Monday, October 24, 2011

The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy now available for pre-order!


Big news everyone! My first book The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy: How Traditionalist Ideology and “Changeless” Canons Hurt the Orthodox Church is now available for pre-order from the publisher's website. The blurb from the publisher states that The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy is an amusing yet poignant critique of the so-called Traditionalist Movement. It examines this modern day phenomenon by looking at the more outlandish Canons that traditionalists insist all Orthodox Christians embrace. Many of these supposedly changeless laws - from priests having ever longer beards to saying that all the Canons are "divinely inspired" - are silly, or even barbaric.”

Barbaric? Yes! That is, if you think excommunicating women for having a miscarriage and claiming that rape victims may have secretly wanted to be raped, barbaric. Contrary to popular opinion, Church law doesn't merely consist of a collection of ecclesiastical regulations which apply only to Liturgical rites and functions, like determining how many candles should sit upon the altar of a Christian Church. Canon law also consists of archaic and controversial laws which allows Christians to own slaves, forbids Christians from eating Matzo bread, and claims that masturbation is the work of Satan. While such Church laws find their origins in the Church of the Middle (or Dark) Ages, they actually remain on the books and enforceable within the second largest Christian Church on earth: the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy seeks to expose these Church laws to the light of day and encourages all Christians to not run from Christianity's dark past, but to learn from and move beyond its ancient prejudices and superstitions.

While the book focuses upon Eastern Orthodoxy's modern day struggle between conservatives and progressives, it also helps bring into focus the fact that Christianity is not, nor has ever been perfect. I argue that old is not always better and that traditions are made to be broken, just as they have always been, from the very beginnings of Christianity itself. After all, a religion founded by a poor Jewish peasant who challenged and questioned religious leaders' hypocrisy, became a religion where religious leaders were to be obeyed without question in the course of just a few generations. The teachings ascribed to Jesus of Nazareth were lost in the shuffle of man made customs and regulations which have their origin not in Jesus the man, but in ancient Roman culture. The Crazy Side of Orthodoxy will give you a new perspective on the ecclesiastical regulations commonly known as Canon law, which is often far more entertaining and hilarious than most people could ever imagine.

7 comments:

  1. The basis of the EOC failure is three issues:

    1. Tradition
    2. Centralized hierarchy
    3. We alone are right

    These issues have led the EO into corruption, failure, irrelevancy and church death.

    How a church thinks from its basis determines its outcome in the real world.

    A church based upon tradition, centralized hierarchy and we alone are right cannot paradigm shift to innovation to change to relevancy.

    There is not enough character space here to fully explain why these three issues will not be changed by the EO and why that means it is over for the EOC.

    The EOC failure is not the fundamentalists. It is the very basis of the church itself. The ultra conservatives are only a symptom of the true problem the entire EOC has.

    America's two largest jurisdictions are corrupt, failed, irrelevant and dying. They are circular without solution by applying the basis problems to the failure problem as it solution.

    Ashley Nevins

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  2. Before I spend my money and time on your book, I'd like to ask if you interface with the writings of Balsamon, Zonaras, St. Nikodemos? Also, do you reference scholarly treatments of the canonical tradition such as Archbishop Peter L'Huillier, Lewis Patsavos, Fr. Patrick Viscuso, and Metropolitan Panteleimon?

    If your book is mostly your personal ruminations, I would probably not be interested in reading it, but if you address/engage the existing scholarly and pastoral work done in this area and propose a different paradigm/direction, I would be interested in reading what you have to say.

    Yours in Christ,
    Fr. Anastasios

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  3. Fr. Anastasios,

    I do directly interface with the writings of Balsamon, Zonaras and St. Nikodemus. Each chapter begins with a Canon, and then one of their commentary or commentaries on the Canon itself. My Bibliography contains all the works that influenced me in writing the book, including William J. Chriss and Fr. Alexander Rentel. I am also familiar by Fr. Patrick's work though he is not in the bibliography, which likely is an oversight on my part. The publisher did ask me to remove my footnotes, for fear they would scare away the average reader -- which is whom the book was always intended for. The book is not meant to be a scholarly treatment for the academic, but rather an "uncovering" of a side of the Church most people are not familiar with.

    It does not directly provide an "alternative" paradigm of application of the Canons as long as we stick to the current application. It does call for a new paradigm of belief as to what the Canons actually are though . . . that some of them should be expunged from actually being enforceable (though not removed from the record because records and history should not be "erased") and B. that they no one should think Canon law is equally binding, authoritative, or even equally "holy."

    The book is a popularization of the Canons for the sake of this and it is a refutation of the belief that we, the Orthodox Church, need to do things "because the Canons say so." This is IMO an untenable position because the Canons "say" all sorts of things, as you well know.

    Yes, I address the historical contexts to the Canons -- I do so at great length, which is my whole point that many people are not aware of. The book was also vetted by a source the publisher provided and yes -- it does contain my "personal" thoughts -- but always in my use of satire. Satire and humor is IMO the best way to deal with difficult topics.

    If I had to sum up the book I would say that it is a popularization of Church history, the history of Canons, and how (contrary to what many claim) the Canons are not inspired by God, nor are they something which can be universally applied and used in today's world -- and that a few of them are simply morally wrong.

    If this is not what you're looking for in a book, you are free not to read it. However, I'm confident that the research and yes, scholarship that went into it is sound -- yet it's important to keep in mind it's target audience, it's goals, and the fact that it is satirical in nature.

    Hope this helps . . . .

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  4. Thanks for your response! Your outlining of the methodology is helpful for me and I'm sure for other prospective readers.

    Fr. A.

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  5. Not a problem Father. I appreciate the opportunity to answer all honest questions such as yours.

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  6. Got my copy and I would like to say that this book is very, very well researched and written! I love the fact that you have quotes and point us to where we too, can find them! I really don't like when someone writes about sensitive issues and then never backs anything up with fact/sources.
    You are an amazing writer and I now can't wait for your next book!!!!

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  7. Yep, its ruminations that lead to ruination.

    Save your money Father, if you have not already wasted it.

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