Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Revised edition, 2nd printing, July 3, 2007
As the author of "Orthodox Church: A-Z" I am happy to announce that a new 2nd edition, revised and corrected is now available.
The original edition contained errors such as missing quotation marks,underscoring and one mis-spelling. There were no errors in factual or support data. The publishing house now employs a full-time editor and computer expert who makes certain that a book is as free of printing errors as possible.
I am delighted with the new edition. Even with minor flaws the first printing was a fine seller.
Fr George Grube
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Useful but riddled with errors and unprofessionally edited, May 4, 2005
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH A TO Z by Fr George Grube is meant to be a "practical handbook of beliefs, liturgy, sacraments, customs, theology, history, and prayers for Orthodox Christians." The work does cover a wide range of issues that cathecumens will wish to know more about. However, I found it generally disappointing.
The book contains thirteen chapters. The first, "What We Believe" begins with the most concise statement of faith we are generally already aware of, the Nicene Creed, before elaborating on its theology. The second chapter, "Living as Orthodox Christians", is simply a long quotation from Bishop Averky on the pious life. The third chapter discusses prayer, including some little-known offices. "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" lays out various vices and the virtues that overcome them. The following chapters "Fasting" and "Worship" are a simple presentation of what behaviours are licit or not in church and during fasting periods. "The Holy Mysteries", by far the longest chapter of the book, is an exploration of the meaning of each of the sacraments. "The Bible and Orthodoxy" is a short bit on what role the Bible has within the Eastern Orthodox tradition and how to read it. Chapter nine "The Church Teaches Morality" may be the most interesting chapter for mere inquirers, as it lays out the Orthodox opinion on today's important social issues like homosexuality, abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia. Chapter ten, "The Setting for Worship" is an exhaustive trip through the church's architecture, the icons and other adornment within, and the rituals carried out. The eleventh chapter "God's Kingdom on Earth" shows what Orthodox mean when we call our faith *the* Church, and differences between the Orthodox tradition and those of Roman Catholics and Protestants, as well as how ecumenism proceeds from an Orthodox understanding. The twelfth chapter "Saints" is a listing of heroes of the Church throughout history, and the final chapter "Time In the Kingdom" the calendar of the Church and its great feasts and seasons are presented. The book has two appendices, the first gives the readings for each day of the Church year, and the second is a jumble of various matters not treated in the main material such as forms of address for clergy.
The book is informative. Matters not treated in many introductory Orthodox materials find a place here, such as the Paschal miracle of the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, and the dozens of little adornments that make a building an Orthodox church. Much of the information is accompanied by relevant quotations from the Church fathers. Yet, the work as a whole has deep problems. A lot of the samples are overly simplistic and lack rigour. For example, in the section "Countering the claims of Fundamentalists", the fallacy behind sola scripture is not presented, which is the standard complaint against Fundamentalism by RC and Orthodox apologists. Editing is idiosyncratic. For some reason the discussion on tithing is within the chapter on fasting, and chapters six and ten might have been compressed into one. The book is also typeset unprofessionally, apparently in a common word processes. In a pretty large part of the book apostophes are missing entirely, and elsewhere there are grammatical errors, various typefaces are mixed with abandoned, and there are extra spaces everywhere. I understand that Orthodox publishing companies have limited resources, but even some simple proofreading would have helped.
I could see this book as being especially useful for catechumen classes, but it desperately needs a second edition with corrections and improvements.
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by Kallistos Ware
by Alexander Schmemann
by Timothy Ware
by Peter E. Gillquist
