Rating: 
Summary: Good Start for Mainline Protestants
Review: A good introduction to Orthodox Christianity from an enlighhtened Protestant position. Clendenin is neither too critical nor overly accepting in his overview. His viewpoint seems to be middle-of-the-road among protestants - neither Liberal or Conservative. I assume Clendenin himself is a Presbyterian from his comments in the prologue, but he doesn't spend alot of time talking about denominations.Clendenin has spent many years in Russia as a visiting professor, so he has has exposure both to the West and to Orthodoxy on its home turf.
Rating:
Summary: An important book in my spiritual journey
Review: After discovering the Eastern Orthodox Church through a lecture by Frank Schaeffer, and then reading his thought-provoking book, "Dancing Alone," I wanted to read a more objective description of the Orthodox faith. This book by Daniel Clendenin exceeded my expectations in its fairness, and like some other readers, I came away wondering why Clendenin did not convert. After two and a half years of study, I did. This book is an excellent introduction to Orthodoxy for readers raised in the Western tradtion. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Good starting point for western readers
Review: Clendenin does a remarkably even-handed job presenting an introduction to the Orthodox faith. He isn't Orthodox himself, nor is he from an Eastern culture, but he has obviously kept an open mind during his travels to Russia, from which he has drawn nearly all his insights. The only major drawback to the book stems from this: Clendenin is limited by focusing so heavily on his experience with the Orthodox church in Russia, which has a distinctive set of circumstances unique to itself. Anyone interested in the Orthodox faith would do well to supplement this book with others in order to gain a broader perspective. But as an introduction for Western readers, Clendenin's book is a great place to start.
Rating:
Summary: A View from the West
Review: Dan Clendenin does a great job in evaluating and presenting the doctrines of Orthodox Christianity from an "outsiders" point of view. Although an outsider, he is certainly no stranger to Orthodoxy, having spent many years in Russia, serving as a visiting professor of Christianity at Moscow State University. Clendenin provides clear, concise discussion of Orthodoxy and presents it quite fairly. In one sense, this is no surprise, for according to an article he wrote in Christianity Today, he nearly converted to Orthodoxy, recognizing in it much to be admired. In the end, though, he decided to stay with his "evangelical distinctives." If you are looking for a solid, balanced and fair analysis of the Orthodox Church from someone who has neither a standard to bear nor an axe to grind, this is it! I strongly recommend this book to any student of the Church, student of theology, and anyone who is just plain interested in the Orthodox Church.
Rating:
Summary: fascinating read aubout christian east als west
Review: Daniel B. Clendenin does not that much give an introduction into orthodoxy, as do a marvellous job in exploring the differences between eastern and western theology and a fair and (though nmot enough) critical assesment of it.
As a western convert zu the orthodox church I was delighted and fascinated to find many of my perceptions so exquisitely put. His exposition of the different approaches when it come to eg. rationalism as main theological instrument versus the experience and Union with god are well observed and touch fundamental issues.
His critisism of Orthodoxy is very mild. the reason for this might be, that he does not dare zu critisize to much, being an evangelical, or that his critics got lost on me, because evangelical thinking is very alien to my perspective.
So if you are interested in the differences, go for it, if you are interested in a critisism of the way we orthodox sometimes treat our own tradiation, read Alexander Schmemann.
Rating: 
Summary: Means well, but short, repetitive, and unsubstantial
Review: Daniel B. Clendenin's EASTERN ORTHODOXY CHRISTIAN: A Western Perspective seeks to introduce the history and theology of this little-known branch of Christianity to Protestants. An evangelical Protestant, Clendenin became acquainted with Eastern Orthodoxy while teaching at Moscow State University. He is convinced that Protestants and Orthodox have much to learn from each other, and that Protestants should approach the East with a "hermeneutic of love".
The work is divided into seven sections. The first is a general introduction and the second a brief history. The next four sections each deal with an aspect of Orthodox theology unfamiliar or confusing to Protestants. These are the emphasis on apophatic revelation, the use of icons, the relationship of Scripture and Tradition, and theosis. In the final section Clendenin critiques Orthodoxy from his Protestant perspective--dealing frankly with the frequency of nationalism and even racism in Orthodox churches--but nonetheless trying to appreciate its many fine qualities. Clendenin does not have the space to go into much depth on any of these topics, however.
I was not too impressed by the book. Much of the work is repetitive, and in a volume of only 180 pages such repetition makes the work very insubstantial indeed. Clendenin also makes several errors which caused me to doubt his familiarity with the history of the Church. He writes, for example, that the Slavs were converted in 988, when this marked only the conversion of Kyiv Rus and most Slavs were already evangelised over a century earlier. His focus is entirely on the church in Russia and Greece/Byzantium and the contributions of other regions are ignored. The work is written in a journalistic style with frequent resorts to quotations and a great deal of footnotes, suggesting that the author is not terribly specialised in the subject at hand.
For Westerners curious about Orthodoxy, I think there is no better introduction than Kallistos Ware's THE ORTHODOX CHURCH, an instant classic when it was first published over forty years ago, and available in a relatively new updated edition. Clendenin's work is admirable for its attempt to build dialogue between Protestants and Orthodox, but his work is really too short.
Rating:
Summary: Necessary for anyone seeking to glean from all traditions
Review: I have a particular interest in Patristics (the Fathers and early Christian studies), and this book was an invaluable tool in exposing this branch of Christianity to me for the first time. It is (1) easy to read, (2) extremely irenic in tone (see other reviews), (3) doesn't delve into intricacies beyond an introductory level without oversimplifying, and (4) presents a cogent case for Orthodox's relevancy to Evangelicals. For those seeking to add to their faith in a substantial way, as well as broaden one's perspectives a little on ancient Christianity, this book cannot be overlooked.
I look forward to reading his (edited) Orthodox theology reader!
Rating:
Summary: Necessary for anyone seeking to glean from all traditions
Review: I have a particular interest in Patristics (the Fathers and early Christian studies), and this book was an invaluable tool in exposing this branch of Christianity to me for the first time. It is (1) easy to read, (2) extremely irenic in tone (see other reviews), (3) doesn't delve into intricacies beyond an introductory level without oversimplifying, and (4) presents a cogent case for Orthodox's relevancy to Evangelicals. For those seeking to add to their faith in a substantial way, as well as broaden one's perspectives a little on ancient Christianity, this book cannot be overlooked.
I look forward to reading his (edited) Orthodox theology reader!
Rating:
Summary: You May Just Fall In Love
Review: I read this book back in the Spring of 2001 after reading "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop Ware. In my serach about the Orthodox faith, I found after reading this book I was indeed searching for teh Orthodox faith. This book was a good influence in my conversion, because Clendenin, a Protetstant - the tradition I was currently in - wrote such a objective and endorsing work, I found it hard to not go to the Orthodox Church and expierence it for myself. Compared to most Portestants who examine the Orthodox faith, Clendenin seems to "get it." He is respectful, if not appreciative of the Orthodox liturgical expierence.He is aptly able to inform others on how the Orthodox Church understands scripture and tradition as the "witness of teh Spirit." His chapter on theosis is very good and his last chapter tries to evaluate the Orthodox perspective. Like another reviewer, I ended up converting to the faith a few months later. If a Protetsant wants to get an idea of Orthodoxy, but does not want to read works by Orthodox Christians, then this is a good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: You May Just Fall In Love
Review: I read this book back in the Spring of 2001 after reading "The Orthodox Way" by Bishop Ware. In my serach about the Orthodox faith, I found after reading this book I was indeed searching for teh Orthodox faith. This book was a good influence in my conversion, because Clendenin, a Protetstant - the tradition I was currently in - wrote such a objective and endorsing work, I found it hard to not go to the Orthodox Church and expierence it for myself. Compared to most Portestants who examine the Orthodox faith, Clendenin seems to "get it." He is respectful, if not appreciative of the Orthodox liturgical expierence.He is aptly able to inform others on how the Orthodox Church understands scripture and tradition as the "witness of teh Spirit." His chapter on theosis is very good and his last chapter tries to evaluate the Orthodox perspective. Like another reviewer, I ended up converting to the faith a few months later. If a Protetsant wants to get an idea of Orthodoxy, but does not want to read works by Orthodox Christians, then this is a good place to start.
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