Topic: What Books Would You Like To See Produced?

[Justin Kissel]

Are there any theological books that you would like to see, which covers a topic or perspective that (so far as you are aware) is not yet available? For an example, maybe you want to read a book on the anthropological views of St. John Chrysostom, but aren't aware of any such books (at least in your first language).

[Justin Kissel]

To answer my own question, I'd like to see a book published in English that has the complete works of Gregory the Theologian.

[scamandrius]

No.  I'm so far behind in my reading that to add to it will only add to my frustration and shorten my lifespan which will deprive me of the books already on the list.

[Justin Kissel]

No.  I'm so far behind in my reading that to add to it will only add to my frustration and shorten my lifespan which will deprive me of the books already on the list.

  A good point. I remember getting a catalogue from a company, I think 8th day books, and they must have had a thousand books in there, and I kept finding several new books that I wanted on every page... and I knew that I'd never read even a fraction of them before my days were done.

[jnorm888]

Are there any theological books that you would like to see, which covers a topic or perspective that (so far as you are aware) is not yet available? For an example, maybe you want to read a book on the anthropological views of St. John Chrysostom, but aren't aware of any such books (at least in your first language).

1.) More books about the formations of the different Biblical canons and why we differ from both Rome and Protestantism.

2.) More books in English about ancient eastern christian art and architecture

3.) Apologetics and Polemic works

4.) A new and fresh translation of all of the fathers, and nonfathers/witnesses from the past 2,000 years

5.) A biography and dictionary of the church fathers

6.) More Study and Devotional Bibles

7.) One scholarly book that covers the 7 councils

8.) More church history books

9.) More fictional books for kids

10.) Fictional books for adults.....like Orthodox in Space(future sci fi....saving the empress/princess), or Orthodox mid-evil knights(the past mixed in with a bunch of fantasy...like monks, priests, and soldiers/knights fighting vampires, and other evil monsters...and saving the day at the end by rescuing the princess or Empress), ...both OO and EO...like the Nubians......etc

[Justin Kissel]

7.) One scholarly book that covers the 7 councils

Fwiw, there is a book titled The Ecumenical Synods of the Orthodox Church: A Concise History, by Fr. James Thornton (a traditionalist Orthodox priest) which gives an overview of the seven councils (my short review is here). Though it's not necessarily scholarly/academic, it might be worth checking out.

[Iconodule]

I would like to see volumes devoted to the selected or (if possible) complete poetic works of our various poet-saints, including St. John Damascene, St. Romanos the Melodist, St. Kassiane, St. Joseph the Hymnographer, St. Theodore the Studite (I believe a German edition already exists for him), St. Cosmas, etc., all in good classical English and appropriate for liturgical use (in the case of hymns). I realize a lot of this material is already embedded in various liturgical books, but I think it would be nice to have volumes devoted to specific Fathers, many of whom also wrote personal devotional poetry and even secular verse.  

[Iconodule]

Orthodox mid-evil knights(the past mixed in with a bunch of fantasy...like monks, priests, and soldiers/knights fighting vampires, and other evil monsters...and saving the day at the end by rescuing the princess or Empress), ...both OO and EO...like the Nubians......etc

Hehe, I can definitely get behind this. I think we definitely need some Orthodox epic poetry, something to answer to Dante, Spenser, and Milton. Have you heard of Digenes Akritas? I haven't read it, but it's a Byzantine romance that includes some dragon-slaying. Also, the Serbian Kosovo poems have a lot of fantastic elements.

[FormerReformer]

Orthodox mid-evil knights(the past mixed in with a bunch of fantasy...like monks, priests, and soldiers/knights fighting vampires, and other evil monsters...and saving the day at the end by rescuing the princess or Empress), ...both OO and EO...like the Nubians......etc

Hehe, I can definitely get behind this. I think we definitely need some Orthodox epic poetry, something to answer to Dante, Spenser, and Milton. Have you heard of Digenes Akritas? I haven't read it, but it's a Byzantine romance that includes some dragon-slaying. Also, the Serbian Kosovo poems have a lot of fantastic elements.

I'm currently working on a series of books that blends elements of Tolkien, Lewis, Genesis, GK Chesterton's Everlasting Man, and Celtic mythology.  The first chapter starts off in a monastery (sadly, the setting of the world requires my monks to be pagans for a time, something that will be rectified in the second book of the series).  Maybe I'll post some excerpts as I'm working on it (I'll be publishing the entirety of the first book online once it is finished, hopefully within a few months).

The idea started off almost ten years ago, growing as I've moved closer to the Orthodox Church.

[pensateomnia]

Are there any theological books that you would like to see, which covers a topic or perspective that (so far as you are aware) is not yet available? For an example, maybe you want to read a book on the anthropological views of St. John Chrysostom, but aren't aware of any such books (at least in your first language).

I think the biggest single problem we have in English is the woeful lack of primary sources from the first 1,400 years of the Church. So, I wish there were English translations of Corpus Christianorum and Sources Chretiennes. The Belgians and French are putting us to shame. They keep churning out great editions of pretty much everything, regardless of if it's in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Georgian, Slavonic, or Syriac.

To answer my own question, I'd like to see a book published in English that has the complete works of Gregory the Theologian.

That would be quite a book! Corpus Christianorum has Corpus Nazianzenum, a sub-series overseen by a group of faculty at Louvain, which is publishing critical editions of all of St. Gregory's works. So far, they have 23 volumes.

http://nazianzos.fltr.ucl.ac.be/

[Justin Kissel]

That would be quite a book! Corpus Christianorum has Corpus Nazianzenum, a sub-series overseen by a group of faculty at Louvain, which is publishing critical editions of all of St. Gregory's works. So far, they have 23 volumes.
http://nazianzos.fltr.ucl.ac.be/

I'm ashamed to say, I had no idea.   I thought the Migne edition had like 3 or 4 volumes on St. Gregory, so not that Migne is the end all be all of everything, but I figured that provided a rough estimate of the extent of St. Gregory's works. That, and what I've seen translated into English thus far (select Orations, letters, and poems) would seem to fit in one volume, and in the three biographies of Gregory I've read* I never got the sense that there was that much to sift through. I suppose I shouldn't have said book, but rather series of books, but even still, I had no idea that there was that much stuff!


*EDIT--Note, two of the biographies had a couple other saints in them, and were not biographies just of St. Gregory.

[Alpo]

"Latin Christianity for EO dummies" with special emphasis on ecclesiastical architecture, iconography, chant and liturgy. Kind of largely extended version of Fr. Seraphim's introduction to Vita Patrum.

[pensateomnia]

I'm ashamed to say, I had no idea.   I thought the Migne edition had like 3 or 4 volumes on St. Gregory, so not that Migne is the end all be all of everything, but I figured that provided a rough estimate of the extent of St. Gregory's works.

I'm not sure, actually. Migne could very easily have versions of the vast majority. You'd have to look it up in the Clavis to be sure. In general, Migne, while an amazing accomplishment, is deficient according to modern standards, since we have had 160+ years to find more and better manuscripts. My guess is that the additional sources would be versions in Syriac, Coptic, Georgian, etc.

... I had no idea that there was that much stuff!

Well, a lot of space in each volume is taken up by the apparatus criticus. Maybe if you got rid of all of that, and crammed things in, you could fit it in a large, hardcover volume or two. Fr. John McGuckin would know.