Customer Reviews

Augsburg and Constantinople: The Correspondence between the Tubingen Theologians and Patriarch Jeremiah II of Constantinople on the Augsburg Confession

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This is the definitive exchange between Orthodox Christianity and Protestantism, despite the fact that it was carried out over 400 years ago. The correspondence was initiated by the Lutherans, not long after their fateful break from the Roman Catholic Church. It ended several years later, after the patient efforts of Patriarch Jeremiah failed to remove what remained un-Orthodox in the Lutherans' stated beliefs. Nevertheless, the detailed communications are extremely valuable, both as statements of the founding positions of Protestantism/Lutheranism, and as clear expositions of historical Orthodox Christianity. What a gift to have an English language translation of this cross-cultural exchange between the nascent Lutheran Church and the "Great Church in Captivity" (as Steven Runciman described the Patriarchate of Constantinople under the Ottoman thumb).

Out-of-print for a couple years, the paperback version (sporting a new cover design) happily was reprinted by Holy Cross Orthodox Press in early 2004. Note that this publisher is NOT at the Jesuit-affiliated Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, but RATHER it is part of the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. The Holy Cross Bookstore is located on the campus of Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Should you ever need to visit online to find the book, look for "Augsburg" with the Holy Cross search engine, or go to and then scroll through the "Theology" subsection. For now, however, Amazon has it so buy it from Amazon.

Finally, book collectors should be aware that the 1982 production run included not only the now-reprinted paperback (ISBN 0-916586-82-0) but a hardback version as well (ISBN 0-916586-81-2). The hardback occasionally shows up in the used book market.

An earlier version of this review was originally posted on September 12, 2003.

The previous poster noted that the book has fallen out of print. I'm happy to say that I contact Holy Cross Seminary Bookstore last week and I now have a copy of this book on my shelf. FYI.