Andrew LOUTH. Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2013. pp 172. 22.00 pb. ISBN: 978-0-8308-4045-8. Reviewed by Walter N. SISTO, D’Youville College, Buffalo, NY 14201

Andrew Louth, who is best known for his patristic scholarship, provides a concise and compelling introduction to Orthodox Theology. His text Introducing Eastern Orthodox Theology is a vivid, personalistic and approachable introduction that orients the reader to the ethos of Orthodox theology.

Louth contends that to understand Orthodoxy, one must understand the starting point of Orthodox theology: to stand before the mystery of God. (4)  Orthodox theology begins with an encounter in the Church with God that involves our participation in God’s love. He writes:“the only knowledge that counts, the only knowledge truly Orthodox, is participation in God’s movement in love towards us in creation and Incarnation by our response of love.” (122) Orthodox theology is primarily encountering the living Christ in the context of the Divine Liturgy.  It is apropos that his book, which spans nine chapters on important themes in Orthodoxy including “the doctrine of creation” and “Who is God? The doctrine of the Trinity?” includes an extended quotes and reflections on various liturgical customs, prayers, icons and feasts. Divine Liturgy is not only the inspiration for Orthodox theology, but it is the test for whether a theology is orthodox. (140) However, Orthodox theology is not liturgical fundamentalism or escapism, but rather an engagement of the living Church with itsmilieu; this engagement is mediated and inspired by the Scriptures, the writings of the Church Fathers, the conciliar teachings, lives of the saints, the bishops; however, it is an engagement that is nurtured by an encounter with Christ in the Church’s worship. 

Louth’s approach results in nine engaging and succinct chapters on important themes in Orthodox theology. For example, chapter three, which is entitled “the doctrine of creation,” begins with a quotation from the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom that illustrates the main thesis of the chapter that creation owes everything it is and has to God and the absolute difference between God and creation. He provides a succinct yet comprehensive account of what various Church Fathers, bishops (e.g., Philaret of Moscow), and twentieth century Russian religious thinkers like Pavel Florensky have written on this topic. After establishing how the Orthodox tradition relates to God and creation, he offers examples of three legitimate avenues for expressing the antinomy of God and creation: the doctrine of the logoi of creation, the doctrine of the essence and energies, and the doctrine of Sophiology. The fact that Louth includes “Sophiology” is interesting, as Sergius Bulgakov and his sophiological system remain controversial in Orthodoxy due to the condemnation of his thought by two patriarchates in the middle of the twentieth century.  Interestingly, Bulgakov is an important source for Louth, which Louth uses to explicate Orthodox thought on eschatology and miracles.

Louth is aware of this “suspicion” and accurately notes that theologians committed to Bulgakov’s thought often agree that everything Bulgakov says could be said without invoking Bulgakov’s controversial ideas of “Sophia” or “Holy Wisdom”. (44) Nevertheless, Louth masterfully analyzes Bulgakov’s complex and at times confusing theory on the relationship between God and the world in a few sentences. He writes, “[t]he fundamental intuition of Sophiology is relatively easy to enunciate. It is that the gulf between the uncreated God and creation, brought into being out of nothing, does not put creation in opposition to God; rather, Wisdom constitutes a kind of metaxu, ‘between’ : between God and man/creation…Wisdom is the face of God turned towards his creation, and the face that creation, in humankind, turns towards God.” (44-45)

Chapter four, the central chapter of his book, on “Who is Christ?” continues this personalistic, engaging approach. The chapter begins by confronting modern, biblical historical scholarship on the historical Jesus that has made what seems obvious, “shadowy and ambiguous.” (50)  His point is that three centuries of biblical scholarship have revealed that you cannot “go behind the Gospels as authenticated by the Church.” (52) If you discount the faith of the Christ’s resurrection of the Christians that recorded and compiled the Bible, there will be nothing left for us to make our own judgments, for if we are consistent scholars we must discount virtually everything said about Jesus. (52) I do wish Louth would have elaborated on this very important point and engaged how Orthodox theologians use biblical/historical scholarship in more detail. However, Louth confronts one of the greatest difficulties expressing Christology to a modern audience and offers important insights that prepares his reader for expressing Orthodox teaching on who Christ is and the importance of Christ’s experience and overcoming of death. (55) The chapter concludes with a concise overview of the dogma of Christ and the debates and conciliar decrees that occupied the first seven centuries of the Church.

Louth’s book is a welcomed and illuminating introduction to Orthodox theology. Louth’s writing style is not pedantic, but rather accessible, resulting ina concise introduction that is amenable for the beginner but also the specialist on not only what Orthodox believe but why and how they articulate this belief. His “Guide to further readings” is particularly welcomed as it provides not only important resources to central patristic, conciliar and contemporary works in Orthodox theology, but also recommendations to formal studies of Orthodox theology. This text is well-suited for an introduction course on Orthodoxy.