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Truth: What Every Roman Catholic Should Know About the Orthodox Church
The Truth is the sequel to both The Faith: An Orthodox Catechism and The Way: What Every Protestant Should Know About The Orthodox Church.The Truth will give Roman Catholics a profound understanding of the Orthodox Church. It will also give both Orthodox and Roman Catholics insight as to the reasons why the two churches are not in communion with one another. The Truth will also help those confused by the outward similarities between Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism to understand the marked differences between the two churches. The Truth will help Protestants understand church history in a new way and the claims of the Orthodox Church to be the Bride of Christ. Includes: Is reunion imminent?
-- Romans and Byzantine Intrigue
-- The Trinity
-- Salvation
-- The Church
-- The Mother of God
-- and much more.
-- Romans and Byzantine Intrigue
-- The Trinity
-- Salvation
-- The Church
-- The Mother of God
-- and much more.
268 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2001
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86 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 16, 2012
For background on this review, I have been Orthodox for 15 years. I have a Catholic background, am greatly appreciative of the liturgy and the devotions that I observed growing up, and if I were not Orthodox, would probably be Catholic.
However, there are theological reasons that I am not Catholic, and this book summarizes them very well. Unfortunately, this book is also written as much more of a rant than a catechism, has a terribly off-putting tone, and is just poorly written and edited. If I were exploring Orthodoxy and came across this book, I would run from instead of run to the church.
Although, I would like to say that the author has included several very interesting source texts that I greatly appreciated reading, and did find value in them. I'd recommend, however, getting your knowledge from the works cited, and not from this book.
However, there are theological reasons that I am not Catholic, and this book summarizes them very well. Unfortunately, this book is also written as much more of a rant than a catechism, has a terribly off-putting tone, and is just poorly written and edited. If I were exploring Orthodoxy and came across this book, I would run from instead of run to the church.
Although, I would like to say that the author has included several very interesting source texts that I greatly appreciated reading, and did find value in them. I'd recommend, however, getting your knowledge from the works cited, and not from this book.
May 11, 2022
Brutally clear, concise, and well-written.
June 11, 2025
I was going to give this book 3 stars. I really was. Full disclosure I am a Roman Catholic who read this for an ecumenical podcast I do with two friends of mine. There are a lot of positives here so lets start with those:
THE GOOD:
Clark Carlton is clearly well-versed on the subject at hand. In many passages I gained a fuller understanding of what the Orthodox Church believes and why. He write concisely and his footnotes are used very well (for the most part). If this book's goal is to teach about what it means to be Orthodox instead of Roman Catholic it almost succeeds. This is especially helpful because I have found much of the 'doctrine' of the Orthodox Church very vague up to this point so it was refreshing to learn the 'what' and 'why' of the faith.
THE MEH:
There are many sections that paint to broad of a picture and make bold claims out of very little explanation. Particularly his first chapter makes a claim about the Byzantine empire and Charlemagne that is very defensible, but he presents it as the only way of understanding a very complex moment in history.
THE BAD:
Carlton isn't just 'pointed' or 'direct' often times he is overly hostile and writes in incredibly poor taste. When I say I was going to give this 3 stars and recommend it as a primer for Catholics learning about Orthodoxy, I mean for the majority of the book that was my feeling. For some reason, however, Carlton felt the need to add an epilogue directed towards evangelicals in which he takes one passage from a Scott Hahn book and proceeds to 'light in' to Catholic believers. Here is a quote from that chapter:
"However, I do want to stress the fundamental similarity of post-schism Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The Hahns did not really convert to anything; they merely exchanged one form of the same authoritarian, rationalistic religion for another."
If you think this is overly harsh, you are correct. If you think maybe the author is matching the tone of the quote he is responding to, I assure you, he is not. If I may also be a bit harsh, the last chapter of Carlton's book reads more like an angry tantrum then an academic rebuttal.
For Catholic's wanting to learn more about Orthodox Christians I would suggest this only if you have an even temperament not easily pierced by unnecessarily mean words. You will learn things. Carlton is clearly an academic man. However, if you don't like to read statements like the above or claims that some of our doctrine on Mary makes us 'pagans' with 'a tremendous lack of spiritual discernment' then I would skip this book and find a different synopsis of the Orthodox faith.
OVERALL:
Did I find this helpful? In some ways yes. Is it hard for me to give anything more than 2 stars to a book that was clearly intended to directly insult my faith? Yep. 2 stars it is.
THE GOOD:
Clark Carlton is clearly well-versed on the subject at hand. In many passages I gained a fuller understanding of what the Orthodox Church believes and why. He write concisely and his footnotes are used very well (for the most part). If this book's goal is to teach about what it means to be Orthodox instead of Roman Catholic it almost succeeds. This is especially helpful because I have found much of the 'doctrine' of the Orthodox Church very vague up to this point so it was refreshing to learn the 'what' and 'why' of the faith.
THE MEH:
There are many sections that paint to broad of a picture and make bold claims out of very little explanation. Particularly his first chapter makes a claim about the Byzantine empire and Charlemagne that is very defensible, but he presents it as the only way of understanding a very complex moment in history.
THE BAD:
Carlton isn't just 'pointed' or 'direct' often times he is overly hostile and writes in incredibly poor taste. When I say I was going to give this 3 stars and recommend it as a primer for Catholics learning about Orthodoxy, I mean for the majority of the book that was my feeling. For some reason, however, Carlton felt the need to add an epilogue directed towards evangelicals in which he takes one passage from a Scott Hahn book and proceeds to 'light in' to Catholic believers. Here is a quote from that chapter:
"However, I do want to stress the fundamental similarity of post-schism Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The Hahns did not really convert to anything; they merely exchanged one form of the same authoritarian, rationalistic religion for another."
If you think this is overly harsh, you are correct. If you think maybe the author is matching the tone of the quote he is responding to, I assure you, he is not. If I may also be a bit harsh, the last chapter of Carlton's book reads more like an angry tantrum then an academic rebuttal.
For Catholic's wanting to learn more about Orthodox Christians I would suggest this only if you have an even temperament not easily pierced by unnecessarily mean words. You will learn things. Carlton is clearly an academic man. However, if you don't like to read statements like the above or claims that some of our doctrine on Mary makes us 'pagans' with 'a tremendous lack of spiritual discernment' then I would skip this book and find a different synopsis of the Orthodox faith.
OVERALL:
Did I find this helpful? In some ways yes. Is it hard for me to give anything more than 2 stars to a book that was clearly intended to directly insult my faith? Yep. 2 stars it is.
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October 3, 2021For the reviewers who say he is off putting for Catholics. My first thought was he must be a former Evangelical.
https://pemptousia.com/author/clark-c...
https://pemptousia.com/author/clark-c...
February 15, 2016
This book starts off by talking about the Balamand Declaration without ever explaining what it is. A Roman Catholic wanting to find out about the Orthodox Church will be very confused and should look for a different book, such as The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way
May 18, 2017
I liked the information in the book, but the author is lacking in grace and charity for his Roman Catholic brethren.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews