Historical Dictionary of the Orthodox Church - Hardcover

Prokurat, Michael; Peterson, Michael D.; Golitzin, Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810830817 ISBN 13: 9780810830813

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 1996

Synopsis

Of the three major branches of Christianity, Orthodoxy is the least known and most misunderstood. The Historical Dictionary of the Orthodox Church provides students, researchers, and specialists with a desk encyclopedia of the theology and theologians, saints, sinners, places and events of the Eastern Church. Two millennia of the religion are surveyed in over five hundred concise entries, concentrating primarily on the last 150 years. Includes an overview of the early Church through the Byzantine and Russian Empires, into the present multinational Orthodox presence in the ecumenical movement. Many of the general entries cannot be found elsewhere in English, and the comprehensive compilation of biographies of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Orthodox theologians (American, Russian, Greek, and many other nationalities) is published here for the first time. Includes a detailed 4000-year chronology, illustrations, extensive bibliography, and an appendix listing the current canonical patriarchs and autocephalous churches.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Prokurat was Assistant Professor of Scripture at the University of St. Thomas School of Theology at St. Mary's Seminary, Houston. Alexander Golitzin is Assistant Professor at the Department of Theology of Marquette University. Michael D. Peterson, the bibliographer, is the Branch Librarian at the San Anselmo collection of the Graduate Theological Union Library, Berkeley.

Review

Golitzin and Prokurat, the two authors of this much needed dictionary, are both respected scholars among Orthodox and non-Orthodox. This dictionary more than adequately demonstrates their scholarly abilities...a remarkable collection... (Church History)

Prokurat and Peterson have packed a great deal of informative, clear, and useful information into this volume. The focus on Orthodoxy worldwide and the soundness of the scholarship make this an especially useful contribution. (CHOICE)

Accessible...this volume will be a useful reference for both Orthodox and non-Orthodox readers. (Christianity Today)

...well worth the investment... (The Orthodox Church)

...well-written articles...the dictionary is recommended for all religious libraries. (American Reference Books Annual)

...provides...useful information which may be difficult to locate elsewhere. (Journal Of Religious History)

...entirely welcome reference work on the Orthodox tradition...meets a long-felt need...an excellent bibliography...both beginning and more advanced students will consult this bibliography to great advantage...provides concise, accurate, and up-to-date information on a wide range of subjects... (Catholic Historical Review)

...extraordinary in both its scope and its depth...this work clearly outshines its predecessors...while the uniqueness of the Orthodox worldview and way of life is consistently stressed by the authors, they situate Orthodoxy in a much larger religious context...no less impressive than the biographical and geographical entries are those on theological topics...traditional theological categories are treated with conciseness and clarity, on the one hand, and breadth and nuance on the other...an enormously complex topic is made manageable through an insightful application of conceptual framework...a timely publication, and, by virtue of its superb quality, a contribution of enormous importance. (Critical Review of Books on Religion)

The reader who expects dictionaries to be dry and impersonal will find the present volume a pleasant surprise. While scrupulous in their presentation of the facts, the compilers do not necessarily hide the fact that they have opinions...provides a wealth of information on theology and liturgy, as well as history, church life today and prominent personalities past and present. An extensive and valuable, if dauntingly detailed, bibliography, thematically arranged, covers almost one hundred pages at the end of the book. As a mine of fascinating information, attractively presented, and as a major contribution to greater understanding of the Orthodox Church, this volume is to be warmly welcomed...no serious theological library should be without it. (Sobornost)

A useful annotated bibliography that systematically lists primary and secondary sources. (Religious Studies Review)

Edition details

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0810830817
• ISBN 13: 9780810830813
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 464