Sweeter Than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma And Truth (Foundations Series, Bk. 3) [Paperback]

Peter C. Bouteneff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2006

This book begins with a deeply thoughtful reflection on the nature of truth in the face of relativism, absolutism, and fanaticism showing Jesus Christ as the logic and love that undergirds and unites the universe. Part 2 is a journey through the landscape of Orthodox teaching, with a solid explanation of how it comes down to us today. Sweeter than Honey provides indispensable insight into Orthodox Christian thinking.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...addresses important questions in a powerful way, with the courage to engage in the real world.' --Rev. Dr John McGuckin

About the Author

Peter Bouteneff is Assistant Professor of Dogmatic Theology at St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary and Editor of the SVS Press Foundations Series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: St Vladimirs Seminary Pr (June 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881413070
• ISBN-13: 978-0881413076
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #982,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just answers - also the important questions, August 25, 2006

By 

George L. Parsenios - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sweeter Than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma And Truth (Foundations Series, Bk. 3) (Paperback)

Calling a book popular can signal many things, some good and some not. What the label "popular" often means is that the book provides more answers than questions. To make a complicated subject accessible to lay people, the popular book often papers over the vexing questions that experts debate, and simply provides easily digestible answers to those complex questions. Bouteneff's book is different. It is indeed popular in the sense that it is accessible to the non-specialist. B. avoids needless jargon, and explains well whatever technical terms he uses. Likewise, the book's warm, dialogical style is regularly punctuated by questions like "Now, what does this mean?" which create the sense of informal conversation. So, it is indeed accessible. But it is not popular in the sense described above. It is the antithesis of those popular books that provide easy answers and ignore difficult questions. The central point of the book is, in fact, to confront precisely those difficult questions that accompany professing Orthodox faith in contemporary America. How can we assert that Jesus Christ is the only Truth, and the absolute Truth, in an environment that relativizes all truths to personal preferences, so that I have my truth and you have your truth, and we are both right? In addressing these core questions, B. rejects both the knee-jerk relativism of contemporary culture, as well as the triumphalism of an unthinking absolutism. In the end, the reader is given an expression of traditional Orthodox teaching on how Jesus Christ is the Truth, and the only Truth, and how the Orthodox Church is the bearer of that Truth, but always with an eye to responding to the particular questions of the present age. There are discussions of creeds, of Scripture, of saints, of church hierarchs and of icons, but all of them geared toward the core question of how the Orthodox Church defends the Truth of the Gospel. And, because of B.'s approach, the treatment of standard topics seems new, especially in the sections on Scripture and Church leadership. There is an urgent need for just such a book, especially one aimed at the non-professional. For these are not questions only asked by students and professors of theology. These are questions that confront people each time they walk out their front doors or, more and more, pass through the virtual front doors of their computers. This is an excellent introduction to the Orthodox faith, written in a unique fashion, and with a view toward contemporary debates. It can be read with profit by beginners and more advanced readers alike.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readable, with solid content, November 30, 2007

By 

Chris J. Pluger "Coffee Philosopher" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sweeter Than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma And Truth (Foundations Series, Bk. 3) (Paperback)

As a Protestant (Lutheran) who has been reading for several years and trying to get a handle on an Orthodox way of "doing theology," I must say that I very much appreciate this book. It was very readable and reader-friendly -- the author is a professor of dogmatic theology at an Orthodox seminary, and he came across as a teacher who clearly both knows his subject matter and how to communicate it.

The chapter on Historicity and Story was worth the price of the book, and set the tone for a good discussion in the Bible's place in theology (over against the "God says it; I believe it; that settles it" line of argumentation sometimes found elsewhere). I also found the chapter on relativism a very insightful a critique on the (post)modern world.

The "How do you read?" chapter clearly shows the broad foundation of truth-bearing witnesses in Orthodoxy and opens the door for a full discussion of the place of liturgical and sacramental tradition in the discussion of Truth.

One of my reasons for doing so much reading in Orthodoxy over past few years is to explore hermeneutic tradition of the Fathers and Councils of the catholic church over against my own Reformation heritage. This book was a clear, easy-to-read, and informative overview of that tradition and how it plays our in the modern Orthodox church.

(I also recommend some of the essays in Scripture in Tradition: The Bible and Its Interpretation in the Orthodox Church by John Breck as further reading in the subject.)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Orthodox Teaching from an Inviting Perspective, October 29, 2007

By 

J. Miller (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sweeter Than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma And Truth (Foundations Series, Bk. 3) (Paperback)

Sweeter than Honey is a precise and clearly written treatise on the Orthodox (Eastern Christianity) way of thinking about "dogma and truth." The expected audience is deemed by the author to be laypeople, students, and scholars of the Orthodox faith, however, it is written in a way that is inviting to Christians of all faiths. Dr. Bouteneff presents a nuanced argument for the legitimacy of dogma as truth over and against the postliberal/postmodern view that truth is necessarily and always contextual. While stating unequivocally that "the central moment of the history of the world [is] the passion and cross of Christ," Dr. Bouteneff also strongly affirms that "we are supposed to use our minds, to think, to reason about both divine and created things." Sweeter than Honey directly addresses several issues that historically have been problematic (divisive) within Christendom, and explains how Orthodox dogma treats these matters. Some of these issues, to name a few, are; how is the Incarnation possible, how is the Trinity possible ("three who are divine, yet we worship one God"), "what is truth?" "which texts and doctrines are true?" "who decides what is truly in unison with the Church?" and "why do theology [when] it seems to divide Christians more than unite them?" In short, Dr. Bouteneff answers the last question by stating that "We believe our theology [read: dogma] to be the truth, [and] that salvation is bound up with knowledge of the truth." He explains that although Jesus is esteemed as the "Universal Truth," there are other "types of truths" which make no claims of being "exhaustive." Sweeter than Honey effectively appropriates Scripture, reason, mystery, history, pneumatology, and icons to render dogma as a legitimate signifier of truth and presents the Orthodox faith as an intelligible interpretation of Christianity that goes far in bringing together faith and reason. One specific drawback worthy of note is that the book does not contain an index. Nevertheless, I highly recommend Sweeter than Honey to all who are interested in how Christianity, dogma, and truth are related.