The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History

Written by John Anthony McGuckin

Narrated by Derek Perkins

An insider's account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, from its beginning in the era of Jesus and the Apostles to the modern age

In this short, accessible account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, John McGuckin begins by tackling the question "What is the Church?" His answer is a clear, historically and theologically rooted portrait of what the Church is for Orthodox Christianity and how it differs from Western Christians' expectations.

McGuckin explores the lived faith of generations, including sketches of some of the most important theological themes and individual personalities of the ancient and modern Church. He interweaves a personal approach throughout, offering to listeners the experience of what it is like to enter an Orthodox church and witness its liturgy. In this astute and insightful book, he grapples with the reasons why many Western historians and societies have overlooked Orthodox Christianity and provides an important introduction to the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Christian World.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ChristianAudio.com
• Release date: Jun 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781545915394

John Anthony McGuckin

John Anthony McGuckin held the Nielsen Chair in Late Antique Christian History at Union Theological Seminary and was professor of Byzantine Christian Studies at Columbia University in New York City. He is an archpriest of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and rector of the Orthodox Church in Lytham St. Annes, England. He serves on the faculty of church history at Oxford University, and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society of the United Kingdom. McGuckin has been awarded several honorary doctorates, and has written twenty-five works of historical theology, including St. Cyril of Alexandria: The Christological Controversy, St. Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography, The Westminster Handbook to Patristic Theology, and The Ascent of Law.

Reviews for The Eastern Orthodox Church

[stillatim · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very stylishly written, a bit too short, but overall very enjoyable. As with all work on the Orthodox church written for the non-Orthodox, it's a bit annoying that McGuckin (which is surely the least 'Orthodox Christian' name imaginable, which delights me) spends so much time on pre-split Christianity. Yes, I know, the first millennium is part of Orthodox history just as it is a part of Western Christian history. But it's the same history. I hope the next person to write a history like this for the general reader just starts it at the split.