The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity
Blackwell Companions to Religion
THE BLACKWELL COMPANION TO EASTERN CHRISTIANITY
"Consistently highly readable and engrossing. This is an excellent overview of Eastern Christianity."
Expository Times
"A masterful description of the major living traditions of Eastern Christianity. Its 24 chapters, each written by an accomplished scholar in the field, address the dominant ethnic and cultural categories of Eastern Christianity (Arab, Byzantine, etc.) along with their most characteristic features (liturgy, iconography, and hagiography). Each offers a concise, well-organized, and highly readable overview of the tradition in question, along with a representative bibliography ... Highly recommended."
CHOICE
"Christian emigration, not least from the Middle East, means that there are growing communities of Eastern Christians in the West ... Eastern Christians are now companions to Western; and the latter will learn much about the former from this Blackwell companion."
Church Times
"A distinctive addition to the companion series and to its chosen sphere of knowledge."
Reference Reviews
"A worthwhile collection, and one that should prove useful."
Ecclesiastical History
Recent political events in the Middle East and Eastern Europe have brought Eastern Christianity to global attention. The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity provides an unparalleled account of the history and development of these vital Christian traditions, at the same time placing contemporary events in their full context. The companion provides authoritative and lively essays on the main Eastern Orthodox traditions, such as the Greek, Russian, and Georgian churches, as well as the Oriental Orthodox traditions, including the Armenian, Coptic, and Syrian churches. The in-depth articles, which are written by an international team of experts, offer a comprehensive survey of the history, theology, doctrine, worship, art, culture, and politics that make up the churches of Eastern Christianity. The companion can also be used alongside the respected Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (1999), providing detailed discussions and assessments to complement the dictionary's shorter entries.
Preface: Ken Parry (Macquarie University, Australia).
1. Arab Christianity: David Thomas (University of
Birmingham).
2. Armenian Christianity: Vrej Nerses Nersessian (British
Library, London).
3. Bulgarian Christianity: Ivan Zhelev Dimitrov (University of
Sofia, Bulgaria).
4. Byzantine Christianity: Hannah Hunt (Trinity and All Saints
University College, Leeds).
5. Coptic Christianity: Janet A. Timbie (Catholic University of
America, Washington, DC).
6. Ethiopian Christianity: David Appleyard (School of Oriental
and African Studies, University of London).
7. Georgian Christianity: Stephen H. Rapp, Jr. (Georgia State
University).
8. Greek Christianity after 1453: Vrasidas Karalis (University
of Sydney).
9. Romanian Christianity: Mircea Pacurariu (Sibiu, Romania).
10. Russian Christianity: Basil Lourié (Rector of Parish of
Holy Martyr Elizabeth, St Petersburg).
11. Serbian Christianity: Radmila Radic (Institute of
Contemporary History of Serbia, Belgrade).
12. Syriac Christianity: Heleen Murre-van den Berg (Leiden
University).
13. Eastern Christianity in the United States: Thomas FitzGerald
(Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA).
14. Eastern Christianity in China: Jeremias Norman (University
of Washington, Seattle).
15. Eastern Catholic Christianity: Peter Galadza (Saint Paul
University, Ottawa).
16. Eastern Christian Liturgical Traditions: Eastern Orthodox:
Graham Woolfenden (St Sofia Orthodox Seminary, NJ).
17. Eastern Christian Liturgical Traditions: Oriental Orthodox:
Bryan D. Spinks (Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity
School).
18. Eastern Christian Iconographic and Architectural Traditions:
Eastern Orthodox: Alexander Grishin (Australian National
University, Canberra).
19. Eastern Christian Iconographic and Architectural Traditions:
Oriental Orthodox: Lucy-Anne Hunt (Manchester Metropolitan
University).
20. Eastern Christian Hagiographical Traditions: Eastern
Orthodox: Dimitri Brady (City of Manchester).
21. Eastern Christian Hagiographical Traditions: Oriental
Orthodox: Syriac Hagiography: Eva Synek (University of Vienna).
22. Eastern Christian Hagiographical Traditions: Oriental
Orthodox: Coptic Hagiography: Youhanna Nessim Youssef (Australian
Catholic University).
23. Eastern Christian Hagiographical Traditions: Oriental
Orthodox: Armenian Hagiography: Verj Nerses Nersessian (British
Library, London).
24. Sociology and Eastern Orthodoxy: Peter McMylor and Maria
Vorozhishcheva (University of Manchester).
Index
highly readable and engrossing. This is an excellent overview of
Eastern Christianity." (Expository Times, November 2008)
"A masterful description of the major living traditions of
Eastern Christianity. Its 24 chapters, each written by an
accomplished scholar in the field, address the dominant ethnic and
cultural categories of Eastern Christianity (Arab, Byzantine, etc.)
along with their most characteristic features (liturgy,
iconography, and hagiography). Each offers a concise,
well-organized, and highly readable overview of the tradition in
question, along with a representative bibliography ... Highly
recommended. Academic libraries and theological collections;
upper-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers."
(CHOICE)
"A distinctive addition to the companion series and to its
chosen sphere of knowledge." (Reference Reviews)
"Christian emigration, not least from the Middle East,
means that there are growing communities of Eastern Christians in
the West ... Eastern Christians are now companions to Western;
and the latter will learn much about the former from this Blackwell
Companion." (Church Times)
"A worthwhile collection, and one that should prove useful."
(Eccliastical History)
"The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity is quite
unlike anything else available. It provides a scholarly and
authoritative introduction to Eastern Christianity in its myriad
variety, covering all the different geographical regions from the
Balkans to China and reaching across to the States, and including
all jurisdictions. It gives succinct accounts of their history and
doctrine, with separate sections on liturgy, iconography and
hagiography. Brilliant!"
-Andrew Louth, University of Durham
"This latest addition to the Blackwell Companion series
constitutes the most comprehensive, authoritative and elegant
account of the Eastern Churches ever published. Its twenty-four
chapters, each the work of a specialist, combine full accounts of
the history and life of each church with a series of outstanding
surveys of their liturgical, iconographical and hagiographical
traditions. The surveys of Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox
liturgies are a formidable achievement and will be invaluable to
students of liturgy Eastern and Western. This work is a definitive
synthesis which will stimulate interest in the Eastern Churches at
a time when many of them are under threat because of political
upheavals. It will also provide a starting point for the further
study of their fascinating traditions. Scholarship will long be in
the debt of Ken Parry, the editor and organizing mind behind this
wonderful collection."
-John Healey, University of Manchester
"A fitting companion volume to Parry's The Blackwell
Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, this large enterprise will
become an indispensable reference work for the study of Eastern
Christianities from Egypt to China to USA. Particularly welcome is
its emphasis on varying liturgical, iconographical, architectural,
and hagiographical traditions."
-Pauline Allen, Australian Catholic University,
Brisbane