Good resources on the Eastern Orthodox view

I am not Eastern Orthodox, but would like to know what Logos sources are great for when I want to study a passage, topic, or doctrine, and be able to look at the Eastern Orthodox perspective.

Perhaps there is as a dictionary or commentary set out there? Maybe even a lexicon?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

I am tempted to ask the same thing about Roman Catholicism, but I feel like there might be TOO many suggestions (I'm not RCC).

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Deacon Steve

Catechisms and liturgical resources usually help in understanding doctrine or a particular topic. I'm not aware of a single resource that will do it all for you. You may want to look through the Orthodox libraries and products. Depending on how much you want to spend, Orthodox Starter may be a good place to begin.

https://www.logos.com/products/search?Christian+Group=Orthodox

https://www.logos.com/product/81185/orthodox-starter

MJ. Smith

Sorry, but I want to throw some very cold water on your activity before you get yourself in a real mess. Because the Catholic and Orthodox start with a very different world view, understanding of what doctrine and church are, criteria for evaluating doctrine etc. you absolutely have to have an understanding of their framework before you can do comparisons of particular aspects without context. Also, each of the Orthodox Churches has a Catholic counterpart so it is rare for there to be much difference between the Orthodox and Catholic views - one may express it in Eastern terms and the other in Western terms, the East may be more satisfied simply calling it a mystery while the West beats its head against a wall trying to articulate the unarticulatable ...

If you want to get the grounding necessary to do what you want, I suggest the following books in this order: Note these are all available in Logos and not necessarily my first suggestions in dead tree format.

AF69

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918122#Comment_918122

Your caution is duly noted.....

To add a little context to my post: I am very familiar with the respective framework, worldview, ecclesiology, and epistemology, that these two are operating on.

I'm not asking Logos to impart that knowledge onto me. I am wondering what resources are available, written from an Orthodox perspective, that can at least offer a basic overview of their beliefs on a given doctrine, topic, or Bible passage.

I understand the West is much more tedious in their approach to theology. Hence why I am reaching out for a somewhat similar resource from the Eastern perspective.

Putting it another way: thank you very much, but I'm not new to this.

Ken McGuire

I am also not Eastern Orthodox. I am instead a Lutheran who claims his Catholic roots. By no means am I an expert on the Eastern church.

Quoting from the introduction from a Writing of Historical Theology:

Orthodoxy has a problem with theology. The reasons for this problem are mainly historical. The science of theology developed in the medieval universities, and then passed through the waves of cultural history that swept through the West: Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, Romanticism. But by the time the universities began to develop, in the twelfth century, Christendom had divided, and these developments all took place in a world from which Orthodoxy was estranged. In the twentieth century Orthodoxy encountered the West, and also theology as it had developed in that period of estrangement (earlier encounters, through the discussions connected with the union councils in the Middle Ages, and the establishment of theological academies and later theological faculties in universities in Orthodox countries, only compounded the problem by subjecting Orthodox theology to the “pseudomorphosis” so deplored by Fr Georges Florovsky). Most Orthodox are critical of the development of theology in the West, in particular the way theology had developed as an academic discipline, remote from the life of prayer...

Louth, A. (2001). Foreword. In The Way to Nicaea (Vol. I, p. ix). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

I know no way to have a simple manual to look up what "The Orthodox" believe. It is rather a living, organic thing that might die when dissected like that. At the very least, there are so many parts that influence each other that are slightly different from what we Protestants assume... In my opinion, it is best approached by visiting a contemplative community. You will see a bit of how their faith and life intersects that way much better than any book.

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918137#Comment_918137

I picked this one up: https://www.logos.com/product/54491/what-is-the-orthodox-church-a-brief-overview-of-orthodoxy

Thanks MJ!

DAL

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918137#Comment_918137

I am also not Eastern Orthodox. I am instead a Lutheran who claims his Catholic roots. By no means am I an expert on the Eastern church.

Quoting from the introduction from a Writing of Historical Theology:

Orthodoxy has a problem with theology. The reasons for this problem are mainly historical. The science of theology developed in the medieval universities, and then passed through the waves of cultural history that swept through the West: Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, Romanticism. But by the time the universities began to develop, in the twelfth century, Christendom had divided, and these developments all took place in a world from which Orthodoxy was estranged. In the twentieth century Orthodoxy encountered the West, and also theology as it had developed in that period of estrangement (earlier encounters, through the discussions connected with the union councils in the Middle Ages, and the establishment of theological academies and later theological faculties in universities in Orthodox countries, only compounded the problem by subjecting Orthodox theology to the “pseudomorphosis” so deplored by Fr Georges Florovsky). Most Orthodox are critical of the development of theology in the West, in particular the way theology had developed as an academic discipline, remote from the life of prayer...

Louth, A. (2001). Foreword. In The Way to Nicaea (Vol. I, p. ix). Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press.

I know no way to have a simple manual to look up what "The Orthodox" believe. It is rather a living, organic thing that might die when dissected like that. At the very least, there are so many parts that influence each other that are slightly different from what we Protestants assume... In my opinion, it is best approached by visiting a contemplative community. You will see a bit of how their faith and life intersects that way much better than any book.

What an excellent description. 'Theology' is your life. Which is rarely your theology.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918174#Comment_918174

There is a reason I remember that opening...

Of course, after the introduction, Father Behr spends 3 books talking about how Orthodoxy developed in the east - and one of his first points is that the incarnation of the Logos was a physical thing that needs to be understood logically - and how the Fathers on the way to Nicaea were faithful in developing this understanding, even if if was not a straight, simple road.

AF69

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918137#Comment_918137

Thank you, this is indeed helpful, and overall consistent from what I do know about Orthodoxy.

Greg Rose

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918122#Comment_918122

Thank you very much for that insight. I'm a Catholic who has not had much exposure to the Orthodox Church. Your recommendations will be most helpful in providing me with a good starting point!

David Ames

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/918176#Comment_918176

There is a reason I remember that opening...

Of course, after the introduction, Father Behr spends 3 books talking about how Orthodoxy developed in the east - and one of his first points is that the incarnation of the Logos was a physical thing that needs to be understood logically - and how the Fathers on the way to Nicaea were faithful in developing this understanding, even if if was not a straight, simple road.