History of the Journal “Theology and Life”

Teologie și viață, a journal of Christian thought and spirituality, is the scientific periodical of the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina, which has appeared uninterrupted, quarterly or biannually, since 1924. Until 1990, the Journal had the following names: Mitropolia Moldovei – Foaie oficială a Arhiepiscopiei Iaşilor and Mitropolia Moldovei şi Sucevei. The journal Teologie și viață is published by the Doxologia Publishing House, formerly Trinitas.

For decades, Mitropolia Moldovei şi Sucevei offered theologians, historians, sociologists, musicologists, ethnologists and other specialists in the humanities or the technical fields important information of an academic, missionary-pastoral or apologetic nature, in the form of studies and articles, monographs, pastoral letters, homilies and catecheses, translations, book reviews, etc. The articles of Mitropolia Moldovei şi Sucevei, written exclusively during the communist atheist regime, represented for the Romanian literature of that time, in particular, and the Romanian society, in general, important religious literary contributions, characterized by balance and equidistance, morality and dignity, and an effort to preserve the unaltered Orthodox faith and the authentic Romanian traditions.

Since 1990, at the initiative of His Eminence Daniel, then Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina, the journal has been titled Teologie și Viață, to reflect the theological-missionary and socio-cultural realities of the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina. Since that year, the journal has been listed in category B, having an active role in the international academic community, collaborating with numerous international journals in France, Belgium, Great Britain, United States, Italy, Spain, etc. Its content has been enriched by the constant contribution of professors from the Dumitru Stăniloae Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Iași and theological researchers from other theological institutes in the country and abroad, such as of Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Sibiu, Balamand (Lebanon), Gottingen (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Thessaloniki (Greece), etc.

In the pages of Teologie și Viață we find articles authored by His Beatitude Patriarch Dr. Daniel (written during his time as Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina), Rev. Prof. Dr. Viorel Sava, Rev. Prof. Dr. Nicolae Achimescu, Rev. Prof. Dr. Petre Semen, Rev. Prof. Dr. Gheorghe Petraru, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan C. Teșu, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ion Vicovan, Acad. Dr. Emilian Popescu, Prof. Dr. Vasile Vasile, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan I. Ica Jr., Costion Nicolescu, Rev. Acad. Dr. Mircea Păcurariu et al. In recent years, noted researchers from both Romania and the West have published in Teologie și Viață: Kallistos Ware, Bishop of Diokleia, Stephen Holley, Jean-Claude Larchet, Prof. Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk, Prof. Dr. Bassam Nassif, Deac. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sorin Mihalache, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Daniel Lemeni, Dr. Ștefan Munteanu, Assoc. Prof. Dr. habil. Radu Petre Mureșan, Rev. Dr. Liviu Petcu, Rev. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cătălin Vatamanu et alii. Moreover, the content of the journal has been enriched by publishing studies of prestigious researchers and professors working in fields other than theology, such as: Acad. Dr. Ioan Aurel Pop, President of the Romanian Academy, Prof. Dr. Vasile Astărăstoae, Dr. Petre Guran, Prof. Dr. Nicu Gavriluță.

Teologie și Viață has published papers that reveal a substantial preoccupation with biblical exegesis and hermeneutics, articles on archeology and church history, documentaries, explorations and historical syntheses, reflections on current situations, recollections of personalities and important spaces and monuments of Romanian culture, reports of research in the field of bioethics or concerning the challenges of today's society, studies of systematic and practical theology, studies of iconography, inscriptions and hymnography, translations from the works of the Holy Fathers and Church Writers, realized within the Department of Valuation of the Patristic Treasury of the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina, abstracts and talks given at national and international conferences, notable events in the life of the Metropolitanate, presentations of current personalities of the ecclesial life, reviews of books and theological articles published by the Doxologia Publishing House of the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina or in other eparchies in the country and abroad.

The Journal often has thematic issues, dedicated to certain homage events of the Romanian Patriarchate or the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina, but also to theological topics of general interest, meant to offer an appropriate response to the church and missionary concerns of its readers, such as bioethics, current family challenges, Romanian culture, tradition and spirituality, church hymnography, etc.

Teologie și Viață is indexed, since 2012, in the international database of the Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) and, since 2020, in the international databases of the European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS), Index Copernicus and WorldCat, and, since 2021, in the international database EBSCO. The Journal is distributed in libraries in the country and abroad, as well as in Orthodox parishes and monasteries within the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina. Also, through the Dumitru Stăniloae Library in Iași, the Journal is engaged in a process of interlibrary exchange with other international journals.

In recent years, the journal "Theology and Life" has a share of about 12% of its content in international languages (English, French and Italian). The journal manages to present to readers studies signed by authors from outside the institution where the journal is published, in a share of 50% authors from the academic center (city) where the journal operates, 36% national authors, 11% authors from abroad and 3% of study from authors who are part of the institution.

The information in the studies published in the Journal has been appreciated or cited by numerous university professors and researchers, who, guided by their academic standards, are naturally very demanding as far as the quality of scientific information is concerned and rigorously critical of the opinions expressed. Teologie și Viață promotes the dialogue between theology and culture and offers a Christian response to the challenges of today's society.