RECOMMENDED READINGS ON LIVING THE
ORTHODOX WAY FOR THOSE
OF HAVING
A COGNITIVE INTEREST IN IT
© 2007 by Orchid Land Publications (20070421)
BRADSHAW,
David. 2004. Aristotle East and West: Metaphysics and the division of
Christendom. Cambridge Univ. Press.
GABRIEL, George
S. 2005. Mary the Untrodden Portal of God. (2d ed.) Zephyr
Publishing.
[This volume is not just about the all-holy Theotókos; it is also about the
«two
Salvations.» Where the Incarnation is soterial in and of itself, the Theotókos
is essential to salvation; were the Incarnation incidental to the Cross, as in many
Western forms of Christianity, the Mediatress is likewise incidental to salvation.]*
KALOMIROS, Alexander.
Nostalgia for Paradise: Guideposts on the path to the true
Fatherland through Christ. (Trans. G. Gabriel)
Zephyr Publishing.
LOUTH,
Andrew. 2002. St
John
Damascene: Tradition and originality in Byzantine
theology. Oxford University Press.
MATTHEWES-GREEN,
Frederica. 2004.
The Illumined Heart: The
Ancient Christian
Path of Transformation.
Paraclete Press.
Companion Guide to The Illumined Heart
(with Robert Gibson). 2006. Paraclete
Press.
The Open Door:
Entering the Sanctuary of Icons and Prayer. Paraclete Press.
ROMANIDES,
Protopresbyter, John S. 2004. The Ancestral Sin: a comparative study
of the sin of our ancestors Adan and Eve according
to the paradigms and doctrines
of the first and second-century Church [vs.] the Augustinian formulation of
original
sin. (2d.ed., Trnsl. Dr. George S. Gabriel). Zephyr Publishing.
SKOBTSOVA, Mother Maria. 2003. Essential
writings (with Introd. by Jim Forest).
Orbis.
SOPKO, Andrew J. 1998. Prophet of Roman [i.e. Byzantine] Orthodoxy: The
theology
of John Romanides. Synaxis Press.
WENDEBOURG, Dorothea. 1980. Zur Frage der innergöttlichen Verankerung des
christlichen Lebens in der byzantinischen Theologie. Kaiser. The first 64
pages,
Part I, are relevant and valuable.
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Also of course: http://www.trafford.com/05-0571
Some readers will find it easier to see what something IS by comparing it with what it is NOT. Before citing Luther’s own words from probably the most widely read tract of the Reformation period, it is important to observe that Protestants of the non-"liberal" variety use the term forensic in characterizing salvation, what they call justification. Forensic is of course juridical. In his most influential treatise, Luther wrote the following deontic (and on the face of it anthropocentric) interpretation of the Eucharist, which he denied to be an act of sacrificial worship:
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. . . as greater power is resident in the word than in the sign, there is likewise more [power] in a covenant than in a sacrament. For a person can have the word or covenant and benefit from it apart from the sign or sacrament. "Believe," says Augustine, "and you’ve eaten." But what is believed in if not the Word of the One doing the promising? Thus am I able daily, indeed at every hour, to have the mass just as often as I will [voluero!]: I can set Christ’s words in front of me and nourish and strengthen my faith in them. This is . . . to eat and drink spiritually. [WA VI.518.13-3] |
This characterizes a gnostic-deontic paradigm, whether the axiomatic matter and form are respectively designated. The other Reformers were humanists, i.e. basically Renaissance Platonists.
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*The present OLP editor would contrast the Patristic views of the Incarnation as the First Mystery (sacrament) of human salvation—the Eastern Fathers and older Fathers of East generally in the West viewed the Incarnation in this light—and Divinization through the Energies of the divine Nature (not God's imparticipable Essence; see 2 Peter 1:4) as the Ultimate Mystery, with an emphasis on the soterial Resurrection of our Savior and of each worshiper as well as the Cross, an act of Worship that made the Resurrection and a worshiper's salvation through Divinization feasible.
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| St. Mark of Ephesos | St. Aikaterina of Alexandria |
This list will be augmented as the project proceeds. Suggestions are welcomed when they fit the aim of this list, which is to inform anyone interested in quality presentations of Eastern Orthodox free of the Vatican-Lite English terminology often found in other presentations.. The editor would like to include additional readings on living an Orthodox Christian life.
