The Orthodox Christian Church: History, Beliefs, and Practices

Orthodox Christian Convert

What did you love best about The Orthodox Christian Church: History, Beliefs, and Practices?

After converting to Orthodox Christian and being baptized as such, I never understood the faith and practices. After listening to this wonderful book, it has explained why and how we practice our belief. It's not always about reading the bible and believing, it's about knowing why and how to worship, how to pray, and feeling it mind, body and soul.
I would just like to thank the author of this book for giving me more insight to the religion I want to practice, more than our priest or congregation.
Definitely going to recommend this to newcomers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

7 people found this helpful

A Skilled Lecture-style Series

AT A GLANCE: A clear introduction to the Eastern Orthodox Church intended for Americans. CONTENT: The series is split into 24 lectures of 20-30 minutes each, covering topics like theology, prayer, history and demographics. Each is addressed briefly and topically, though many resources are given for further reading and research. It is assumed that the listener has a passing familiarity with Christianity; as such there is neither a recounting of the Gospel narratives nor of major Biblical figures, nor a discussion of basic apologetics such as the existence of God, nor is there a summary of early Church history. The intended target audience seems to be American Christians of a Protestant denomination, though it will provide valuable information to others as well. He is surprisingly frank about the current problems he sees in American Orthodox parishes. I especially appreciated his dissection of overlapping jurisdictions over national and ethnic lines in the final chapters. There are a few curiosities, for example his insistence that Orthodox are by nature environmentally-conscious and will all want to recycle (no doubt taking a leaf from "Green Patriarch" Bartholomew). He tells us more than once that the Church is difficult to synthesize in one presentation but he does an admirable job. NARRATOR: Peter Bouteneff here reads his own work with excellent results. He speaks with precision and clarity, and while not a professional narrator he certainly does an adequate job. I did not need to change the playback speed at any time while listening. OVERALL: This is a must-have audiobook for anyone interested in learning more about Orthodoxy. Also the only formal introduction on Audible from what I can tell.

6 people found this helpful

A little biased, in a great way

In a world in which everyone seems to feel that the proper treatment of any serious subject must be even-handed, ambivalent and noncommittal, it was a delight to learn orthodox church history, practice and theology from someone who unapologetically embraces it.

5 people found this helpful

Good Summary

Very concise summary and history of the Orthodox Church. I highly recommend it. Prof. Peter Bouteneff does a very good job of pulling a lot of information together and explaining it in a small amount of time. I learned a lot from this course.

4 people found this helpful

Excellent!

If I've heard a better lecture series I can't remember when. the lecturer is erudite, eloquent, and thoroughly invested in the subject matter.

8 people found this helpful

Excellent for already Orthodox

Wonderful refresher course and it also taught me more than I was able to understand years ago

3 people found this helpful

Not a bad introduction to Orthodoxy.

Not a bad introduction to Orthodoxy.A bit like a long lecture at times but never uninteresting.

3 people found this helpful

Thorough overview, even-handed and yet faithful.

Thorough overview, even-handed and yet faithful. The book is well organized, so if some sections are not as interesting, it is easy to skip around and find the information you need .

3 people found this helpful

Nice overview

Nice concise overview of the Orthodox church and its central teachings. Well presented. A very well ordered discussion with good jump off points and references

3 people found this helpful

A fantastic overview

As someone inquiring into Eastern Christianity, this book was great source of information. The content is engaging and does well to explain the various beliefs of the Eastern Church.

2 people found this helpful