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Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter E. Gillquist
Publisher: Conciliar Press
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  48 reviews
Sales Rank: 254290
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Upd Su
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 190
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0962271330
Dewey Decimal Number: 281.973
EAN: 9780962271335
ASIN: 0962271330
Publication Date: September 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 43 more reviews...
A journal, not a reference book April 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This journal of the path to Orthodoxy taken by some non-denominational Evangelical Christians (with roots in the "Jesus Movement" of the 1960's and Campus Crusade for Christ) is a wonderful book for anyone seriously considering conversion to the Orthodox Christian faith.
However, don't expect your non-Orthodox friends to gain great insight from it.
It is best received by inquirers, not as an "Orthodox evangelical tool" to pass along to your protestant friends.
A fascinating journey to an ancient faith February 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Peter Guilquist's Becoming Orthodox is a fascinating journey to discovering an ancient faith by a group of modern day evangelical Christians.
It provides details on how this group of faithful came to question their status quo faith and to yearn for answers in the historical church, its teachings, its practices and most importantly where in the present day this historical church could be found?
Their journey led them to discover the Eastern Orthodox Church as the true historical Church of Jesus Christ and His Apostles handed down to us through ages through the bishops by Apostolic Succession.
Complicated theological issues are treated with a clear and simple approach.
 Not a book I would recommend November 29, 2007
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
In this book, written as an autobiography, Gilquist explains to the reader why he converted to the "true" church. It would seem that in this age of tolerance, few would listen to a man saying that only his denomination is right, but that is the sum of what Gilquist is promoting. It seems that the book is written to convert Protestants to Eastern Orthodoxy, while also getting in some digs on Catholics. Gilquist, after all, is in charge of evangelism (shall we say proselytizing) for his denomination. Left out of the book is the sad story of the Ben Lomond excommunication of many of Gilquist's fellow Orthodox converts, after they disagreed with their bishop, who excommunicated them by fax and gave control of their church building to the few who remained faithful to him. It presents Orthodoxy as a utopian ending to his quest, but he leaves out the warts and tries to slide unpalatable Orthodox doctrine under the door whenever he can. For instance, while quoting Jesus' statment that scripture is more important than tradition, he sidesteps that by saying that Jesus was referring to "bad" tradition and not "good" tradition. Good traditions, of course, are the ones that Gilquist believes. Bad traditions are the ones other churches hold to. This is not supported by the facts. For those wishing to convert to Orthodoxy, Gilquist's book will be helpful. For those who want a balanced analysis of the issues, I recommend other books: "The Gospel According to Rome" by McCarthy (although about Catholicism, the issues are mostly the same as Orthodoxy and Catholicism are very similar), "The Protestant's Guide to Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy" by Rials, or "Why Angels Fall" by Clark.
 Stunning / A real Gem November 11, 2007
First off, I give the author much credit and praise for a very well written treatise concerning the metamorphosis that occured when encountering this ancient Orthodox faith. Secondly, In my opinion, the book was realistic, unequivocal and believable in every aspect, given the myriad of utopian philosophies out there besides pseudo theologians. Thirdly, I found nothing prosaic as I easily glided through its pages. Lastly, I perceived the author was honest and forthright regarding his trying journey. I might add here that I particularly liked the way the author described the revelation of this little known "Pearl of Great Price" that has existed pretty much unchanged throughout history. I am convinced by this book that the utopians have missed the mark in no uncertain terms. The Den of IniquityThe Screwtape LettersUltimate Things: An Orthodox Christian Perspective on the End Times
A manifesto for "introducing North America to the riches of this [Eastern Orthodox] historic faith" October 7, 2006
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
The quotes are the last words in the book. This 'manifesto' (imho) is not another 'conversion' story but rather the true story of a spiritual journey; a journey embarked by a group of fervent evangelical Protestants (Campus Crusade for Christ leaders) and which lasted over a decade. Peter E. Gillquist (the author) is a brilliant marketeer and presenter of his group's spiritual journey, of their search for the ancient faith and original New Testament Church.
The book is devided into three sections:
Part I describes the group's pilgrimage through the history of Christendom. This was done by assigning each members an area of research, such as church history pre-reformation and post-reformation, Biblical doctrine, and Christian worship. As Gillquist sumarizes this new journey in the last chapter, "the change came for us when we stopped trying to judge and reevaulate Church history, and for once invited Church history to judge and evaluate us."
Part II entitled "Orthodoxy and the Bible" is the meat of the book (imho). Here Gillquist does an excellent job of explaining (and not overpowering or over-analyzing) the most mis-understood and puzzling components of the Orthodox faith and praxis. These topics include:
a) explaining the use of all 5 senses in Orthodox worship,
b) the reasons for having a Christian historical tradition ("Traditon is there not just to preserve the Bible, but also to interpret it."),
c) using the title "Father" (Fr.),
d) why should we honor Mary (aka Theotokos - God-bearer),
e) and why does a Christian cross oneself?
Part III is a narative highlighting the lows and highs of a decade of pilgrimage before the Evangelical Orthodox Church (EOC - the name of over 2000 Protestants, 17 dioces who were becoming Orthodox) had been accepted and included into the Antiochian Orthodox Church.
As my title suggestions, this books is a great marketing tool for anyone interested in the Orthodox Church and Faith. One should not expect doctoral answers to difficult questions from this 191 page book (although a lot of Biblical verses are quoted and used for explanation). Personally I found the writing style very easy to read (the larger font and spacing definitely helped), coherent and logical, and even entertainining in some spots. I wish Gillquist would have written more about the ones who dropped out early on from the church history research, or the priests/bishops in EOC who did not join the Antiochian Orthodox Church. As a liturgical Protestant I certainly do not agree with the statement that "to forsake the Church, you must also forsake the faith" (pg.143) and I wish Gillquist would have spent more time talking about ecclesiology and its view and development throughout the history of Christendom.
Nevertheless, I found the tone, style, and content of this book to be non-polemical, Christian, and informative. I would recommend it for any Christian (Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox) interested in why a large group (over 2000) of hard-core evangelical Campus-Crusade-for-Christ Christian activists became and joined the Eastern Orthodox Church. This book is also beneficial to any non-Christian intersted in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
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