MSU’s Lukasik publishes groundbreaking book on Orthodox Christianity
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University Assistant Professor Candace Lukasik is coeditor of a forthcoming book shedding new light on the intersections of theology, politics and ethics in Orthodox Christian communities.
"Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity: Theology, Politics, Ethics," a Fordham University Press publication slated for release in November, is coedited by Lukasik and Northeastern University’s Sarah Riccardi-Swartz. The publication anthropologically explores the entanglement of theology and politics among contemporary Orthodox Christians.
“My coeditor Sarah Riccardi-Swartz and I brought this project to life because most anthropological studies of Christianity typically centered on Protestants and Catholics in the Global South, shaped by colonial mission histories and their perceived closeness to Western political and theological traditions,” said Lukasik, a faculty member in MSU’s Department of Philosophy and Religion. “By contrast, Orthodox Christianity has often been sidelined, viewed as theologically and socially distant from dominant Western frameworks. ‘Anthropologies of Orthodox Christianity’ brings this tradition to the forefront, exploring its theopolitical dimensions and situating it within global Christianity at a moment of growing scholarly and geopolitical interest.”
Lukasik’s colleague Christopher Sheklian, philosophy and religion assistant professor, also contributed to the volume. His chapter
"Hagiographic Emplacement: St. Servatius, the Armenian Community of Maastricht, and Oriental Orthodox Christians in Europe" highlights how distinct Orthodox traditions shape the ways migrant communities connect, adapt and settle in new contexts. Sheklian examines how Armenian Christians in Maastricht built belonging by linking their tradition to the city’s Catholic heritage through St. Servatius, an Armenian patron saint, and acts of devotion.
The edited volume builds on Lukasik’s previous scholarship, including her recent debut book, “Martyrs and Migrants: Coptic Christians and the Persecution Politics of U.S. Empire” (NYU Press). In that work, she examined how Coptic Christian migrants from Egypt navigate religious identity through the lens of American political and religious frameworks.
Since joining MSU in 2022, Lukasik has received national recognitions for her contributions to the study of religion. She was named a 2024-2026 Young Scholar in American Religion by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture and is the recipient of fellowships from Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies and the American Association of University Women. She earned her Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2020.
For more information on MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Philosophy and Religion, visit www.cas.msstate.edu and www.philosophyandreligion.msstate.edu.
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