Arguably one of the oldest forms of Christianity, with a global population of more than 260 million adherents, Orthodox Christianity is a major religious system, with networks of believers on almost every continent. However, within the study of American religion, as well as most of the social sciences and humanities (not including theology), Orthodoxy has received minimal research and interest. The broad omission of Orthodoxy from the history of American religions pushes a question to the fore: Why are some forms of Christianity at the very edge of our academic topography? This article explores existing literature on Orthodox Christianity in the United States, looking at issues between emic and etic studies, notions of Eastern Christian alterity, and the rise in new research at the intersection of contemporary social issues, Orthodox theology, and religious practice. In doing so, this article draws out how Orthodoxy provides rich American religious histories tied to global politics, immigration, and nationalism, while also prompting us to reconfigure how we study religion in the United States.

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美国的东正教：美国宗教研究的挑战

东正教可以说是最古老的基督教形式之一，全球拥有超过 2.6 亿信徒，是一个主要的宗教体系，几乎每个大陆都有信徒网络。然而，在美国宗教以及大多数社会科学和人文学科（不包括神学）的研究中，东正教受到的研究和兴趣很少。美国宗教史上对正教的广泛遗漏将一个问题推到了前台：为什么某些形式的基督教处于我们学术版图的边缘？本文探讨了有关美国东正教的现有文献，着眼于主位与主位研究之间的问题、东方基督教异性的概念，以及在当代社会问题、东正教神学、和宗教实践。在此过程中，本文阐述了正教如何提供与全球政治、移民和民族主义相关的丰富的美国宗教历史，同时也促使我们重新配置我们在美国研究宗教的方式。