Post by rgrove on May 19, 2005 18:23:34 GMT -5
Eastern Orthodox Christianity: A Western Perspective by Daniel Clendenin
This is an excellent work book to use as a bridge between western and eastern thought. I wish I had read it before reading some of the Eastern Orthodox books I've already read. In fact, after reading this I may go back and reread quite a few things. I'm certain I'll get more out of those works now.
The first chapter is called "Smells and Bells: An Apologia for Orthodoxy". It's an outstanding introduction to the first impressions that a westerner might get when first encountering an Orthodox church or a service. If you've ever been in one you'll know what he means. He notes that most westerners go into sensory overload with what they encounter. He also goes into how you must change your perspective in order to truly understand Orthodoxy. You must abandon Catholicism as the reference point. Having grown up Catholic this has been hard for me. But it truly does help. No area of doctrine is the same once you get past some surface level similarities.
The second chapter goes through some brief history of the Eastern Church. They've had it much harder for several hundred years than the west has. First domination by mongols or the muslims and then by atheist communists. It's truly a tragic history.
The third chapter addresses the basics of apophatic thought. Reading this chapter I went back and read Vladimir Lossky again in "Orthodox Theology: An Introduction" and understood much better than I had before. "Apophatic" teaching says that we God is so transcendant that we can only speak of Him in the negative. So you can see it as their way of emphasizing that God is "wholly other". I've seen this area also give some Eastern Orthodox an appreciation for the Protestant concept of a return to "Soli Deo Gloria". John Meyendorf makes this point of contact with the Reformation in his excellent book on the development of Orthodoxy called "Byzantine Theology". It's a very interesting read for a westerner, though. Especially a Protestant that has remained true to the Reformation.
The fourth chapter is on icons. It gives a nice, short and readable history of the controversy between iconoclasts (opposed to them) and iconodules (supportive of them) and the eventual victory of the iconodules. I found this to be very helpful in the reformed internal debate over images of Jesus in things like movies (came up again during "Passion of the Christ"). It also helps you to understand the history of one of the most striking differences between Protestants and RC/EO believers that venerate icons and statues.
The fifth chapter was very well done at looking at tradition from an Orthodox perspective. Authority (supreme papacy or collegiality of bishops) is also an aspect of tradition dealth with here very well. Catholic and Orthodox views on tradition, while sometimes on paper look familiar, are strikingly different as this chapter points out. As I've read more and more on Orthodoxy it has become clear to me that surface level similarities regarding the "infallibility" of tradition with Rome exist, when you dig deeper you see that they are radically different.
Chapter six is on salvation in the Orthodox church. This probably where your run of the mill protestant would fall over at the vocabulary used. Namely "deification". Clendenin gives a very good description of it, a biblical defense of the doctrine, and a lot of excellent quotes from church fathers and more recent Orthodox theologians on it. I believe this chapter would have been very helpful for me earlier on when I first encountered Orthodox writings on theosis (or deification). There's so much I disagree with that I won't attempt to do so in this review, but this chapter is a very good introduction to this doctrine.
He then goes on to what he calls the "hermeneutic of love" and an epilogue on the "Orthodox-Evangelical dialog: Past, Present and future". In these chapters he offers many of his thoughts on how we should approach one another so that we can get the most out of the dialog. He also notes many of the praiseworthy things about Orthodoxy and also provides some very well crafted criticism. It was done consistent with the hermeneutic of love he had discussed earlier but, in my opinion, wasn't penetrating enough. I suspect this is more a result of the differences between the theology of Daniel Clendenin and I than anything else.
Hope this short review helps.
Yours In Christ,
Ron
This is an excellent work book to use as a bridge between western and eastern thought. I wish I had read it before reading some of the Eastern Orthodox books I've already read. In fact, after reading this I may go back and reread quite a few things. I'm certain I'll get more out of those works now.
The first chapter is called "Smells and Bells: An Apologia for Orthodoxy". It's an outstanding introduction to the first impressions that a westerner might get when first encountering an Orthodox church or a service. If you've ever been in one you'll know what he means. He notes that most westerners go into sensory overload with what they encounter. He also goes into how you must change your perspective in order to truly understand Orthodoxy. You must abandon Catholicism as the reference point. Having grown up Catholic this has been hard for me. But it truly does help. No area of doctrine is the same once you get past some surface level similarities.
The second chapter goes through some brief history of the Eastern Church. They've had it much harder for several hundred years than the west has. First domination by mongols or the muslims and then by atheist communists. It's truly a tragic history.
The third chapter addresses the basics of apophatic thought. Reading this chapter I went back and read Vladimir Lossky again in "Orthodox Theology: An Introduction" and understood much better than I had before. "Apophatic" teaching says that we God is so transcendant that we can only speak of Him in the negative. So you can see it as their way of emphasizing that God is "wholly other". I've seen this area also give some Eastern Orthodox an appreciation for the Protestant concept of a return to "Soli Deo Gloria". John Meyendorf makes this point of contact with the Reformation in his excellent book on the development of Orthodoxy called "Byzantine Theology". It's a very interesting read for a westerner, though. Especially a Protestant that has remained true to the Reformation.
The fourth chapter is on icons. It gives a nice, short and readable history of the controversy between iconoclasts (opposed to them) and iconodules (supportive of them) and the eventual victory of the iconodules. I found this to be very helpful in the reformed internal debate over images of Jesus in things like movies (came up again during "Passion of the Christ"). It also helps you to understand the history of one of the most striking differences between Protestants and RC/EO believers that venerate icons and statues.
The fifth chapter was very well done at looking at tradition from an Orthodox perspective. Authority (supreme papacy or collegiality of bishops) is also an aspect of tradition dealth with here very well. Catholic and Orthodox views on tradition, while sometimes on paper look familiar, are strikingly different as this chapter points out. As I've read more and more on Orthodoxy it has become clear to me that surface level similarities regarding the "infallibility" of tradition with Rome exist, when you dig deeper you see that they are radically different.
Chapter six is on salvation in the Orthodox church. This probably where your run of the mill protestant would fall over at the vocabulary used. Namely "deification". Clendenin gives a very good description of it, a biblical defense of the doctrine, and a lot of excellent quotes from church fathers and more recent Orthodox theologians on it. I believe this chapter would have been very helpful for me earlier on when I first encountered Orthodox writings on theosis (or deification). There's so much I disagree with that I won't attempt to do so in this review, but this chapter is a very good introduction to this doctrine.
He then goes on to what he calls the "hermeneutic of love" and an epilogue on the "Orthodox-Evangelical dialog: Past, Present and future". In these chapters he offers many of his thoughts on how we should approach one another so that we can get the most out of the dialog. He also notes many of the praiseworthy things about Orthodoxy and also provides some very well crafted criticism. It was done consistent with the hermeneutic of love he had discussed earlier but, in my opinion, wasn't penetrating enough. I suspect this is more a result of the differences between the theology of Daniel Clendenin and I than anything else.
Hope this short review helps.
Yours In Christ,
Ron
