Church of Our Granddaughters

by Carrie Frederick Frost, Vigen Guroian (Contributor)

Church of Our Granddaughters is a visionary work of theology and ethics that looks hopefully and lovingly two generations into the future, imagining the Orthodox Church’s practices and realities rightfully aligned with its core theological teachings and truths regarding women. This reverent but bold work offers the necessary insight and inspiration to create a community that welcomes all its members, our granddaughters as well as our grandsons, thus allowing the Orthodox Church to better incarnate its mission of service and transfiguration.

Genres: Christianity

130 pages, Paperback

Published February 16, 2023

Reviews

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frost offers well thought out reflections on the current status of women in the Orthodox Church as well as proposing some ideas for how to improve the status of women in the future - for our granddaughters. She states a number of factual criticisms of Orthodoxy today, but all of it is based in her love for the Church. She points out some of the shortcomings in practice in the Church while offering ideas for how to improve life in the Church for everyone. She is arguing for less clericalism and more lay participation in the life of the Church, allowing everyone to bring their unique God-given gifts to the community for the upbuilding of the Church. I agree with her assessment of the current status as well as her proposals for the future betterment of the Church. Although Orthodox leaders today often resist 'change' and almost never admit to shortcomings in Church life, Frost points out we got to the current state by changes in practice through the centuries. Most of what she advocates either was practiced by the church at one time and then allowed to disappear, or are practices that bring the Church into a better alignment with its stated ideals about all of us making up Christ's Body, not just the clergy.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

A needed perspective

This book is a comfort to Orthodox women, and a light to Orthodox men and clergy. I hope it will be widely read and discussed, especially among our hierarchs.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since no one has a critical review of this book on here yet:

https://www.brianpatrickmitchell.com/...

[Marina Fanous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, Carrie Frederick Frost, for finally putting my thoughts and feelings into words. All Orthodox people should read this book.

[Isaac Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My relationship to the church has always been complicated. I grew up in many very fundamentalist wings of Orthodoxy, and it's taken me many years to un-learn some things about myself and about the church -- but through it all, it has remained dear to me. The church isn't something I only have a nostalgia for, it's something that I have fought to stay a part of, despite my discomfort about so many things.

This book outlines the incarnational theology of Orthodoxy that underpins our anthropology: one that erases the distinctions between humans in relation to our journey towards Christ. It does a great job of showing the dissonance between certain practices ("contemporary" practices in Orthodoxy that go back to the twelfth century) and our theology and anthropology. It asks the church to uphold the incarnational theology of the person with regards to our prayers, liturgics, leadership, and ordination.

I have always been torn between the comfort of a church that eschews rapid change and reaction to society, and my discomfort with the mixture of shame- and essentialist-based praxis of particular prayers, liturgics, and teachings. Now, having young children, this discomfort is more acute. If I knew that the church would read this book, learn our theology of the person, and incorporate these affirming and welcoming changes to our contemporary practice (which, in many cases, are re-implementing older practices of the church), I would have a lot of peace about the future of the church and of my children within it.

I highly encourage a close reading of this book. Discuss it with those close to you. Embrace the discomfort those conversations may bring, and question why that discomfort is there, and where it comes from. I think we may all be surprised with the origins of our discomfort -- and uplifted when we leave it behind.

retvrn to tradition, lol

[Elizabeth Scott Tervo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book. Prof Frost discusses so many topics of importance to women and girls in the Orthodox Church. She is an expert in theology, but she also has a personal and engaging tone, and thus is able to direct us to draw on the historical and theological riches of the Church with her unique blend of wisdom and humility. This is not a book of complaints, but a glimpse and hope for the future.