by DAVID BROWN | CLEARNFO.com | December 28, 2023

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

For me, ‘Thinking Orthodox’ was a page turner … answering questions I have about Orthodox Christianity and answering many questions I didn’t know I should be asking.  In short, this book represents a feast of new breakthroughs and understandings for me personally. Until recently, I thought the Christian world consisted of the Roman Catholics and their rebellious stepchildren, the Protestants.  I was unaware that Orthodoxy was and is the root of both: the Catholics spun off from their Orthodox foundations in 1054, later the Protestants separated from the Catholics in 1517.   The result of these departures –from the consistent and unbroken tradition of Orthodoxy– created thousands of Protestant denominations and a Church in Rome whose Pope claims universal jurisdiction.  In sum, Rome added to Orthodoxy’s unbroken tradition and Protestants subtracted from Orthodoxy in their earnest efforts to correct the many missteps of Rome after Rome’s break with Orthodoxy in 1054. Both the Protestants and the Roman Catholics, however, are left without the full context or the full gospel of their faith, and like me, most are unaware of what they are missing.

In ‘Thinking Orthodox‘, Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou introduced me to a new and useful word called the ‘phronema‘ (mindset or outlook).  She describes the Protestant and the Roman Catholic phronema and then shows how the Orthodox phronema differs.   I was left with a much clearer understanding of what it means to be Orthodox and the impact Western philosophy has had on both Rome and the Protestants.  In this regard, Protestants and Roman Catholics are more alike in their Western thought processes than Orthodox.

Thinking Orthodox: Understanding and Acquiring the Orthodox Christian Mind

• Author: Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou
• Paperback: 400 pages
• Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches
• Publisher: Ancient Faith Publishing
• by Dr. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou

What does it mean to “think Orthodox”? What are the unspoken and unexplored premises and presumptions underlying what Christians believe? Orthodox Christianity is based on preserving the mind of the early Church, its phronema. Dr. Jeannie Constantinou brings her more than forty years’ experience as a professor, Bible teacher, and speaker to bear in explaining what the Orthodox phronema is, how it can be acquired, and how that phronema is expressed in true Orthodox theology – as practiced by those who are properly qualified by both training and a deep relationship with Christ.

About the Author: Dr. Eugenia Constantinou hosts the popular podcast Search the Scriptures Live! on Ancient Faith Radio. She has been a professor and visiting lecturer on the Bible, patristic interpretation of Scripture, and early Christianity at Orthodox and non-Orthodox universities and schools of theology. She holds master’s degrees in theology from the University of San Diego, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, and Harvard Divinity School; a juris doctorate from Pepperdine University School of Law; and a Ph.D. from Université Laval in Quebec City in the history of biblical interpretation. She is married to Fr. Costas, a Greek Orthodox priest.