Ioannis Bekos

Profile:

Dr John Bekos is Teaching Associate at the Theological School of the Church of Cyprus.  He also teaches at the University of Cyprus and the St Barnabas Seminary of the Church of Cyprus.  He has a strong interdisciplinary capacity as regards his studies (twice PhD holder in the field of Cognitive Psychology/Education and Christian Ethics) and is distinguished for his trans-disciplinary research and teaching.  Since 2015 he is appointed as the Academic Supervisor for the reform of Religious Education in Cyprus.  He has a good track-record of publications in top journals such as Studies in Christian Ethics, Christian Bioethics, Studia Patristica and the International Journal of Public Theology.  He is also member of the Church of Cyprus Synodical Committee for Bioethics.  For more than a decade, he was member of the Cyprus National Bioethics Committee (NCBC) and substantially contributed to the publication of a series of opinions.  Since 2013 Dr Bekos serves as an Ethics Review Expert in the European Commission (FP7 and Horizon 2020) and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).  His scholarly work focuses on, among others, the most challenging socio-political issues like bioethical issues, the current financial and refugee crises in Europe and the role of religion in education and the modern societies.  He is the author of ‘Which Ethics? Which Story? The Narrative of Divine Liturgy and the Transformation of the Human’ published in Greece by En Plo editions. His last book Euthanasia and Patristic Tradition: Reading St John Damascene and St Symeon the New Theologian on Christian Bioethics is published by James Clarke & Co (Cambridge, UK).

Studies:

Doctor of Theology (ThD), Institute of Postgraduate Studies in Orthodox Theology, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2007. Title of final Project: “Euthanasia and Human Existence: The Authority of Bioethics and Patristic Tradition”

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), (Education), The University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, 1997. Title of final Project: “Phonological Awareness and the Process of Learning to Read in Greek-English Bilingual Children”

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), (Theology), National and Capodistrian University of Athens, Greece, 1997

Master of Philosophy (M.Phil), (Education), The University of Wales, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom, 1993

Bachelor of Arts (B.A), Education, National and Capodistrian University of Athens, Greece, 1990

Research Interests:

Christian Ethics: Patristic Tradition and Ethics. Bioethics

Christian Theological Tradition and Philosophy: Theology and Politics. Theology and Economics

Religious Education: Teaching of Religions. Religious Teaching and European countries 

Selected Publications:

• Bekos, Ioannis, ‘The Political Implications of the Christian Teaching on Justice: Form John Damascene to Nicholas Cabasilas and from the Icon to the Liturgy’, in Stavros Zoumboulakis (ed.), Justice and Law, (Athens, Artos Zois, 2015).
• Bekos, John. ‘Nicholas Cabasilas Political Theology in an Epoch of Economic Crisis: a Reading of a 14th century Political Discourse’, in Markus Vinzent (ed.), Studia Patristica, vol. LXIX (Leuven: Peeters, 2013), 405-412.
• Bekos, John. ‘Memory and Justice in the Divine Liturgy: Christian Bioethics in Late Modernity’, Christian Bioethics, 19(1), 2013, 100-113.
• Bekos, Ioannis. ‘Polis, Liturgy and the Financial Crisis’, Theologia, 83 (2), 2012, 103-119.
• John Bekos, 2012. Cabasilas, Divine Liturgy and Political Governance’, Studies in Christian Ethics, 25(4), 405-417.
• John Bekos, 2006. The Image of God in Man According to St. John Damascene: Implications on Issues Surrounding Euthanasia’, F. Young, M. Edwards and P. M. Parvis (eds.),Studia Patristica, Vol. XLII (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), 285-290.