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doi:10.1017/S0009640710000193
The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology The Cambridge Companion to Orthodox Christian Theology. Edited by Mary B. Cunningham and Elizabeth Theokritoff. Cambridge Companions to Religion. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. xxvi+321 pp. $81.00 cloth; $29.99 paper.
This volume, edited by Mary B. Cunningham, Lecturer in Historical Theology at Nottingham University, and Elizabeth Theokritoff, an independent scholar known for her publications on liturgical theology and Christian ecology, is a welcome addition to the series, Cambridge Companions to Religion. As its title suggests, it is mainly concerned with theology rather than the history of Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Church. For the latter (although the two editors do provide a survey of the history of Orthodoxy from the beginnings to the present day) one might also turn to the relevant volumes of the Cambridge History of Christianity, especially volume 5, Eastern Christianity, edited by Michael Angold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). After the historical introduction, the present volume is divided into two parts, headed respectively "Doctrine and Tradition" and "Contemporary Orthodox Theology: Its Formation and Character," and there is a marked emphasis on Russian Orthodoxy and spirituality. The focus of the first section is on major theological themes within Orthodoxy, while the contributions to the second section take a more historical approach. The book provides a most useful and indeed salutary complementary tool for church historians whose own focus may be on historical and social rather than theological issues; as such, it can also...