Orthodoxy in The Books Store

This is a groundbreaking new book that examines the growing trend toward religious orthodoxy among today’s young adults. Author and journalist Colleen Carroll offers strong opinions on how this movement might transform an American society steeped in moral relativism and secularism.

The illuminated letters in this alphabet are Irish Uncale Majuscule, an ancient script which was developed during the sixth to ninth centuries. The illustrations are done in the medieval manner using gold leaf on red clay and egg tempera color work. The imagery combines traditional saints, narrative, and symbols of the Eastern Orthodox, Roman and Anglican Catholic Faiths.

Each illumination is accompanied by an original poem reflecting on the spiritual subject being introduced.

A short, simple prayer is included in each letter, which can be used as a meditative reflection on the subject of the illumination.

In considering the issue which has divided Christians in the past and still divides them today, a group of Orthodox theologians from different theological perspectives reflect upon the scriptural passages which single out Peter among the disciples of Jesus. Koulomzine ("Peter's Place in the Primitive Church") and Kesich ("Peter's Primacy in the New Testament and the Early Tradition"), as exegetes, read the passages in the light of contemporary New Testament research. John Meyendorff ("St Peter in Byzantine Theology") looks at the history of exegesis: how were these passages read at the time when East and West split, quarrelling about the issue of authority in the Church? Finally, Schmemann ("The Idea of Primacy in Orthodox Ecclesiology") and Afanassieff ("The Church Which Presides in Love") look at the meaning of "primacy" as a permanent, through changing, factor of "catholic" ecclesiology.

At a time when an ecumenical reconciliation between Rome and Eastern Christianity appears possible'but when new tensions (or are they actually the old ones?) are surging again'these studies set forth the Orthodox position of the primacy of Peter.

CONTRIBUTORS: John Meyendorff is dean and professor of church history and patristics at St Vladimir's Seminary; Alexander Schmemann (†1983) was dean of St Vladimir's Seminary and taught church history and liturgical theology (1962-1983); Nicholas Afanassieff (†1966) was a professor of canon law and church history at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris; Nicholas Koulomzine is a professor of New Testament at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris; Veselin Kesich is professor emeritus of New Testament at St Vladimir's Seminary.

Veiled in the smoke of incense, the Eastern Orthodox Church has long been an enigma to the Western world. Yet, as Frederica Mathewes-Green discovered, it is a vital, living faith, rich in ritual beauty and steadfast in integrity. Utilizing the framework of the Orthodox calendar, Mathewes-Green chronicles a year in the life of her small Orthodox mission church, eloquently illustrating the joys and blessings an ancient faith can bring to the worshipers of today.