A revised, expanded, and considerably warmer third edition of one of the few lay-level books to examine Eastern Orthodoxy from a Catholic perspective. The volume remains an apologetic for Catholicism and a respectful critique of Orthodoxy — but now also a genuine, mutually respectful dialogue.
Dave Armstrong has enlisted a very qualified Byzantine Catholic friend, Fr. Deacon Daniel G. Dozier, to participate in the revision. Dozier contributes his thoughts at the end of each chapter; Armstrong counter-replies where they disagree (and sometimes where they enthusiastically agree); silence means agreement. Dozier also contributes a new closing chapter on Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and the Face of Christ.
The chapters cover the Sack of Constantinople and lesser-known Byzantine atrocities; development of doctrine East and West; Purgatory as place or condition; whether Aquinas and Anselm adopt an unbiblical rationalism; theological opinions on the papacy before 1054; the Filioque and the Eastern Church Fathers; Orthodoxy on divorce and contraception; Original Sin between East and West; and theosis in Western spirituality.
Influential beyond its market: The Coming Home Network has placed bulk orders, Logos Bible Software includes it in its theology collection, and in 2011 a Greek-Catholic bishop in Prague asked permission to reprint two hundred copies for the bishops and priests of the Czech Republic. Written so that Orthodox and Eastern Catholic readers can engage it without “seizures or apoplectic fits” — to use Dave’s own phrase.
Inside this book
- The Filioque, the papacy before 1054, and the development of doctrine — compared chapter by chapter
- Purgatory: place, condition, or both? Catholic teaching cleared of common Orthodox caricatures
- Orthodoxy on divorce and contraception, with a Catholic response
- Original sin between East and West — where the real disagreement lies, and where it doesn’t
- A closing chapter by Fr. Deacon Daniel Dozier on the Face of Christ in both traditions
