Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Orthodox Church: Its Past and Its Role in the World Today by Jean Meyendorff, John Chapin, John Meyendorff, Nicholas Lossky ISBN: 0-913836-81-8 Publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Knowing the past, knowing the present...
Comment: Fr. John Meyendorff is generally known as one of the greatest scholars on Orthodoxy of the twentieth century. A professor and dean of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, he was also author of many texts dealing with Orthodox history and spirituality. This book, 'The Orthodox Church: Its Past and Its Role in the World Today' is perhaps the foundation for understanding his writing.
Originally published in 1960, it was reissued in an American edition in 1981, and is currently available in the revised fourth edition, produced in 1996, four years after Meyendorff's death. This latest edition includes revisions and corrections by Professor Nicholas Lossky.
In our presentation, we will follow the historical development of the Orthodox Church from the apostolic time to our own. It is the interpretation we will give to the stages of this history which will permit the reader to understand the essential dogmatic positions of Orthodoxy. The basic dogmas about Scripture and Tradition, about the Church and about ecclesiastical authority will thus be defined in the opening chapters. At the conclusion of the book, we will return to certain other doctrinal aspects in the forms in which they are expressed today.
This book serves largely as introduction. The purpose is largely to introduce concepts and history of the Orthodox church to a western audience; while it is a common assumption that the first half of Christian history is a shared history between East and West, in fact that history is viewed very differently in the perspective of the continuing Orthodox from the 'traditional' history taught viewed by Roman Catholics or western Protestants.
The Orthodox view is held up in contrast to prevailing Western senses of meaning in Church and Scripture:
'The Orthodox Christian East has always succeeded in avoiding the tragic pitfall of considering any human institution, or even any human formulation of Christian dogma, as being absolute and infallible as such. Indeed, even Scripture is God's word, but spoken by human beings, so that the living Truth which it contains must be understood not only in its literal meaning but also through the power of the Spirit, which inspired the authors and continues to inspire the faithful in the body of the Church.''
Meyendorff is certainly not writing from an objective view. His view is thoroughly Orthodox. Despite the hoped-for unity of Church among the Orthodox, however, Meyendorff presents the reality of different and separate institutions and hierarchies in the past and in the present.
One key theme that is developed early in the book is that the schism between East and West was not due to one event or even one issue -- while the issue over the filoque clause might have been the last straw, in fact the dogmatic and hierarchical issues between Rome and Constantinople were growing in intensity and conflict for centuries before. Like many in the Western churches, Meyendorff speaking from an Orthodox perspective concedes that the final schism need not have happened and probably owed more to misunderstanding rather than deliberate attempts at disunion.
Meyendorff includes brief chapters on the structure of the Orthodox church, Orthodox monasticism, Orthodox relations with Islam, and Orthodox relations with Communist states, particularly in Russia, the largest remaining unified Orthodox church after the fall of the Eastern Empire. Chapters of general principles of faith and spirituality, as well as ecclesiology, round out the discussion of general Orthodox history.
The chapter which has undergone the greatest revision is chapter 8, 'The Orthodox Church Today.' Included in this chapter are subsections on each of the major branches of Orthodoxy, which gives a good sense for the breadth and complexity of the subject. Included are sections on each of the major geographic divisions, which are in communion but independent in administration.
'The Orthodox Church is at present a decentralised organisation, based partly on centuries-old traditions and partly on more modern conditions. It consists of a number of local or national churches, all enjoying an 'autocephalous' status, that is to say, possessing the right to choose their own heads, the bishops (Greek auto-, 'self', kephale, 'head'.)'
These groups cooperate with each other and hold to a common history and sense of liturgy and doctrine, and have participated in councils well past the medieval period. Meyendorff tends to see a new age of Orthodoxy occurring in the shift between nationalism, modernism, and a re-examination of those things which are fundamental and crucial for Orthodox faith.
Professor Lossky provides an extensive postscript beyond the 1981 edition updating the particulars of the autocephalous churches. Among many interesting facts presented is the idea of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's consideration of relocating outside of Turkey -- an astonishing idea, still denied by the local Orthodox church despite its difficulty in dealing with the local, non-Christian government in Turkey that tries to keep the patriarchate from exercising an international role.
In 240 page, an amazing amount of history and general Orthodox principle is contained, distilled, interpreted, and presented in accessible and interesting fashion for general readers, religion students, and theologians.
'With the fall of Communism and the newfound freedom of Eastern Europe, the Orthodox Church is met with new challenges and opportunities. It has become apparent that its history and its current reality are either unknown, extremely unfamiliar, or laden with cliches.'
As it becomes important to understand the culture and history of those countries that are striving in their newly-won liberty to make a mark on the world stage, this book will provide unique insights into how to understand the 100 million + people in the world who hold the Orthodox faith, and how to relate to those people as people of history, faith, and integrity.
 |
Title: Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective by Daniel B. Clendenin ISBN: 0801025885 Publisher: Baker Book House Pub. Date: November, 1994 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
 |
Title: The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, 3) by N. T. Wright ISBN: 0800626796 Publisher: Fortress Press Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
