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First, go to a parish. We really do what the books say, but you can't learn the faith from books. The faith must be experienced and lived or you are missing 90% of Orthodoxy. If you do determine to go, go for a month before you make any decisions. Stand in the back and just absorb and listen without critical thought, but feel free to ask questions and participate as far as you are comfortable to. After that month, dig for every fault and fracture you can find. Ask questions about what you object to, demand explanations for what causes dissonance for you. Then start the process of making decisions. I might also suggest trying out the sign of the cross, a prayer book, and a little fasting, but that's up to you and any discussion you may have with a priest.

As for what got me started. Honestly, the thing that got me was the people here on reddit, particularly /u/silouan. There is a sizable contingent of us here here.

As far as the Church itself, I was struck by the sense of what's holy. There are parts of the building (the altar), our lives (daily prayers, fasting), our population (the clergy) that are intentionally set apart to service of God. This seems like a good and right reaction to God. I had never seen such reverence, awe, beauty, and worship as in an Orthodox church. 2 years in I'm used to things and my mind wanders as much as it did any place else, but the services still feel like worship and prayer, never a performance. As my mom once said (slightly paraphrased) "You actually deify Jesus."

Beyond that, I buy the historical arguments the Church can make regarding its connection to and constancy in adherence to the faith of the Apostles. There is a wealth of information regarding this in the form of both primary sources (Bible, Didache, Church Fathers, and so on), and in the form of modern summaries such as Bishop Kallistos Ware's The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way.

It might also be interesting to note for a long time I didn't want to be Orthodox. Some of the stuff we do looks weird from the outside. Fasting it not easy. In the Americas choosing to live an Orthodox life goes against the stream of much of our thought, even the general Christian stream of thought. Choosing to truly live the faith to the fullest we can manage will make us counter-cultural anywhere. The Orthodox claims on truth are also very exclusive. The exclusive claims were also disturbing to my democratic, denominational tendences. I knew that by accepting this I was stepping out onto the last bastion of religion, or at least Christianity, for me. There is no place else for me to back up to. No surer foundation for me to search back in history for.

What other reddits do you surf?
I moderate /r/RATS, /r/Louisiana and /r/OpenChristian. I also read a lot in /r/SquaredCircle, /r/SRSBusiness, /r/SRSDiscussion, /r/polyamory, /r/woahdude and I've been dipping back into /r/Christianity a bit lately as well.

What do you do in your free time?
I read. I reddit. I smoke my pipe and drink my cocktails. I watch pro wrestling. I cuddle. I toy around with making jewelry (trying hammered wire recently) or playing with polymer clay. I'm considering this thing they call "ex ur size" or some such. It involves riding on a bike that goes nowhere. I understand I can read or watch TV while I do it, so I figured what the heck.


What do you read?
Right now I'm going back and forth between The History of White People and A Canticle for Leibowitz. Before that I read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. the most powerful book I've read in the last few months was Silence by Shusaku Endo. You should read it. And then you should read Lamb because you'll need something a bit more jovial. But not until after you've sat with it a while.

What do you watch?
Ring of Honor Wrestling, WWE, Leverage, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother.

Do you Blog?
Yup, though not regularly enough to develop any sort of readership.

Do you game?
I just got my first console since the original NES when I was in junior high. It's a Wii. Every once in a while I'll play Mario Kart of do something on the Wii Fit.

Do you play a musical instrument/sing?
I make noise periodically. I want to do more.

What are your favorite movies?
Absolute number one favorite? Hedwig And the Angry Inch. The only tattoo I have is from that movie. Other favorites include The Big Lebowski, Pump Up The Volume, The Wrestler, Shortbus, Dangerous Beauty, Walk The Line.

What is some favorite music?
My absolute favorite band is Over the Rhine. Behind them, tied for second place, you'll find Boris, the Cure, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash. Also up there are Kris Kristofferson, Mischief Brew, the CrimethInc band called Requiem (there are lots of bands called Requiem), The New Orleans Bingo Show. The list goes on for days.

/u/unheeding has made an excellent suggestion. I really like how Macullough weaves in the Israelite history as essential to understanding the Christian history. If I might widen the variety here, however, if by only a little bit:

Justo Gonzalez is fantastic. He has a two volume, recently re-edited series on the history of Christianity called The Story of Christianity. Here's Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

Gonzalez also has a short book that focuses on the history of Christianity through the development of doctrines called A Concise History of Christian Doctrine which, as far as I can gather is a much condensed version of the another three volume set that I've never read. Gonzalez is fun, approachable, and honestly a really good read.

I am also in the middle of Christianity: A Social and Cultural History and it is quite good so far, though I've not gotten into it quite so much as Gonzalez.

I am also in the middle of an Old Testament history book for my Hebrew Bible course called Understanding the Old Testament which has a really exciting philosophy of doing history and I'm really into it. This book has me at least as excited as Gonzalez, but Anderson's approach is a very responsible one which still evokes power and mystery revolving around the development of the Hebrew canon as well as those things that we simply cannot know, even if we can try to take a really good shot at it.

I hope this helps.

The Other Side of Pastoral Ministry by Daniel A. Brown. It was a major influence on me when I was a charismatic evangelical pastor (as the author is) and it's still as relevant now that I'm an Orthodox deacon.

Bottom line: Statistically the average family stays a member of a given congregation for around seven years. (That includes the lifers and the butterflies who never settle.) We all want to grow the Church: Will you settle for an increasing number of butts in pews or an increasing influence in your community? Is that the meaning of a commission to make disciples?

Or will we concentrate on the individuals whom God has given us, bless them personally, and ensure that their time under our spiritual care is highly profitable to their soul, that they are more conformed to Christ than ever before, and that the person who moves on from our congregation or city is not the person who arrived?

This book doesn't major on ridiculously pat answers or bullet-lists. What it does is unpack the approach a pastor needs to have if his goal is to pastor - i.e. be a shepherd - in the flock God has given him. Anybody can be a preacher, trainer, teacher, administrator, or a face on a big screen. All you need is talent. But a pastor is someone who invests his time, heart and soul in developing Christian character in his congregation, one human being at a time.

Thank you.

Now that I'm back home, here are some recommendations. First, I might note that while /u/johnnytoomuch's post has some good links in it, the truth is that for someone new to the whole Orthodoxy thing, that's all going to be hitting the ground too hard and fast.

So here are my recommendations, geared towards somebody totally new to Orthodoxy (I'd say beginner, but we're all beginners, even the likes of St. Theophon the Recluse).

1. Bread and Water, Wine and Oil by Archimandrite Meletios (Webber) is actually a relatively solid introduction to both Orthodox theology, practice, and language. It's also a fairly short read. My copy is well dog-eared. If you're a digital guy, there's also a Kindle version.
   
2. Beginning to Pray by Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh touches on prayer specifically. What's more, this book will be of use to you regardless of your background.
   
3. Check your bookstore for a prayer book. Study the prayers in there. They're actually rather dense. The notes in the one published by Holy Trinity Monastery (ROCOR) in Jordanville, New York, commonly just called the Jordanville Prayerbook, has some excellent note sections, though I would not attempt that full prayer rule without some advising from a spiritual father, particularly for someone new. That book also contains the text of the Divine Liturgy and a few other services, so you can use it to follow along (except for the hymns that are prescribed by the day or week). That said, it does have a few glaring typos in the prayers themselves--they work on revising it regularly, though.
   
4. If you really want to get in to how the Divine Liturgy (and the rest of the services) are put together, get yourself a copy of the horologion. This one is also by Holy Trinity Monastery, and is in common use at many English speaking Orthodox parishes in North America. I warn you, though: that rabbit hole is very deep. There are 13 different books we pull from*.
   
   I'd also ask the priest what book he uses for his inquirers class.
   
   * For a layman, the horologion and psalter (if you have a Bible, you have the psalter) are the core of it. You do not need and should probably not purchase your own copy of the Menaion (the books that give the hymns for feasts and saints) or the Ochtoechos (the books that give the hymns for the tone of the week). I'm also not mentioning the Triodion (the book of Lent) or Pentecostarion (the book of Pascha). The other 7 books are generally clergy books or books for specific occasions.

"The Orthodox Church" By Kallistos Ware. A very readable and comprehensive book by a well respected convert now bishop.

Byzantine Theology by John Meyendorff. He is one of the greatest contemporary Orthodox theologians.

The Way of the Pilgrim Author unknown. This is a classic of Eastern Christian spirituality that brings many people into the Orthodox way.

Hope these help!

I think this should be compared to what Enns himself emphasised in linking to the article.

IMHO, RHE gets it wrong right precisely when she emphasizes that of course the Bible must do it right: "But who was I to criticize a biblical writer for his exegesis?" If we stop our inquiry and just trust a (collection of) book(s) to be something it doesn't seem to be, of course all the hard questions are softened. Is that really a price we are willing to pay for what seems to be in the end an unfounded certainty?

Contrastingly in his article Enns emphasizes the fact that this use of scripture should be deeply unsettling to those with a high view of scripture. I have not read the book, so I'm not sure if his differing focus is a reflection of his viewpoint shifting in the past 7 years since the book has been published, but I'm guessing it is.

This goes along with a much deeper conversation. I deeply distrust those who, rather than being epistemically consistent in evaluating their beliefs, "begin with the end in mind", and contrastingly appreciate those who undertake an unbending search for truth. I respect Enns because the viewpoint shifts I've seen in his writing even over the past year make me think he is doing that to the best of his ability.

As he says in this excellent talk, the answer for evangelicals is not attempting to shore up historical beliefs, but "mass theological re-education". I couldn't agree more.

Just in case anyone might be interested, I have a new book on the issue which was just published a month ago: The End Is Near...Or Maybe Not!


It offers a kind of verse-by-verse commentary on Mt. 24, as well as an overview of Revelation, from an historic amil perspective. I was raised the son of a dispensationalist preacher, and knew the charts like the back of my hand. Alas, my charts are a lot easier to draw now!

I use this ESV Study Bible and I love it. It has provided really great commentary and insight during my studying.

Thanks for excerpt... I'm also reading N.T. Wright (for the first time but not the last).

A very recent book called How God Became King. He is such a deep and thought-through thinker. Very inspiring and eye-opening book.

I'm looking forward to reading this book: http://www.amazon.com/Lost-West-Forgotten-Byzantine-Civilization/dp/0307407969/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334803636&sr=8-1

Also check out this article: http://blog.acton.org/archives/11693-review-how-the-byzantines-saved-europe.html

Byzantium, in brief, was the pinnacle of European civilization prior to modern times due to its location and strength. While surviving for a millennium, the empire had intimate contact with other cultures and traditions, as well as a long history of recording and transmitting ancient texts. While the Franco-latins were busy de-Christianizing the west and the Catholic Church subverting Christian doctrine and culture to their theocratic hegemony, Byzantium flourished and sustained itself as Christian Rome. Consider the following: No other region or society has had three successive stages of history. Western Europe has ancient, medieval, and modern. The rest have ancient and modern. The latter being characterized by western hegemony since the so-called "Holy Roman Empires". Food for thought!

Some of you fellas over in r/Christianity recommended the ESV Study Bible. I picked it up and absolutely love it

I disagree with almost everything you said :)

I think our fundamental disagreement comes from how to interpret what the Bible means by "the LORD says X." You take it to mean that God actually said X, whereas I take it to mean that the author of that book supported X.

If you would like to understand my position, I would recommend reading Thom Stark's The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong (and Why Inerrancy Tries to Hide It).

The early church all accepted these Jewish beliefs, is what I'm trying to say (with the modification of Jesus' resurrection before everyone else). All early church doctrine revolved around resurrection, and the restoration of the world, coinciding with the rolling out of God's Kingdom. And that's all this article is exploring.

Look, there've been books written on this that outline every permutation of afterlife conceptions. If you're really curious, go read this, and watch this.

Dan Kimball's book is pretty good; but I'm sorry to say that our own personal suspicions about this group are likely to be endorsed by our own confirmation bias- try and clear your head. I couldn't.

Is that from Game of Thrones...?

I really enjoy the Irenaean theodicy, and if literature is your cup of tea you should read Silence. It's a historical novel about the persecution of the secret Christians in Japan, and it has some very beautiful thoughts on the problem of evil.

Oh! And the Brothers Karamazov, too.

EDIT: Yeah...Princess Bride, that makes a lot more sense...it's a Wesley line. For some reason I pictured Jorah Mormont (from Game of Thrones) saying it...

First and foremost, read books that will nourish your soul. If you are not being fed by the Bible and other books, your soul can shrivel and you'll be of no help to anyone.

Get The Pastor: A Memoir and The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson. This guy can flat out write. I'd also second the Keller votes and put Francis Chan on the list, especially The Forgotten God. Also, the last one I'll put is The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Hardcore stuff there.

Reminds me also of the story of the Vanaukens (http://www.amazon.com/A-Severe-Mercy-Sheldon-Vanauken/dp/0060688246).

Frankly, I'd prefer a scenario in which I don't have to die first... :/