A Review of Eugenia Roussou, Orthodox Christianity, New Age Spirituality and Vernacular Religion: The Evil Eye in Greece. London: Bloombsbury, 2021, XII+196 pp.

Abstract

Eugenia Roussou studies the phenomenon of the evil eye in Greece. Based on long-term fieldwork in Thessaloniki and Rethymno, her main claims are that religious attitudes in contemporary Greece are a result of significant shift. In her opinion, Orthodoxy and New Age spirituality are not now “at cultural war”, and attitudes to the evil eye are the finest example of this reconciliation. Unfortunately, the entire text is nothing more than an illustration. The ethnographic descriptions are rich, but rather one-sided. Almost all of author’s interlocutors were neutral or positive towards New Age and new religious movements. Also, Roussou did not include interviews with priests in her research, which significantly distorted the picture. The theoretical framework of this monograph goes against the described material, because of the author’s desire to avoid all sorts of contradictions. She claims to adopt the framework of vernacular religiosity in her monograph, but does not follow this line either in terms or in material.