An insider’s account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, from its beginning in the era of Jesus and the Apostles to the modern age In this short, accessible account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, John McGuckin begins by tackling the question “What is the Church?” His answer is a clear, historically and theologically rooted portrait of what the Church is for Orthodox Christianity and how it differs from Western Christians’ expectations. McGuckin explores the lived faith of generations, including sketches of some of the most important theological themes and individual personalities of the ancient and modern Church. He interweaves a personal approach throughout, offering to readers the experience of what it is like to enter an Orthodox church and witness its liturgy. In this astute and insightful book, he grapples with the reasons why many Western historians and societies have overlooked Orthodox Christianity and provides an important introduction to the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Christian World.

The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History

Religion & Spirituality

McGuckin, John Anthony

Christian Books & Bibles

Yale University Press

John Anthony McGuckin, one of the world's leading scholars of ancient Christianity, has synthesized a lifetime of work to produce the most comprehensive and accessible history of the Christian movement during its first thousand years. The Path of Christianity takes readers on a journey from the period immediately after the composition of the Gospels, through the building of the earliest Christian structures in polity and doctrine, to the dawning of the medieval Christian establishment. McGuckin explores Eastern and Western developments simultaneously, covering grand intellectual movements and local affairs in both epic scope and fine detail. The Path of Christianity is divided into two parts of twelve chapters each. Part one treats the first millennium of Christianity in linear sequence, from the second to the eleventh centuries. In addition to covering key theologians and conciliar decisions, McGuckin surveys topics like Christian persecution, early monasticism, the global scope of ancient Christianity, and the formation of Christian liturgy. Part two examines key themes and ideas, including biblical interpretation, war and violence, hymnography, the role of women, attitudes to wealth, and early Christian views about slavery and sexuality. McGuckin gives the reader a sense of the real condition of early Christian life, not simply what the literate few had to say. Written for student and scholar alike, The Path of Christianity is a lively, readable, and masterful account of ancient Christian history, destined to be the standard for years to come.

The Path of Christianity: The First Thousand Years

History

Ancient Civilizations

IVP Academic

In the early fifth century the Christian world was racked by one of the fiercest theological disputes it had known since the Arian crisis of the previous century. The center of debate turned on the nature of the personhood of Christ, and how divine and human characteristics could combine in Jesus without rendering his subjectivity hopelessly divided, or without reducing his authentic humanness to an insubstantiality. These arguments soon polarized into the conflict between two great churches, Alexandria and Constantinople, and their powerful archbishops, St Cyril (d. 444) and Nestorius (d. ca. 452) respectively. Cyril is, arguable, the most important patristic theologian ever to deal with the issues of Christology. The text here translated is one of his most important and approachable writings, composed in the aftermath of the Council of Ephesus (431) to explain his doctrine to an international audience. He argues here for the single divine presence but fostered and enhanced by it. Accordingly, for St Cyril, Christology becomes a paradigm for the transfigured and redeemed life of the Christian. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the theology and spirituality of the fathers, in the ancient church's use of scripture, and the way in which the church once creatively expressed its thinking through the media of philosophy and the natural sciences. John Anthony McGuckin, an Orthodox theologian, is Reader in Patristic and Byzantine Theology at the University of Leeds, England, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London. His previous books include: St Symeon the New Theologian: Chapters and Discourses; The Transfiguration of Christ in Scripture and Tradition; Selected Poems of St Gregory Nazianzen; St Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy; and Byzantium and Other Poems.

On the Unity of Christ (Popular Patristics)

Cyril, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria

St Vladimirs Seminary Pr

This version is out of print and has been modified. Please check out ISBN - 9780881418644

St Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography

World

St Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 390-391) is one of the most important theologians of the early Christian Church and was without question one of the most learned men of his generation. This present study is the first critical analysis of the man, his writings and inner life in the English language. It offers definitive insight into the mind of one of the greatest protagonists of Nicene theology, and through his extraordinary personality, opens a window onto the world of late antiquity and the place of the Christian Church in it. 
Alongside Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus is known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers. He worked to bring unity to a church deeply divided by the Arian crisis, and to demonstrate the perennial significance of the Nicene faith. He was the chief architect of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity of co-equal persons in God and an important Christological writer whose works were definitive for the Council of Chalcedon. The fathers of Chalcedon acclaimed him as "Gregory the Theologian," the title by which he has subsequently been known in the Eastern Church. In his dream of a world-culture renewed by the spirit of the Gospel he stands as the veritable founding father of the Byzantine religious synthesis, and his own conception of he vision of God as light made him and important authority for Byzantine spiritual writers. 
John McGuckin is Professor of Early Church History at Union Theological Seminary in New York.

A study, both biblical and patristic, that seeks to bridge the gap that has developed between dogmatics and biblical exegesis. It presents the basic texts on the transfiguration of Christ in Mark and their exegesis, then discusses the interpretation of this theme in the early Greek and Latin Church Fathers. Also included are translations of the basic Latin and Greek texts dealing with the transfiguration.

The Transfiguration of Christ in Scripture and Tradition (Studies in the Bible & Early Christianity)

Edwin Mellen Pr

Based on the acclaimed two-volume Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (Wiley Blackwell, 2011), and now available for students, faculty, and clergy in a concise single-volume format <ul>
<li>An outstanding reference work providing an accessible English language account of the key historical, liturgical, doctrinal features of Eastern Orthodoxy, including the Non-Chalcedonian churches</li> <li>Explores the major traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy in detail, including the Armenian, Byzantine, Coptic, Ethiopic, Slavic, Romanian, Syriac churches</li> <li>Uniquely comprehensive, it is edited by one of the leading scholars in the field and provides authoritative articles by a team of leading international academics and Orthodox figures</li> <li>Spans the period from Late Antiquity to the present, encompassing subjects including history, theology, liturgy, monasticism, sacramentology, canon law, philosophy, folk culture, architecture, archaeology, martyrology, and hagiography</li> <li>Structured alphabetically and is topically cross-indexed, with entries ranging from 100 to 6,000 words</li> </ul>

The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity

Reference

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

Wiley/Blackwell

The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture

This important work offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Orthodox Church available, providing a detailed account of its historical development, as well as exploring Orthodox theology and culture Written by one of the leading Orthodox historians and theologians in the English-speaking world Offers an in-depth engagement with the issues surrounding Orthodoxy's relationship to the modern world, including political, cultural and ethical debates Considers the belief tradition, spirituality, liturgical diversity, and Biblical heritage of the Eastern Churches; their endurance of oppressions and totalitarianisms; and their contemporary need to rediscover their voice and confidence in a new world-order Recipient of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 award

<ul>
<li>This important work offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Orthodox Church available, providing a detailed account of its historical development, as well as exploring Orthodox theology and culture</li> <li>Written by one of the leading Orthodox historians and theologians in the English-speaking world</li> <li>Offers an in-depth engagement with the issues surrounding Orthodoxy's relationship to the modern world, including political, cultural and ethical debates</li> <li>Considers the belief tradition, spirituality, liturgical diversity, and Biblical heritage of the Eastern Churches; their endurance of oppressions and totalitarianisms; and their contemporary need to rediscover their voice and confidence in a new world-order</li> <li>Recipient of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2009 award</li> </ul>

To read any one of these ancient meditations—to repeat it to yourself, to explore its implications and its relevance to your daily life, to savor it—is to begin the soul's ascent on the path of mystical knowledge. Collected here are three hundred short meditations by Christian contemplatives from the second to the fourteenth centuries. Many were written by the Desert Fathers, the legendary monks who fled the decadence of city life to dedicate themselves to the life of the spirit in the deserts of Egypt and Palestine. The greatest of these teachers became experienced psychic guides, experts in mapping the stages of spiritual development, who taught and corresponded with disciples from all over Christendom. The meditations are arranged under three traditional headings (1) practice, geared primarily at developing sustained attention and discipline in the beginner; (2) theory, presenting guidance in overcoming obstacles that commonly arise in intermediate stages of spiritual practice; and (3) gnosis, reflections to be shared among the more spiritually advanced. From the Philokalia to Origen to Symeon the New Theologian, these ancient voices speak directly to the soul, as relevant today as they were centuries ago.

The Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on the Soul's Ascent from the Desert Fathers and Other Early Christian Contemplatives

Shambhala

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McGuckin, John Anthony. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McGuckin, John Anthony

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McGuckin, John Anthony. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History

The Path of Christianity: The First Thousand Years

On the Unity of Christ (Popular Patristics)

St Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography

St Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography

The Transfiguration of Christ in Scripture and Tradition (Studies in the Bible & Early Christianity)

The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity

The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture

The Orthodox Church: An Introduction to its History, Doctrine, and Spiritual Culture

The Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on the Soul's Ascent from the Desert Fathers and Other Early Christian Contemplatives