Orthodox & Roman Catholic Christianity

The Religion, Scriptures, and Spirituality (Revised)

by Jean Porter

Christianity arose within the social and spiritual dislocation of the Roman Empire. Jesus, perceived by authorities as a threat to public stability, was executed in about 30 CE; his crucifixion and belief in his resurrection became a defining symbol for world-wide Christian religion. The fall of Rome led to a divided Roman Empire and eventually a divided church. Though Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches share virtually the same canon of scriptures, they have diverged through the centuries as each embraced different ideas about worship, ethics, and relations to politics and culture. The Religion, Scriptures, and Spirituality Series describes the beliefs, religious practices, and the spiritual and moral commitments of the world's great religious traditions. It also describes a religion's way of understanding scripture, identifies its outstanding thinkers, and discusses its attitude and relationship to society.

Genres: History, Christianity, Religion, Theology, Christian, Catholic, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Jean Porter is an American theologian, currently the John A. O'Brien Endowed Professor of Theology at University of Notre Dame. Porter received a BA in philosophy from The University of Texas in 1976, an M.Div. from Weston School of Theology in 1980, and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1984. Prior to teaching at Notre Dame, she taught at Vanderbilt Divinity School from 1984–1990. She was President of the Society of Christian Ethics from 2005-2006 and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal for the Society of Christian Ethics, The Journal of Religious Ethics, and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

Reviews

[Matthew Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is basically a church history survey told in parallel with the two churches. There is hardly any comparing and contrasting and when it is done it's superficial. Not what I was expecting, but it mostly accomplishes what it was trying to do.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a reasonable summary of the history of Christianity and its split into various versions. It leaves a lot of stuff out, but I was amazed how much they actually included. Of course you are trusting that the author got everything right and didn't mislead. Since I am NOT a Christian, I cannot make a judgment regarding how well this audiobook represented Christianity, but from my perspective as a Jew, it seemed to cover the basics.

I doubt I will listen to this audiobook again, but not because of any fault on their part. I have other sources that I read for this type of information. I suggest books by Dr. Bart D. Ehrman such as "Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior", and "From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity" and "The New Testament".

[N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of an overview of church history with special reference to Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism than a doctrinal comparison of the two church traditions. As such, much of the content of the book I was already familiar with, so it felt more like a refresher. Still, I enjoyed the quotations from different historical texts (pleasantly read ‘in character’ in the audiobook version). Most memorably, this quote from Abba Macarius on “the holiness of the ordinary”, which I found reminiscent of Tish Harrison Warren’s book:

“Truly, it is not whether you are a virgin or a married woman, a monk or a man in the world: God gives his Holy Spirit to everyone, according to their earnestness of purpose.”

Overall, a good place to start for anyone who wants a quick overview of historical theology (there are way more schisms and sects that pop up throughout church history, so keep in mind this is a very simplified primer).

Also, for those more “seasoned” in these studies, if you’re a believer it’s a good reminder that it is so easy to lose sight of Christ and compassion in pursuit and defence of truth—notwithstanding, we’re called to all of the above.

Do justice.

Love mercy.

Walk humbly.

If Christians had kept these things in mind throughout, maybe church history wouldn’t have been so messy...maybe. Still, the gates of hell will not prevail!

[Richard Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for more of a compare and contrast, but it's really just parallel survey histories of the eastern and western churches, so there is not much to learn in this book for anybody who already knows the basics. I really wanted to know whether and how the outward differences that everybody notices such as papal supremacy vs. national churches, celibacy vs. married priests, and ikons vs sacred art reflect fundamental differences of spiritual outlook or if they are just minor superficial manifestations that overlay a deep commonality of belief or if maybe that's just the wrong question to be asking. Sadly there was almost none of that, or perhaps more accurately, there were small teasing hints, but no real attempt to answer what seemed to me to be the bigger questions.

[Min · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites of the series, despite it being rather short, considering two traditions, 2000 years old. I believe, when handling the two subjects, it is able to hit upon the highlights of history needed to know where it is, and why it is, as it is today. This offers a strong framework to grasp the very long history. Any further study would do well to begin here.
It may feel an injustice to the matter, however, there is only so much information one can offer without being overwhelming, which can easily happen with this topic. I am grateful for the inclusion of Orthodoxy, as it is so very often left out of the discussion of Christianity.

[Michael McGrath · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is actually a cursory examination of both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox faiths and to be honest, each merited its own book. That said, I did find some details such as the differences in the understanding of the Trinity between the churches and some church terms were clarified. I think if you have read C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, this book would be a good follow up along with the companion volume on Protestantism (which I am in the middle of reading right now).

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Closer to two stars than three, but it was well-produced and the content is solid. It barely gets into the conflicts and attempts at reconciliation between the churches, which is more of what I was hoping for. Not a bad overall introduction to the history of the churches but probably misleading to anyone who might pick this up.

[Marcelle Nassif · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking into more details about the differences and the common aspects of both churches but the book went into a lengthy depiction of the history of the church, tackling Protestantism and Islam too in the process.
It is informative and well-researched all over of course, but didn't add much to the knowledge I already have about the topic.

[Benjamin Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the narration by Ben Kingsley. He helps turn a boring Topix into one of great interest. It's amazing how a great narrator can bring a Topic to Life

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very much an introductory survey of church history, anyone already familiar with this will not find anything new in this high-level overview.

[Dave Fransen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatively interesting overview of Catholicism. Far more focus on Roman than Orthodox, so I don't know that I learned a ton. But an interesting listen for historical reasons.

[Sebastián · Rating 2 out of 5]

Doesn't really go into detail in the fundamental differences of the two churches, but it does offer a good summary of their histories.

[Ming Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent.

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This audio book was informative, but I would only recommend it to true beginners to the history of the Christian faith. It's less than three hours long, so you just get the most basic of overviews of many of the movers and shakers in the development of Christianity over the centuries.

My library's description said that this Religion, Scriptures & Spirituality Audio Classics Series "describes the beliefs, religious practices, and the spiritual and moral commitments of the world's great religious traditions. It also describes a religion's way of understanding scripture, identifies its outstanding thinkers, and discusses its attitude and relationship to society." I guess it did all that, but I don't know. It definitely wasn't what I thought it would be, probably because it didn't tell me much more than what I learned in 17 years of primary, secondary, and undergraduate Lutheran schooling. I think the description made me expect to learn more about the modern-day beliefs, religious practices, spiritual and moral commitment, etc. due to the present-tense verbs used. But it instead just told me all the history up to the present (at the time of publication) and said that controversy would more than likely continue to exist among the various Christian faiths based on how things have gone so far. I was hoping for more.

Also, I'm not sure you should try to do Russian and German accents when it just comes out Scottish and English...

[sch · Rating 3 out of 5]

2021 Apr. Another free, brief audiobook in the Audible+ catalog. (The author's book on natural law has been recommended to me before.)

Finished: like the DUNS SCOTUS audiobook from the same company, this is not a book but a program. It is a straightforward, brief history lesson with occasional pauses for reflection.

[Len Lira · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick overview, but very well done.