John Binns, An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches

Ecumenical Review, The, April, 2004 by John A. Jillions

John Binns, An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2002, 248pp., US $22.00

I begin this review on a personal note. On the occasion of a recent meeting of the Anglican synod of Quebec, which I was attending as the "Orthodox ecumenical visitor", I wished that the bookstall had copies of this book. For time and again, as I met the very congenial participants, I also met polite incomprehension: "What is, er ... the Orthodox church?" One man who had studied at Cambridge in the 1950s admitted that he had never had the occasion to encounter the Orthodox church as a student. Things have changed since then. Now there are two Orthodox communities in Cambridge (both worshipping in Anglican churches) and there is an Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies. John Binns, the vicar of Great St Mary's (the university church), is one of the Institute's directors and is well-qualified to write this introduction. He is a church historian (he has written, for example, on Cyril of Scythopolis and Palestinian monasticism) and has three decades of first-hand experience with Orthodox churches, especially in Serbia, Russia, Romania, Syria and Ethiopia. He is a long-time ecumenist and was chairman for many years of the Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius.

Binns's Introduction is balanced, readable and accessible and will help many become aware of the complex history and ethos of the Christian East. The book delivers slightly more than the title promises, since in addition to the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches it looks at the Eastern Catholic churches as well (though it must be said that this is the weakest area of its coverage). In addition to its breadth, the book has the advantage of being written by a sympathetic outsider who knows the Eastern churches well. As such, it is an excellent model of how to study someone else's tradition, with a view to understanding how they see themselves.

The basic thesis of the book is that there are distinctive "Eastern" approaches to Christianity. After identifying and describing the Orthodox "map", Binns devotes each of the next seven chapters to a specific theme: liturgy, doctrine, icons, monasticism, popular piety, mission, and church and state. After a chapter on the division of Christendom into East and West, he ends the book with reflections on prospects for "a cautious reforming" in the East.

The other basic theme of the book is the wide variety--and numerous divisions--to be found within the Eastern Christian world. He begins with the five Eastern Christian patriarchates whose competing headquarters are all found in Damascus on Straight Street, the ancient street mentioned in Acts 9:11 as the place where Paul first came after being struck blind on the way to Damascus. One of the strongest features of his Introduction is the way in which Binns teases out the complex historical, geographical, cultural and political issues which underlie the divisions within the Eastern Christian world. While concentrating on the geographical East Binns does not make the mistake of identifying the Eastern churches as merely "Eastern". He recognizes the presence of millions of Eastern Christians in the West and gives significant attention to Orthodox missions in the West (although the maps in the introduction do not reflect this).

Binns's thematic organizing principle makes sense, emphasizing as it does, and for a largely Western readership, the commonalities (and sometimes messiness) of Eastern church views, histories and relationships. However, this also makes it more difficult for readers to appreciate the unique history, self-understanding and current state of each of these churches. For this reason, while I have assigned Binns' book as a supplementary text in a university course on Eastern Christianity, I find it is more valuable when read alongside two other books that offer clearer boundaries. Timothy (Kallistos) Ware's classic The Orthodox Church (Penguin, 1993) is the best introduction, but gives limited attention to the Oriental and Eastern Catholic churches. Ronald Roberson's The Eastern Christian Churches: A Brief Survey (Rome, 1996) gives a few succinct pages on the history and contemporary situation of each Eastern church, and is therefore an extremely useful quick reference (especially as it is revised every few years and is now in its sixth edition).

Given the cultural diversity stressed in this book, it is perhaps not surprising that Binns gives less emphasis to the universalism of Orthodox Christianity. Similarly, he underestimates the importance that the Orthodox give to common doctrinal and ethical teaching as the foci of Christian unity. Binns's cultural and historical approach is a necessary prerequisite for ecumenical understanding and dialogue, but on its own can lead to the conclusion that Orthodox Christianity is more a matter of taste than of truth. Appreciation of church cultures is invaluable, but it is no substitute for a process of theological dialogue that aims at being of one mind.