Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality
by Kyriacos C. Markides
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Book Summary Information
Author: Kyriacos C. MarkidesEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-18
ISBN: 0385506635
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of Gifts of the Desert: The Forgotten Path of Christian Spirituality
Book Review: Strange Bedfellows
Summary: 3 Stars
Since Markides uses a tape recorder and transcribes his coversations with Bishop MAXIMOS, it is almost as if this book has two authors; thus, one feels the need to evaluate both.
On the sole basis of the Orthodox Bishop's words, I would have given this book five stars. What he says seems perfectly in sync with Orthodox tradition and only confirms and enhances what I have already learned about Orthodox belief.
However, when Markides, restates or comments upon these teachings, I am left wondering if we are talking about the same statements.
As a previous reviewer has written, Markides seems to process the teaching he received from Bishop MAXIMOS in such a way as to end up with an overall Universalism. In fact, given the book's concluding remarks, I can't exactly see why Christ would even be necessary. But surely this isn't what Bishop MAXIMOS intended to convey!
Furthermore, in the final chapter Markides makes condescending remarks about the overall "patriarchal" attitudes of Eastern Orthodoxy with its oh so out-of-date attitudes about modern issues like women's rights and human gender.
Frankly, it boggles my mind that anyone who has spent the least amount of time in Eastern Orthodoxy would conclude that its priests and monks hold traditional views because they don't know any better. Does he really expect that eventually some type of "Constantinople II" will reverse these attitudes and that Orthodoxy will jump on the Political Correctness bandwagon? It's as if Markides feels the Church needs to taylor itself to what the public wants. "Would women like a more extensive liturgical role? Well, let's see what we can do about that. Perhaps they would like free access to the Holy Place. Than let them help themselves. We would hate for anyone to be dissatisfied."
And regarding our monks' alleged "Dark Ages" views regarding human sexuality--well, I don't even want to know where he's headed with that.
All in all, the book left me feeling enriched, confused and disappointed: enriched because of the wealth of insight contained in Bishop MAXIMOS's teachings; confused because I couldn't recognize the Bishop's teaching in the midst of Markides's remarks about it; and disappointed because Markides seems no closer to shaking off the mindset of academia than he did at the end of The Mountain of Silence.
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