The Spirit of Eastern Christendom: A Definitive Historical Study
Volume 2 of Jaroslav Pelikan's acclaimed series examines the development of Christian doctrine in Eastern Christendom from 600 to 1700, a period marked by profound theological divisions and cultural isolation between East and West.
Comprehensive Coverage of Eastern Christian Thought
This scholarly work bridges the historical gap in church history by providing detailed analysis of non-Western Christendom's theological development. Pelikan explores the distinctive forms of Christian doctrine as expressed in Greek, Syriac, and early Slavic traditions, offering readers unprecedented access to Eastern Christian intellectual history.
The book examines major theological controversies including the Christological debates of the seventh century, the iconoclastic controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries, and Eastern Christian perspectives on Judaism, Islam, and dualistic heresies of the high Middle Ages. Pelikan also addresses Eastern responses to post-Reformation Western European churches.
Expert Analysis of East-West Christian Divisions
The line that separated Eastern Christendom from Western on the medieval map is similar to the "iron curtain" of recent times. Linguistic barriers, political divisions, and liturgical differences combined to isolate the two cultures from each other. Except for such episodes as the schism between East and West or the Crusades, the development of non-Western Christendom has been largely ignored by church historians. In The Spirit of Eastern Christendom, Jaroslav Pelikan explains the divisions between Eastern and Western Christendom, and identifies and describes the development of the distinctive forms taken by Christian doctrine in its Greek, Syriac, and early Slavic expression.
Acclaimed by Leading Scholars
"It is a pleasure to salute this masterpiece of exposition. . . . The book flows like a great river, slipping easily past landscapes of the utmost diversity-the great Christological controversies of the seventh century, the debate on icons in the eighth and ninth, attitudes to Jews, to Muslims, to the dualistic heresies of the high Middle Ages, to the post-Reformation churches of Western Europe. . . . His book succeeds in being a study of the Eastern Christian religion as a whole."-Peter Brown and Sabine MacCormack, New York Review of Books
"The second volume of Professor Pelikan's monumental work on The Christian Tradition is the most comprehensive historical treatment of Eastern Christian thought from 600 to 1700, written in recent years. . . . Pelikan's reinterpretation is a major scholarly event."—John Meyendorff
"Displays the same mastery of ancient and modern theological literature, the same penetrating analytical clarity and balanced presentation of conflicting contentions, that made its predecessor such an intellectual treat."-Virginia Quarterly Review
