Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology , livre ebook

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150 pages

English

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Eve Tibbs offers a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the beliefs and practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church for Western readers. Tibbs has devoted her career to translating the Orthodox faith to an evangelical audience and has over twenty years of experience teaching this material to students. Assuming no prior knowledge of Orthodox theology, this survey covers the basic ideas of Eastern Orthodox Christianity from its origins at Pentecost to the present day.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Christian theology

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	20 juillet 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493430918
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0648€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Cover
Endorsements
“Tibbs combines her considerable professional engagement with Western Christian thought and theology with her personal background and experience to present a fresh approach to Orthodox Christianity. Tibbs does not limit herself to simply explaining differences in doctrine and practice between Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism. She provides effective examples and real-life stories that illustrate how Orthodoxy has maintained an entirely distinct character and history, which cannot be understood within the framework of the typical Catholic-Protestant dichotomy and debates. She presents Orthodoxy and its most important claim—of a direct and unbroken continuity with the ancient, historical Church—not as a relic of the past but as a vibrant faith community with its own beliefs, practices, mode of thought, and way of life.”
— Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou , Franciscan School of Theology, University of San Diego
“Because this book was ‘born’ in classes attended mainly by evangelical Protestant theological students at Fuller Theological Seminary, Tibbs’s A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology wonderfully shifts from being an introduction to and apologetic for Eastern Orthodoxy to being a comparative study in dialogue with Western Christianity. Her engaging text reveals a fluency with both Orthodox theological sources—the extensive footnotes will lead readers deeper into many topics—and Protestant and Roman Catholic sources.”
— Anton C. Vrame , Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
“Tibbs’s years of teaching evangelical students have enabled her to write a basic but effective introduction to the beliefs and practices of the Eastern Orthodox Church and its relationship with the Protestant and Catholic traditions.”
— Bradley Nassif , North Park University
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2021 by Eve Tibbs
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2021
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-3091-8
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Dedication
For Steve, with love
Contents
Cover i
Endorsements ii
Half Title Page iii
Title Page v
Copyright Page vi
Dedication vii
Foreword by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew xiii
Preface xv
The Origins of This Book xv
The Intended Audience for This Book xvi
How This Book Should Be Read xvi
Acknowledgments xvii
Introduction 1
Assumptions and Terminology 2
The Approach 3
Change? 4
1. The Orthodox Christian Worldview 7
“Returning” to the Unknown Ancient Church? 7
The Orthodox Church in the Christian World 9
East Is East and West Is West 13
The Primacy of Worship 17
Come and See! 20
“Doing Theology” in Orthodox Christianity 22
2. The Church 29
Joined Together in the Church 29
What Is the Church? Where Is the Church? 30
The Orthodox Church Today 34
What Is “This Rock”? 35
One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic 37
3. Communion and Revelation 41
What Holds the Orthodox Church Together? 41
Communion and Conciliarity 42
Holy Tradition 46
The Eikōn 51
Holy Scripture 52
Holy Icons 57
4. Ministry and Leadership 61
The Royal Vocation of All People 62
First among Equals 65
Three Orders of Clergy 67
Ordination of Women 69
Apostolic Succession 71
5. Christology 77
The Word of God Is a Person 77
Who Is Jesus? 78
Early Challenges to Christology 80
The Rule of Truth 83
Error and Heresy 85
Christology and the Ecumenical Councils 88
Singing Theology 96
6. Who Are We? What Are We to Do? 99
Created for Communion 99
Tragedy in the Garden 103
Being Saved 112
Theosis 113
All Creation Rejoices 115
Humanity, We Have a Problem 117
The Cross and Resurrection 120
7. The Holy Trinity 125
The Revealed Trinity 127
Trinitarian Taxis 129
The Cappadocian “Settlement”: One Essence and Three Persons 130
The Holy Spirit 132
The Church as an Icon of the Trinity 137
8. Orthodox Worship 141
Liturgy 141
An Earthly Heaven 146
Relevant and Ancient 150
The Holy Mysteries 152
Epilogue 165
Appendix: Excerpts from Selected Apostolic and Patristic Writings 167
Excerpts from the Epistle of St. Ignatius to the Philadelphians 167
Excerpts from the Epistle of St. Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 168
Excerpts from Against Heresies 3.3 by St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons 170
Full Text of The Didache: The Lord’s Teaching through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations 171
Glossary of Orthodox Terms 179
Index 191
Back Cover 200
Foreword
Grace and peace from God to the esteemed readership of this publication, beloved brethren and children in the Christ Jesus, our Lord.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
As He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so too is His Holy Body, the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. Often in bumper stickers displayed by some Orthodox Christians in the United States appears the phrase, “The Orthodox Church: Founded in 33 A.D.” This claim may appear oversimplistic and hyperbolic, but it still reflects the reality that those local churches that today call themselves “Orthodox” have a strong awareness about their close ties and their uninterrupted continuity with the origins and beginnings of Christianity in the ancient Eastern Christian centers in Middle East, Asia, and Northern Africa.
However, despite the fact that the Orthodox Christian Faith is today practiced in every corner of the world, with more than 250 million adherents worldwide, its rich history, beliefs, practices, and spirituality remain largely unfamiliar to many in the West. Even in regions where Orthodox Christians are relatively numerous, Orthodox Christianity, which has played an integral role in the development of civilization as we know it today, still is perceived as an exotic and picturesque remnant from an alien past.
If the Orthodox Church were approached only from the perspective of its history and institutions, it could indeed appear foreign and fragmented to an outsider. For this reason, we take great pleasure in recommending this publication, titled A Basic Guide to Eastern Orthodox Theology: Introducing Beliefs and Practices , because it does not follow the abovementioned approach, but, instead, its perception is molded by the author’s experience of the Orthodox sacramental life, its life of worship. The very word “orthodoxy” means both holding the right beliefs and also right worship and practice, the proper way of giving glory ( δόξα ) to God, the communication of the basic truths of the Christian faith in ways that go beyond mere words and are readily accessible to everyone.
In congratulating the author of this textbook, Dr. Paraskevè (Eve) Tibbs, we warmly encourage the readers not only to come to a deeper understanding of the Orthodox Christian Faith, but to acquire a greater appreciation of the role which Eastern Christianity has played, and continues to play, in the West. May our High Priest Jesus Christ bless the readers, and provide them with a newfound awareness of Orthodox theology that will help them to discover—or rediscover—its living tradition.
At the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Winter 2021 Your fervent supplicant before God,

✠ Bartholomew Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
Preface
The Origins of This Book
This book developed out of the course entitled Introduction to Eastern Orthodox Theology, which I developed at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Most students who enroll in this course are evangelical Protestants with great diversity in their personal ecclesial traditions. Typically, very few have any previous knowledge about the Orthodox Church, so my approach is to begin generally with the Orthodox Church in history and in the contemporary Christian world before identifying the most obvious distinguishing features of its theology. This is the approach I have also taken in this book. After broadly situating Orthodox Christianity within the thought-world of the Apostles and global Christianity, I introduce other characteristic themes and attributes of Eastern Orthodoxy, such as the importance of the Church and of worship, of conciliarity, and the essential nature of communion. I subsequently introduce some of the central dogmas of the Faith, especially regarding Christ and the Trinity. Finally, there is an intentional transition from doctrine to the practice of the Faith in chapter 8, with an introduction to the liturgical worship of the Orthodox Church and a brief discussion about its sacramental life.
My experience from having taught systematic theology in an evangelical seminary for many years has also made me aware of a perception that Eastern Orthodoxy is something like an exotic sect of Roman Catholicism, due to obvious commonalities such as saints, priests, sacraments, and a high view of Mary. Therefore, I also strive to distinguish Eastern Orthodox theology from Western the