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Title: Reclaiming the Great Tradition: Evangelicals, Catholics & Orthodox in Dialogue by James S. Cutsinger ISBN: 0-8308-1889-8 Publisher: Intervarsity Press Pub. Date: March, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.99

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (5 reviews)

Rating: 4
Summary: Real Ecumenism: Iconic and Incomplete
Comment: I, too, am thoroughly impressed with this book; it is interesting to read that as of the time of writing this review, the only detractors are those hard-line Orthodox who see themselves as having the fullness of truth - a claim that would be hard to justify using the Church Fathers. After all, isn't the whole point of the icon - so vital to Orthodox spirituality - recognizing that the boundaries that we draw cannot be the totality of revelation but instead operate as an open door - a window - to an experience of the Holy? I find the hard-line Orthodox views expressed below to be disappointing; having heard Fr. Peter Gillquist speak at the University of Florida recently, I am glad to know that not all Orthodox feel the same way about other Christians. As one Church Father put it - and it has become a rule of thumb in many Orthodox circles, as well as for those outside of Orthodoxy - "We know where the church is; we do not know where the church is not."

Of course, the Orthodox below raise a good point about the nature of ecumenism and the crisis that has come about in many ecumenical discussions: in looking for a common ground, many end up sacrificing all that makes them distinctive and one is left with something of a theological mush rather than anything substantive. Fortunately, the differences here are mentioned, just as the similarities are. Real discussion about real issues - such as the filioque - are discussed by both Orthodox and Roman Catholic theologians; one gets a feel for both sides of an issue that remains divisive today.

The book falls short, though, in two ways. Firstly, the Evangelicals are, in my opinion, not shown in the best light. That is, they do not portray themselves in the best light. J. I. Packer leaves much to be desired; Carl Braaten does the same. Perhaps the problem, though, is what Mark Noll discusses in his book _The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind_: there is no Evangelical mind. Evangelicals consistently portray themselves to have less and less to really offer other than a simplistic - and oftentimes uninformed - Biblicism; there is no real engagement with any tradition or history and this lack of roots results in a lack of creative engagement with the problems of the day. A notable exception is the work of someone such as Stanley J. Grenz; perhaps future ecumenical writings will consider including him as he may be one of the best - or at least most informed - minds in Evangelicalism today.

Secondly, this book does little to represent Anglicanism. Although J. I. Packer is (= calls himself?) an Anglican, his theology is so un-Anglican that one might rightly wonder what, if anything, his Anglicanism really means. Some say, perhaps rightly, that there is no Anglican theology proper but that there is Anglican worship proper and that Anglican worship proper is contained in the Book of Common Prayer. Hence, the Book of Common Prayer should feature heavily in discussions of Anglicanism. However, for Packer it does not and since Packer is the only Anglican in the book, this means that Anglicanism as such figures little into these discussions when Anglicanism - despite the problems in the American church - really ought to figure far more prominently (it is, after all, the second largest Christian church in the world!).

Caveats aside, this is a great book. Although hard-line Orthodox may see any participation in ecumenism as "betrayal", such hard-liners are at the margins of Orthodoxy and offer little to the world at large. This book provides a great introduction to the main differences between three large Christian churches - Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical - as well as an introduction to common ground between them. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5
Summary: worth the time
Comment: Chapter two is an excellent overview of ecumenism in the past and where it is leading today by Fr. Neuhaus. Chapter four, by that "recent" convert (!) Fr. Patrick Reardon, deals beautifully with the trinitarian theology of the east, as well as a strong dose of proper apophaticism. Chapter five, by Bishop Kallistos Ware, deals further with the trinitarian nature of Christianity. The other essays, six in all, are well worth reading as well. Each essay is followed by a response which is either critical or supportive- usually both. Carl Braaten, a Lutheran scholar, provides a summary that is quite insightful and useful.

I had written a review a few weeks ago that was not accepted. This is the second attempt, so I toned it down. This is a book which all Christians can benefit from. As an Orthodox, I flatly reject the circle-the-wagon mentality of some who say that this book is anti-Orthodox. It is a conference of thinkers and theologians and obviously not an Ecumenical council in the true sense; just dialogue. No one compromised anything. See for yourself.

Rating: 3
Summary: I, too, am disappointed.
Comment: What the reviewer below fails to grasp is that accepting the Orthodox Faith as Truth is solely a matter of ego for many of those who are involved in this spurious "dialogue." The Church has been one from the beginning, and Orthodoxy existed even before the events recounted in Genesis 1:1.

The reviewer below, then, approaches ecumenical "dialogue" as if he were entering into diplomatic disputation, having accepted Graham Allison's notion that every party to a dispute must be given the idea that he is winning something. It is with this in mind that I concur in the idea that it is a disappointment that Orthodox such as Dr. Cutsinger participated in the conference on which this volume is based. Surely Cutsinger knows that Orthodoxy has nothing to compromise without ceasing to be Orthodoxy; on the other hand, heterodoxy (i.e., anything other than Orthodoxy) has nothing to lose but its heterodoxy.

I can see why the reviewer below found this enterprise edifying, for he obviously is a Protestant, for whom the Truth is simply a matter of perspective, background, "values," opinions, etc. Orthodox laymen's participation in this kind of dialogue lends credence to the false impression that Orthodoxy, too, believes Truth to be relative. A shame. A disappointment.