Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith [Paperback]

Peter E. Gillquist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1990

This is the story of a handful of courageous men and their congregations who risked stable occupations, security and the approval of life-long friends to be obedient to God's call.It is also the story of every believer who is searching for the Church. Where Christ is Lord. Where holiness, human responsibility, and the sovereignty of God are preached. Where fellowship is more than a covered-dish supper in the church basement. And where fads and fashions take a backseat to apostolic worship and doctrine.This is a book, for Orthodox Christians, looking for ways to bring new life to their own Churches. It's also a book for those completely dissatisfied--those on their own search. And it's a book for Orthodox Christians, looking for renewal.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter E. Gillquist is an archpriest and chairman of the Department of Missions and Evangelism for the Antiochian Orthodox Church of North America.He is a popular speaker and author, and is publisher of Conciliar Press. In the 1960's he was regional director for Campus Crusade for Christ. He has authored numerous books, including Love is Now and Coming Home. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: Wolgemuth & Hyatt Pub; 1st edition (April 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0943497671
• ISBN-13: 978-0943497679
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,053,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Story of a mass conversion of evangelicals to Orthodoxy, July 21, 2003

By 

zonaras (Jimbo's House of Pie) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith (Paperback)

_Becoming Orthodox_ by Peter Gillquist is a first-person account of the spiritual journey of a group of evangelical Christians over a period of fifteen years to their reception into the Antiochian Orthodox Church. Many of them had been involved in Campus Crusade for Christ during the sixties and had remained in contact with each other during the seventies as they founded churches around the US. They agreed to study Church history to find out what the original New Testament Churches practiced. They noted from early Christian documents such as the writings of the Church Fathers that the Church had Bishops (ordained by the Apostles themselves), a hierarchial structure, Tradition, liturgical worship, communion as the literal Body and Blood of Christ, inscense, icons, the use of "Father" in addressing Priests, the veneration of the Virgin Mary as Theotokos ("God-bearer") and the Sign of the Cross. In examining the Schism of the Church in 1054 between Rome and the East, Gillquist and his fellow pastors acknowledged that Rome had erred in its Papal claims of universal authority over the Church, and the Western alteration of the Creed which originally stated that the Holy Spirit only proceeded from the Father, when now the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (known as the "Filioque"). Gillquist and his affiliated group of churches, which they had labeled the Evangelical Orthodox Church, sought to join one of the Orthodox Churches in America. They were unsuccessful in meeting with the Patriarch of Constantinople, but they were reviewed and accepted by the Patriarch of Antioch and the Antiochian Archdiocese in North America. The style of this book is remarkably easy and engaging, especially when it comes to the discussion of the "Filioque" in the Creed, and appears to be quite popular among both Orthodox and non-Orthodox readers, which is one of this book's strengths.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging read, but not much in the way of theology, May 21, 2005

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith (Paperback)

BECOMING ORTHODOX is a personal testimonial by Fr Peter Guilquist written to track the conversion of nearly a thousand Evangelical Protestants to Orthodox Christianity in 1987. This mass conversion was one of the biggest events in modern American Orthodoxy, and Fr Guilquist's book paints a vivid picture of the theological wrestling and jurisdictional complications which ended in the reception of the converts in the Antiochian Orthodox Church.

Fr Guilquist and many other leaders of this movement started their Christian occupations in the 1950s and 1960s as activists for Campus Crusade for Christ. They travelled widely, trying to organise rallies at such universities as the uber-liberal Berkeley and Roman Catholic Notre Dame. Their focus was entirely on bringing young people to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, not on building community, which they saw as denominationalism. Over time, however, they became jaded by their work, because many converts fell away after the initial dedication. They understand the need for a Church which would provide lasting support. Yet, they had no idea what such a church should look like.

In the early 1970s these former CCC leaders came together to begin a study of what the Church looked like in the decades after Pentacost, using only the Bible and early Fathers, so that they might form a community mirroring it entirely. They found that the early Church was liturgical, retaining a Judaic structure of worship after the expulsion from the synagogues, and that it was built around the Eucharist, which was seen as no mere commemoration but as a true mystery of faith. They discovered that the Church had a three-tiered division of authority, with bishops defending the faith, and priests and deacons serving the flocks of faithful. In the end, they felt that the only place today that this ancient Church was continued and contained fully was the Orthodox Church. Over time, they discovered that many of the exotic qualities of Orthodox Christianity, such as veneration of Mary and icons, and the liturgical use of incense, were entirely in keeping with the Gospel that gave them strength.

However, they had no personal experience with the Orthodox Church, which in the North America of the time was still seen as an ethnic conclave, in spite of a steady stream on individual conversions. They attended various offerings at Orthodox churches, met with Orthodox apologists such as the famed Fr Alexander Schmemann, and tried themselves to follow Orthodox traditions in their own worship. For a long time they were unsure of how to enter the Church which seemed to fulfill the discoveries of their investigations, and the division of Orthodoxy in North America along numerous ethnic lines was a sad complication. The Greek Orthodox Church was disapproving of their entering the Church, afraid that so many Americans would "dilute Greek traditions", a shameful blot of nationalism on the Church. Their attempt to meet the Patriarch of Constantinople for guidance was shrugged off. In the end, many of them were losing hope that Orthodoxy could provide a lasting home for them. Then, the Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in America invited them to enter under his guidance, and wished that they would all come in within only a few months. The book ends with a recounting of the mass charismations and ordinations which brought these travellers home after a journey of over a decade. A new afterword written in 1992 talks about the victories made by these converts and their fellow Orthodox in the years since.

Fr Guilquist's writing is entertaining and smooth-flowing. Theological arguments are not very deep, but friendly to Evangelical Protestants without much formal training. I am reluctant to criticise a work of such admirable zeal and which is so spiritually uplifting. I wish, however, that the book could have enjoyed some tighter editing and academic typesetting. There is a profusion of exclamation points and italics, and the formatting of the text is not up to professional standards. As it is, the work looks unfortunately amateurish.

If you are curious about the Orthodox Church, an academic work like Kallistos Ware's THE ORTHODOX CHURCH (a modern classic) is a must. However, personal testimonials like BECOMING ORTHODOX are also worth reading, and many readers will Fr Peter Guilquist's story quite inspiring.

63 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Of mixed emotion..., December 30, 1999

By 

Matthew C. Steenberg - See all my reviews

This review is from: Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith (Paperback)

While the enthusiasm expressed in this work is encouraging, as is the energy witnessed in its expression, it is nonetheless wanting in the extent of its content.

Written while the author and his colleagues were new to Orthodoxy, it expresses much more of the 'coming home' sentiment and excitement than it does a detailed description of Orthodox theology or the Church. It is the author's 'conversion experience,' and not so much a discussion of what he was converting to, that is the focus of the work.

Yet this book will still find a strong readership in those who are from a Protestant/Evangelical background and are considering Orthodoxy, or are simply intrigued and interested in it. From that perspective, 'Becoming Orthodox' offers insights that will strike close to home, and address many of the issues that are encountered when viewing Orthodoxy from such a background.