Coming Home [Paperback]

P E Gillquist (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2006

Eighteen former Protestant leaders tell about their journey of "Coming Home" to the Orthodox Christian Faith. The 18 stories include: Antony Hughes . Oral Roberts University Gregory Rogers . Church of Christ Nicholas Sorensen . Concordia Seminary Daniel Matheson . United Church of Canada Thomas Renfree . Western Conservative Baptist Seminary Frank Milanese . Campus Crusade for Christ Andrew Harmon . United Methodist Church Paul Waisanen . Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Alister Anderson . Episcopalian Timothy Cremeens . Assemblies of God John Pro . Luther Rice Seminary Athanasios Ledwich . Anglican Harold Dunaway . Bible Baptist College David Smith . Asbury Seminary Bill Caldaroni . United Church of Christ Ron Olson . Biola College and Inner-city Missions Tim Blumentritt . Plymouth Brethren William Olnhausen . General Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Conciliar Press Ministries Inc. (May 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962271322
• ISBN-13: 978-0962271328
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Other Denominations & Sects

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In response the to the man from Eagle River Alaska, July 10, 2001

By 

David Mario Capparuccini (Delaware USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coming Home (Paperback)

I sympathize with you for the hurt caused by any clergy of the church. Alas, even though the Eastern Orthodox church gaurantees true worship, and true doctrine, it does not gaurantee perfect clergy. Anyone reading the review please do not judge the clergy of the Orthodox church as a whole, based on the actions of some in particular. There will always be sin, greed, legalism, and lack of care in this world. Sadly, this will even be seen in the body of Christ. Granted, people/clergy will act like a jerks, over glorify the priesthood, and abuse their leadership roles. A quote from John Chrysostom says "The road to hell will be lined with the skulls of bishops." As we know from the Bible, leaders will be judged more harshly for their actions. Please, do not dare to say that clergy from the Orthodox church will not lead you closer to God. Not only is that speaking rashly, but it is denying the grace that God has given these men for performing their specific roles. I know many clergy that have sacrficed everything in their lives to help others grow closer to God. I am truly sorry to hear how these men have treated another human being, created in the image of God. Let us pray for our clergy, that have "come home". For they are human too, and subject to greed and struggles with sin. Let us pray, not judge, and not dismiss the claims of the one, true apostolic church. The battle is spiritual, and precisely what the devil wants us to do is leave the truth, or have divisions among us. I pray that you and I, everyone, will trust the Lord, seek Him first, and not allow the actions of men to destroy our relationship with Him. God Bless!!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Expected, November 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Coming Home (Paperback)

For those searching to learn more about the Orthodox Faith, I do recommend the book. However, I was expecting it to be more along the lines of why not how. Just know that the book is not about the beliefs and practices of the Orthodox, but about how the writers of the stories came in to contact with the Church and their journeys to join it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No Place Like Home, February 22, 2006

By 

Labarum (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Coming Home (Paperback)

Perhaps the most interesting development in the growing movement towards historic Christianity is the decision of many Protestant clergy to cross not just ecclesial boundaries but also cultural ones by joining Eastern Orthodoxy. Leaving successful ministries for small parish missions, they have rejected well-established Western traditions (i.e., Catholicism, Anglicanism) for (in their view) the most authentic expression of the ancient Church.

Coming Home, edited by prominent convert Peter Gillquist, is a compilation of conversion stories by former Protestant clergy who found in Orthodoxy an answer to their quest for the Church of the Apostles. The authors are sincere, the stories at times moving, the sacrifices great, and one can feel genuinely happy for these pilgrims in their discovery of historic Christianity. However, even though their stories are pleasant reading and it is easy to be sympathetic to their plight in the confusion of modern Protestantism, the reader is repeatedly left with the feeling something has been left out. The stories seem to jump over important issues and stop abruptly.

The biggest problem is there are just too many stories. By having close to twenty conversions covered, Gillquist limits each to roughly ten pages apiece. The development needed to explain their former Christian tradition and why they were led to Orthodoxy as the truest expression of the Christian Faith simply cannot be condensed into such a short amount of space. If they fully develop the issues in their move to Orthodoxy, they shortchange their earlier experience and the conversions all sound the same - losing the individuality fostered by a better understanding of where they had been before. If they fully develop their earlier experience, they are left with "Oh yeah, and then I read the Church Fathers and realized I should be Orthodox." Either way, the reader is shortchanged through no fault of the writers. Interestingly, this is born out by the fact that the most satisfying accounts are those of former Anglicans who already are immersed in liturgy and Church history and so have far less to explain.

It is interesting to compare the results of this book to Surprised by Truth, a similarly motivated book of Catholic conversions edited by Patrick Madrid. By limiting it to fewer stories, Madrid allowed a fuller development of the issues leading to their conversion missing here. Coming Home is by no means a terrible book and it is at times interesting reading, but the end result is far less than it could have been.