Reading/online sources for learning Orthodox basics - recommendations?

[Deborah]

Hello,

What books, catechisms or online sources would you recommend for (a hypothetical) someone interested in Orthodoxy who comes from a Calvanistic Protestant Christian background?  This person knows a few isolated facts about Orthodox faith and practice, but gets it confused with and has trouble teasing what they know about Orthodoxy apart from the beliefs of their former faith tradition.  They can only get to Orthodox services a handful of times a year because of distance, doesn't know any Orthodox Christians in their area, and is in contact with a priest who can answer the odd question, but doesn't have time to conduct a one-on-one long distance catechesis.

They are wanting a solid, even grounding on the basics of Orthodox Christian faith, belief and practice.  Something reasonably concise, to-the-point and easy to understand.  What materials would you point them to?  Thanks

[TheTrisagion]

I suspect I will get flamed for this recommendation, but I found a very good, basic introduction to Orthodoxy to be:

The Illumined Heart: The Ancient Christian Path of Transformation by Frederica Mathewes Green

It is not deep and heavy, it gives a good overview of Orthodoxy and why it has the beliefs that it does.  It is a good starting point.

[Tommelomsky]

The Orthodox Way by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware. It is great (just don`t recommend him-her the danish version, it drove me almost mad).

[lovesupreme]

The OCA has Fr. Thomas Hopko's complete The Orthodox Faith series for free on its website. These are the same books that I went through during my catechism. Fr. Hopko has an interesting writing style that occasionally obscures his message, but they're overall very readable and basic.

[Tommelomsky]

The OCA has Fr. Thomas Hopko's complete The Orthodox Faith series for free on its website. These are the same books that I went through during my catechism. Fr. Hopko has an interesting writing style that occasionally obscures his message, but they're overall very readable and basic.

Yes, my priest recommended me the Rainbow series (catechism) and I can also recommend it.

[Fotina02]

Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life.
By   Anthony M. Coniaris
http://www.regels.org/orthodox-catechism.htm

Covers basics, good intro.

[Arachne]

If they have a Kindle, or the Kindle reading app for PC or smartphone, I recommend Clark Carlton's The Faith and The Life. Most Protestant converts become familiar with The Way (aka 'pitching Orthodoxy to the Evangelical crew') but the other two, that focus on Orthodoxy in itself, are more useful.

[katherineofdixie]

If they have a Kindle, or the Kindle reading app for PC or smartphone, I recommend Clark Carlton's The Faith and The Life. Most Protestant converts become familiar with The Way (aka 'pitching Orthodoxy to the Evangelical crew') but the other two, that focus on Orthodoxy in itself, are more useful.

Yes, Carlton's books really seem to resonate with my evangelical and Calvinist friends. I think he must be speaking their language. 

[mabsoota]

if you want to buy a proper academic course, you can try here:
http://www.lsocs.co.uk/

they do distance learning and i know some of the course writers, who are serious scholars who write extremely well.

[stavros_388]

I believe you can read much or all of Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky's Orthodox Dogmatic Theology online here:

http://www.intratext.com/X/ENG0824.HTM

Note: Hide concordance links for easier reading.

I own the book, and it is clear, thorough, and concise (if a little dry at times).

[WPM]

'The Orthodox Church' by Sergius Bulgakov.

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