Anti-Orthodox

This entry is for links to modern polemical material and Orthodox responses. Historical material, or detailed treatment of a range of critiques should be filed under the particular body in question. See,e.g. for more information.

Protestant Polemics

The difficulty with most of these sites is that they are not criticizing Orthodox Christianity as it is but rather basing their critiques on misconceptions of Orthodox doctrine and practice. Sometimes elements of Orthodox teaching can be recognized, but the way they are put together is often quite bizarre. Irenaeus of Lyons wrote about how heretics took elements of the faith and rearranged them, so that what once was a mosaic of a king becomes an image of a dog (or something else).

One significant exception is Daniel Clendenin, whom many Orthodox Christians respect for being much more thorough in his research. In that, he is relatively unique among modern critics of Orthodoxy. His ultimate reason for rejecting Orthodoxy is spelled out in terms of his commitment to Protestant distinctives, a viewpoint which draws the lines clearly, rather than proceeding from the position that we all share the same basic assumptions and that one's interlocutor is drawing dishonest conclusions based on them.

Links

• Eastern Orthodox Teachings in Comparison with The Doctrinal Position of Biola University (PDF) - May, 1998 (A summary is available here)
  • Higher Education: Universities Question Orthodox Conversions - from Christianity Today]
  • Gerald Bray Responds to the Biola Statement and Don Fairbairn
• Witnessing to people of Eastern Orthodox Background: Turning Barriers of Belief into Bridges to Personal Faith by Matt Spann, 2001 (from the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Church).
  • Fr. Richard Demetrius Andrews' Response
• Credenda Agenda - This site was recently redesigned and the links below may soon disappear. Perhpas these volumes are still being edited for inclusion in the redesigned site?
  • Is Orthodoxy Orthodox? (vol. 4:4)
  • Tradition Betrayed: Eastern Orthodoxy Examined in the Light of the Apostolic Faith (vol. 6:5)
  • Mother Kirk: Protesting Catholics and the Authority of the Church (vol. 8:5)

Patrick Barnes responds to The Credenda Agenda 6:5, and their reply.

• http://exorthodoxforchrist.com/profile.htm

• Searching for the True Apostolic Church: What Evangelicals Should Know about Eastern Orthodoxy by Paul Negrut (The Christian Research Institute, Statement DE-177)
  • A Response from Joel Kalvesmaki

Articles

• "Why I'm Not Orthodox" by Daniel Clendenin (originally published in Christianity Today)
  • Responses from Patrick Barnes and Deacon (now Priest) John Whiteford
  • A Letter in Reply by Anastasia Theodoridis
  • A more strident response from Rdr. (now Priest) Peter Jackson: Part I and Part II

• Christian Witness to Nominal Christians among the Orthodox - Report of the Consultation on World Evangelization, Mini-Consultation on Reaching Nominal Christians Among Orthodox held at Pattaya, Thailand, from 16-27 June 1980. Sponsored by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization.
• For Those Who Embrace Orthodoxy - Christian Week 19:5 (May 27, 2005)

Roman Catholic Polemics

• (Roman) Catholic Answers: Eastern Orthodoxy - A poorly-researched profile of Orthodoxy from (Roman) Catholic Answers.
• Orthodoxy and Catholicism: A Comparison - Dave Armstrong
• Apologia: A Catholic Page for Protestants and Eastern Orthodox - unknown author
• Catholic Encyclopedia article on the so-called "Eastern Schism" - unknown author
• Catholic Encyclopedia on "Photius of Constantinople" - Fr. Adrian Fortescue (an early 20th-century Roman Catholic liturgical scholar)