I wasn't completely sure if this is the right forum for these questions, but since I have a few questions related to various books, I put them in this forum. I am putting several questions in one topic, rather than in individual topics. I hope that is not a problem.
I have for a couple years now, been reading about first Christianity in general, and then Orthodox Christianity in particular. I ams still not sure that I fully believe and should convert, but have had a strong feeling for some time now, that I will be Orthodox one day.
I am a very historically minded person, (I am majoring in history at college), and so understanding Christian history has been very important to me in my process of inquiry. I was originally interested in Christian history before I became interested in Christian faith, and historical reading is still a big part of reading about the Orthodox Faith.
Recently, I have been trying to gain a (still very minor) understanding of the Christological contraversies of the fourth and successive centuries. I would like to know if anybody has read any of the following histories of that period, and if anybody has any comments on them:
Saint Cyril of Alexandria: the Christological Controversy, by John A. McGuckin, I read the main text of this book, but did not read the translated texts in the back because of time issues. I had borrowed the book from my school library, and did not renew it.
The following books are ones I found based on the citations in McGuckin's book, which I was able to find in my university library:
The Defense of Chalcedon in the East (451-553), by Patrick T. R. Gray
Imperial Unity and Christian Divisions, by John Meyendorff
The Rise of the Monophysite Movement: Chapters in the History of the Church in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries, by W. H. C. Frend
Of those three, I have read half of Gray's book, but not the others yet. I was wondering if anybody here had read any of them and could comment. Meyendorff's book, especially, looked promising when I skimmed it over. I was a little surprised at the widespread use of the term Monophysite to describe the OO churches in the historiography, since I had understood that to be incorrect, but I assume that it was the common usage when the books were written.
Now, my other questions aren't really related to that one. Recently, my university library acquired a copy of John Romanides'
The Ancestral Sin. I was very excited because Fr. Romanides' writings on the website
www.romanity.org have been fundamental in directing me towards Orthodoxy. So I have started reading this book. I was wondering if there was anything I should know about the book, while reading it, and also, how Orthodox in general felt about the work of Fr. Romanides.
Now my last question: A lot of things I have seen directed toward potential converts seem to be primarilly directed to people of Catholic or Protestant background. I come from a Hindu family, not a very observant one in some regards, but still my main religious background. I was wondering if there was anything written about Orthodox Christianity aimed at people of this background, or any similar background.
Thank you all in advance for considering these questions. If this is the wrong forum to post this, or if I should have broken up my questions into seperate posts, then I am sorry.
