and those seeking a thoughtful response to these pressing cultural and spiritual issues.
ISBN: 978-1-964233-10-9
Rev. Vasileios Thermos, M.D., Ph.D., was born in 1957 at Lefkada, Greece. He studied at the Medical School of Athens University and after he graduated he studied at the Theological School of the same University. He was specialized in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry which he practiced until recently in Athens; he retired in 2024. In 1986 and 1987 he was ordained and served at the diocese of Viotia. He has been engaged into training programs for clergy in Greece, Cyprus, USA. In 1996–97 he was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School; he took classes also in Harvard School of Arts and Humanities, Boston College, Boston University, Andover Newton Theological School. In 1997 he received his PhD in Pastoral Psychology from the Theological School of Athens University. In 2014 he worked for 3 months as a Visiting Research Scholar at the Institute of Medical Humanities of the Medical School of Texas University on a project about homosexuality and contemporary gender theories. He has also conducted a research on clergy health and burnout. He has written numerous books and articles in Greek; some of them have been translated into English, French, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish. He is the editor of a journal in Greek (Psyches dromoi: Ways of the Soul), published every 6 months, on the relationships between theology/religion and psychiatry/psychology (first issue in May 2011). In 2004 a master thesis on his total work appeared by Peter Kazaku at the Theological School of Balamand University, Lebanon. This thesis was updated and enriched, thus forming the book «Orthodoxy and Psychoanalysis: Dirge or Polychronion to the Centuries-old Tradition?», which was published in 2013 by Peter Lang publications in the series ‘European University Studies’, volume 938. Also in 2020 another master thesis appeared in the School of Theology of the University of Vienna, by Gabriella Moutsatsos: Ansätze der Οrthodoxen Pastoralpsychologie der Gegenwart: Simeon Kragiopoulos und Vasileios Thermos. During 2001-2013 he was a Visiting Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Psychology of Religion in the Theological Academy of the Orthodox Church of Albania. From 2013 until 2024 he taught Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Psychology in the University Ecclesiastical Academy of Athens; he is now retired. In 2017–18 his essay The Paradox of Mental Health Care and Spirituality: The Culture of Extreme Individualism as a Mediator was awarded the prize on the “Culture, Care, and Spirituality” contest by the Jean-Marc Fischer Foundation in Switzerland. He has been a member of scientific committees organizing conferences on the relationship between theology and psychiatry/psychology. He has also given thousands of lectures to seminars, parents groups, clergy assemblies, camps, high schools, radio and TV etc. His areas of interest are: Relationship between psychological sciences and religion; Psychology of religious beliefs and experiences; Dialogue between psychoanalysis and religion; Psychology of clergy and of the ecclesiastical organization; Psychology of culture; Religious development of child and adolescent; Language, psychology, and religion; Post-modernity and religion; Homosexuality and gender identity.
