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The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, Vol. 2: The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700)

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Jaroslav Pelikan is one of the foremost scholars of Christian Thought and History. This book is the second volume in his monumental set, and like the other four volumes, it does not disappoint. This volume covers the often neglected "lung" of Christianity, the Eastern Church. Its neglect in the Western world is mainly because we tend to focus on Western history, to our detriment. The controversies over the interpretation of the Church Fathers, over icons, and the Trinity are given plenty of space, as is the development of the "Eastern Mindset." The political and doctrinal issues surrounding the Filioque (the "and the Son" clause of the Nicene Creed) and the "Great Schism" between East and West are also discussed, and handled very fairly. Pelikan seems to (wisely) hold both sides and the egos involved to be at fault for the schism. He looks at the events and controversies of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Ecumenical Councils too. He ends with the "Last flowering of Byzantine Theology" including the tragic almost complete loss of theological and liturgical contact between East and West.

Pelikan is fair and balanced in his appraisal of events, and concerns himself primarily with the development of doctrine, so some issues and events might seem downplayed or ignored. His style, while interesting, can also be rather academic. Many Latin and Greek words are used without translation. Many technical Church terms are used as well, which might be unfamiliar to those not versed in Church history. As such, this might not be the best beginner's introduction to the Eastern Churches.

It should be noted that Pelikan eventually joined the Orthodox Church, so the contents of this book (written in 1974) were probably part of his journey. I had the joy of hearing Pelikan speak and of attending an Orthodox service with him. He genuinely loves the Eastern Tradition, and certainly views the events in his books as more than just cold historical facts. This love of Christian history could be why his books are so well-written. However, they are still very scholarly and look at events critically, which might cause him to be dismissed as too "liberal" or "modernist". However, the Tradition of the Church is never dismissed out of hand, and Pelikan is quite traditional in his beliefs. Overall, this is a great part two in the History of the Development of Doctrine. For those who have a background in Christian history, volume two will probably teach you more new events and figures than any other of his volumes, because the East's history independent of the West has been neglected for too long.

Pelikan's "The Christian Tradition" is a remarkable series that describes the manner in which Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox christians have interpreted the teaching of Jesus and the manner in which the doctrines of this "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" faith developed and diverged over twenty centuries. Thus, one learns not only what the various christian churches teach today but how and why these teachings differ. While scholarly, "The Christian Tradition" is clearly written and readable. Highly recommended.

In the second volume in his great series, Jaroslav Pelikan offers a clear and readable history of the development of Eastern Christianity. Many of the primary source materials for this portion of the history of Christianity are not easily accessible to Western readers, and for that reason alone, the book is a treasure.

In addition to the glowing notes of other reviewers, I'd like to add that the bibliography of secondary sources and the index in the book are superb, making it extremely useful as a window into the entire subject.

I was introduced to Jaroslav Pelikan's "The Christian Tradition," of which this is the second volume, last March while researching a term paper for a History of Christianity class. This volume was so invaluable to me during my research that I immediately went out and bought the rest of the series as my funds would allow. Pelikan is a clear and readable writer who conveys both the context and the importance of his subject matter. THE SPIRIT OF EASTERN CHRISTIENDOM is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in the Ecumenical Council's and their affects upon Church dogma and the growing apart of the Western and Eastern Churches. The marginalia is also an indispensable resource which makes the primary sources extremely accessible to the reader. I highly recomend this book to everyone.

In this volume Pelikan gives a thorough introduction and analysis of Christendom's exotic brother: The ancient Eastern Orthodox Church. Given Pelikan's overall project, doctrine can't be said to "develop" for the East in the same way it did for Rome and Protestantism. Pelikan covers the main areas of disagreement or distinction: tradition, Christology, icons, the challenge of Rome, the challenge of other Eastern monotheisms, and the fading and resurrection of Byzantine thought.

Pelikan's first chapter on traditions is in many ways a string of quotations from St Maximus the Confessor, arguing that the Orthodox does not change the content of the faith, but simply receives it from the fathers who have passed it down. And for the east the content of the faith, the definition of salvation, is deification.

Pelikan's next chapter is a survey of Christological disputes, or more particularly it showed the disagreements and implications for the post-Chalcedonian world.

His chapter on "The Challenge of Rome" is fair and balanced. He points out that Rome was on the "orthodox" side in every council (though he rebuts a common Catholic claim that the Pope called every council). Therefore, Rome's authority and honor cannot be dismissed so easily. This leads into discussions of the Filioque. While Rome may have had more impressive theologians, the Orthodox rightly pointed out that the Pope had no authority to insert that phrase into the clause.

The chapter on "the Vindication of Trinitarian Monotheism" was the best. We see how the Orthodox responded to a number of different attacks, varying in intelligence, yet holding the same ground on every line: the good God, the creator of the world, is Triune and also the redeemer of th world. Thus, the Orthodox would use that to respond to Judaism, Islam, and Manicheanism (Bogomils et al). The response to the Bogomils was the best.

Pelikan follows with a suprisingly brief discussion of St Gregory Palamas. In any case Palamas theology is vindicated as the theology of light. Also noted is a helpful few paragraphs on the "essence/energies" distinction. However, at this time Byzantium was fading politically. As she was overrun by the Muslim hordes, she passed on her faith to daughter Russia. The conversion of the Slavs and the earlier invention of the Cyrillic alphabet was a unique moment in Missions history. Sts Cyril and Methodius were able to facilitate a conversion to a faith without drowning national identity (something that would become a very Russian idea).

All in all, a good book.

This is the series to read if you want to truly study and understand the history of the Church. The author uses primary sources and clearly and easily references his research. The series is for the more advanced student but they can also be useful to the beginner. these books enabled me to understand better what was happening in the world during these different epochs in history. These books have no match.

Jaroslav Pelikan, is one of the foremost scholars on historic Christianty in the world. This book, the second in a series, examines the Eatern Christian tradition between 600 and 1700. Many of the improtant issues and controversies are discussed to include many of the councils about the nature of Christ and prevelant heresies of the period and the schism between the Eastern and Western church.

The reader will find much information and refernces on the inconoclast controversy, Filioque controversy, and the rise of the Islamic relgion in the Christian world. A short review cannot do this book jsutice. A must resource for any serious Christian student. His research is immpecable and his righting style easy to follow, which is surprising considering the scope and scholarly detail of this book.

One of the greatest deficiencies of most studies of Christian history is the lack of depth when it comes to the Eastern churches. Typically, these churches simply play minor, usually antagonistical, roles in the great events in Western Christendom. However, this is a distortion of the rich history they have in their own right - a history that every Western Christian would do well to discover.

In "The Spirit of Eastern Christendom", which is volume 2 of the "The Christian Tradition" series, Jaroslav Pelikan does a great service to all Christians by exploring in-depth the developments that occurred in the Eastern Christian theology between 600 A.D. and 1700 A.D. In some ways, this book must reflect the Lutheran author's own spiritual development, as he was to eventually be received into the Eastern Orthodox Church a few years before his death. But nothing in this book, or the series, betrays a bias towards any confession - Pelikan's goal is simply to relate the facts as they occurred; a goal he is successful in accomplishing.

The primary event for Eastern Christendom during the first half of this time period, of course, was the great iconoclastic debates which raged in the Byzantine Empire in the early middle ages. Pelikan explores the theological underpinnings of both sides of the debate, being even-handed in his treatment while showing clearly why the lovers of icons eventually prevailed. But the greatest asset of this book, in my opinion, is Pelikan's exploration of the debates in the East regarding the essence and energies of God, especially as taught by St. Gregory Palamas. This entire debate is mostly ignored in the West, as it occurred after the schism, and if not ignored, then misunderstood. Yet it is an important development of Christian thought - one that all Christians would do well to understand more fully.

Those who wish to appreciate Eastern Christian theology would go a long way towards that goal with this second volume of in "The Christian Tradition" series. Instead of the often lopsided surveys of Christian history available, this series gives full acknowledgement of the priceless contribution the East has made in the development of Christian doctrine. Pelikan is to be greatly commended for not forgetting the other "lung" of the Christian Church.

When ordering books, accurate description, fair price and on time delivery is everything. The book was delivered as described. The price was certainly reasonable and delivery was earlier than promised.

I was urged to read this by friends of mine as well as teachers and after much hype and time I finally bought and read it along with the first in the series. It was good and I appreciated the portions on Christianity meeting with Judaism and Islam, but I have to say, the work wasn't nearly as good as I thought it would be.

In both of the books I read, he has a disclaimer in the introduction saying that this is a history of doctrine and not a history per se and that history per se, will be used very sparingly. True that is, he uses it extremely sparingly. I am a great lover of history and felt great disappointment when I saw I would go 10 or 11 pages, or even more, without seeing one date even once. He needs to set up a historical framework much more clearly before he launches into the finer points of the philosophy and theology which he fails to do.

His section on Iconoclasm (the anti-icon movement in the 7th-9th centuries) was poor. He refered to those who venerated icons as "Icon worshippers" without really realizing who incorrect that is. Iconodule is a person who venerates an icon, one who worships an icon, though, is called a idoloter. Also, that he failed to cover the argument and counter-argument for and against icons was poor. He never gets very indepth with the argument against icons that to venerate them is either Monophysitism or Nestorianism or the refutation which came from the Orthodox and finally defeated the argument concerning the hypostatic union of Christ.

My advise is to borrow the book or to get it used, don't expect even a large amount of history, but only the history of philosophical ideas, not even the dates of the people who expounded them.