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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Except for the front matter, basically indistinguishable from any other guide to the Bible from any other press,
This review is from: The Message of the Bible: An Orthodox Christian Perspective (Paperback)
George Cronk's THE MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE: An Orthodox Christian Perspective was published by St. Vladimir's Seminary Press in 1982. The author, a college teacher of philosophy and comparative religion, sought to provide an introduction to the Scriptures that would reflect the role they play in the entirety of Orthodox tradition. In his introduction, Cronk makes clear that in the Orthodox Church, the reading of Scripture must be influenced by the life of the Church--the Church after all existed before the Bible. This is an important point to grasp for the American Protestant converts for whom Cronk was writing. Cronk also makes clear that the Orthodox Church does not take a literal reading of Scripture like those who believe in, say, a literal six-day creation. Rather, the contents of the Bible contain all that is spiritually true in the context of ancient storytelling.After the introduction, however, Cronk's book becomes very generic, with little Orthodox content in it. He describes the construction of the Bible: Old Testament laws and history, wisdom literature and prophets, New Testament gospels, Pauline epistles, catholic epistles and Relevation. But this is all in the most elementary and "non-denominational" terms. The book could have lived up to its title had it actually talked more of the meaning of certain key passages in the life of the Orthodox Church. The burning bush has often been seen in the Orthodox Church as prefiguring the life of the Theotokos, and this has influenced iconography, but Cronk doesn't discuss this. Nor does he speak of the three angels whom Abraham served at the oak of Mamre, who are seen to represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and who inspired one of the greatest of all icons, the Holy Trinity of St. Andrei Rublev. As a basic introduction to the organization and content of the Bible, Cronk's book works. However, there was such a wasted opportunity to explain the meaning of the Bible in the fullness of Orthodox tradition.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Concise Introduction,
By Guy Barnhart "a book kinda guy" (Jacksonville, FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Message of the Bible: An Orthodox Christian Perspective (Paperback)
Cronk offers a concise introduction to the Bible in this offering from St Vladimir's Seminary Press. Cronk starts off with the Old Testament and then moves through the Hebrew Bible. In each section he offers brief historical background (such as the two different Creation accounts in Genesis 1 & 2) and then offers the Orthodox perspective on the section he is discussing. It is an easy read and there is no need for any background knowledge of Scripture or scholarship. Cronk presents all the information clear and without any jargon.Obviously, in order to get the most from the text, you need a good Bible to read along side this. I would say The Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha is by FAR the best Bible on the market and you can find excellent deals on Amazon, Ebay or Half.com. The Oxford Bible is NRSV, but if you can't get that, any other NRSV Bible would be great or ESV, NKJV, or even the NIV. Also the Orthodox Study Bible can be read with this as well but I do not like that version though. Personally I don't like study Bibles at all, and the Orthodox Study Bible (OT and NT) has terrible introductions on each book of the Bible, that border on Fundamentalist biblical-literalism (such as claiming Moses wrote the Torah or that the Genesis account has some sort of scientific validity, which is absurd). The Oxford Annotated Bible is the best bet, it has the latest on historical scholarship and is Ecumenical, so regardless on whether you're Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant, it's a great Bible. Another great thing about this book is that it is a good introduction for a Christian from any denomination. Sure it's an "Orthodox" perspective on Scripture, but really that just means a "patristic" perspective. All mainstream Christian traditions claim the Fathers, so if you want to get a good introduction on how the Fathers interpreted the Bible, this is by far the best place to start. After reading this, I suggest Raymond E Brown's fantastic Introduction to the New Testament, Lawrence Boadt's Introduction to the Old Testament (or anything by Walter Brueggemann on the OT is most excellent, especially Theology of the Old Testament and Introduction to the Old Testament), and Abraham Joshua Heschel's "The Prophets". Brown's book goes over each book in the NT, embracing all recent scholarship and putting them in their proper context or first-century Judaism. Boadt's book is a wonderful introduction to the OT that goes over the thousand year process of the OT's composition. Bruggemann does the same thing, only taking into account the theological meanings behind the text in light of historical-critical research, while Boadt's is a straight forward introduction to the background of the OT. And Heschel's book goes over the Prophets and the context of their message and the urgent relevancy of them today. Also, for a great study on the Gospels, E.P. Sanders' The Historical Figure of Jesus is a fine book on the Gospels and on the context of Jesus' message. Please, read Cronk's book, it will help set you on the road to understand the story of salvation and God's interaction with humans (and how often we misunderstand him), as given in the Holy Scriptures. I highly recommend it for Catechumens and all the other books on Scripture I suggested.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Caveat,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Message of the Bible: An Orthodox Christian Perspective (Paperback)
If you prefer a mixture of traditional Orthodox (and orthodox) teaching of the Scripture and what appears to be a touch of modernism and deconstructionism, then this may be your book. It turned out not to be mine. In dealing with Old Testament material in particular, Cronk is fond of making sure his audience is aware that ancient accounts of the Flood, for example, have been reworked from "legends" now for the purposes of interpreting the events of Noah and his experiences. Regardless of Cronk's intention, the way this is presented it has the feel of a palpable design to persuade readers of Genesis much as a rhetorician develops a shaky argument. At best, such passages are murky. It is not clear exactly where Cronk wants to go on these occasions in his book. When he says we should not look for a scientific account of Genesis, does he mean not look for accuracy? He agrees with modern scientists who say the Flood only had a local effect, not covering "the world". Okay, perhaps, but what's the point? Why go there? There are other reputable scientists who find evidence all over the world of a global deluge at about the time Moses recalls. If he meant by "science", "fundamentalism" and "literalist" reading of the Bible with no historical and poetic sense of life, then that is a credible and common observation. But he insists that we understand what is written in Genesis be understood as "legend" (how is he using this word?), and that we also understood such figures as the Ark as "symbol". It is not always clear to me that this is a typological reading in the tradition of the Early Fathers, and beyond. It is only after the fact, we can see that the Ark is a divine icon of Christ and His Church. You cannot cast a shadow of a doubt on the truth of first the literal meaning before you can have the typological understanding. The benefit of the doubt should always go to the author, like Cronk, who has impressive credentials and experience in reading texts. Perhaps one can say, well, maybe it's just a matter of semantics. Right. And semantics are important. Very.
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