Religion of the Apostles: Orthodox Christianity in the First Century

Edited to include review and an addressing of the top critical review (about sources). See below.Up front: I'm writing this prior to reading the book, but not from a position of ignorance. I've been following Fr. Stephen on a couple different podcasts, as well as his blog, for a couple years now, and as someone who has done a lot of writing and research on Orthodoxy, I recommend Fr. Stephen's work without reservation.I will edit this to include a review after I have finished the book, but worth noting here is what Fr. Stephen brings to the table: extensive education in the Reformed theology world prior to coming to the Orthodox Church, in-depth understanding of ancient languages, and a seemingly inexhaustible knowledge of the ancient world at a level that you will not -- emphasize that with whatever you like, italics, bold letters, rock guitars, whatever -- find in the world of modern, Western, Protestant thought. He will enlighten you as to the realities of the biblical world in a way that you will not find elsewhere, and it leads one in a pretty clear direction.Do yourself a favor and not only buy this book, but check out his line-by-line commentary on Holy Scripture at "The Whole Counsel of God" on Ancient Faith and his dive into some lesser-known realities of antiquity in "The Lord of Spirits" podcast (also on Ancient Faith). Although I'm pretty sure I can take him on pop culture references (I was a living version of the characters in _High Fidelity_ so I have an advantage) and maybe even in tomahawk throwing, he's also a really funny guy who manages to convey some ridiculously complicated subjects in a straightforward and easily-accessible manner.First, a brief review: the book itself is excellent and tremendously helpful in understanding the biblical world and the context in which many aspects of what we know as "the Bible" were written. This is important for a number reasons, but I'll offer what I consider to be the most important: One, Fr. Stephen's knowledge of antiquity is vast and revelatory, but this comes into play when we recognize how much this is completely lacking in the toolkit of most so-called theologians. The John Pipers of the world treat the biblical texts as if they were simply there to reveal God's glory in an entirely modern context and for the purposes of it lifting up an individual from some sinful state, whereas Fr. Stephen's goal is to help the reader understand the world of the Apostles themselves first and then go out from there.To say that this is a huge departure from most theological efforts is about as large an understatement as one can make. Having gone through grad school at a prominent Christian university, I can tell you that most tenured, full-time professors of Christian history have little to no knowledge of what is contained in this book, so it is a welcome change to the landscape if only for that reason.Two, very, very few modern theologians make sense of what we call the Old Testament in a way that makes sense for Christianity for the world in which we live. Fr. Stephen fixes that problem in a way that makes the reader hungry for more, which is exactly what books should do. This leads me to my final point.The current (as of July 20) top review makes the most common critique I've seen of this book, which is that it lacks sources (i.e. it doesn't footnote everything). There are two primary points worth noting that show how this kind of critique falls flat.First, you know who else never cited their sources in the way modern scholarship does? Sts. Peter, Paul, James, and John, just to name a couple. But I could make a long list of prominent thinkers down through the centuries who never put foot notes in their works; that's just not how they did things, and footnotes is a very modern construct and one only used in scholarly efforts. This brings me to my second point.Second, although Fr. Stephen is most certainly a scholar, no doubt, 1) this isn't a scholarly work, and 2) it doesn't matter. The first point is obvious, but the next deserves an explanation. The top critical review (by Kristofer Carlson) proves my point by asserting that this book is only worthy of two stars because it makes bold statements without backing them up, and that doing so is "just wrong," but follows this up by stating, "After a modicum of research..."Fun fact about humans: those who think critically and want to dig to find the truth generally do exactly that, and those who don't...don't. Kristofer did what anyone would do in the scholarly world and started digging. But there was no need for footnotes to do that, and guess what? Even if there were footnotes, a good scholar should dig into those, as well; just because there are footnotes it doesn't make it true, so even with them, the claims should be investigated by critical thinkers.This leads me to the following statement (of Kristofer's review), which says, "...I can say that Fr. Stephen's statements do not accord with the latest and best scholarship." This is problematic on a number of levels (like how one defines "best"?), but let's address the one that is most relevant to the book at hand: it misses the point of what Fr. Stephen is both saying and trying to accomplish, which is largely that modern, Western scholarship has missed most of this for millennia and it has been preserved in the Orthodox Churches of the East. In other words, _of course_ it doesn't line up with most modern scholarship, because most modern scholarship has at its root a process of thought that is almost entirely divorced from the ancient mind.That is, quite literally, one of the main arguments of the book. Modernity has lost touch with the sacramentality of the Ancient Near East, which is monumentally important when understanding what, exactly, the "religion of the Apostles" was or was not.Just buy the book. Read it. Think about it. If something doesn't jive, research it. You won't regret it.

This is a well-written book with a lot to offer. I wish I could recommend it, but I cannot. My biggest problem is that Fr. Stephen does not reference his sources. Since Fr. Stephen is not a noted scholar of Judaic literature, any unsourced statement is suspect. For example, in chapter 3, Fr. Stephen writes: "In the Hebrew Scriptures themselves ..."the Name" is employed to indicate a Person, but one that is distinct from the first and second hypostases (or Persons) of the Godhead." There are no references for this statement, nor for the immediately previous statement concerning what Rabbinic Judaism believed concerning "the Name". As there are no references or attributions, I have no way of verifying the information or learning more about the subject. To make such a bold statement without backing it up is just wrong.After a modicum of research, I can say that Fr. Stephen’s statements do not accord with the latest and best scholarship. For example, noted scholar of second temple literature Andrei Orlov (from Marquette University) writes of the “Mediators of the Divine Name”. In his article, he notes the title Jesus applies to himself – Son of Man – is thought of as a hypostasis of the Divine Name. Titles Christians use of Jesus such as the Angel of the LORD and the Logos are also thought of as hypostases of the Divine Name. While the second temple literature wrote of three hypostases (personifications) of the Divine Name, the line from those to the "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit" of the Christian trinity is nowhere as clear cut as that proposed by Fr. Stephen. Moreover, what Trinitarians describe as the divine essence (shared equally by the three hypostases) is what Jews called "the Name", represented by the Tetragrammaton (YHWH).I note that Fr. Stephen was citing sacred scripture, not second temple literature. Where he fails is 1) he does not provide scriptural citations for his claim, and 2) he does not recognize that all scriptures are interpreted. We learn what scripture means through the history of their interpretation, not through direct reading. As such, when he claims the scriptures use the "Name" as a person, he should have provided the interpretive evidence of that claim.It is possible that patristic literature provides support for Fr. Stephen's thesis. However, since he claims no such support, working instead from second temple literature, I have no way of confirming this except through hours of mind-numbing research. Such was Fr. Stephen's job, and he failed.

Mr Bart Erdmann needs to sneak out of town quietly.

I have read many similar or related books (Heiser, Barker, etc) but this is a uniquely remarkable and convincing magnum opus by Fr Stephen. A page-turner even. It could and should serve as part of a catechumenate. Highly recommended! Fr Laurent @ St Innocent Orthodox Church in Eureka

I'm about halfway through this book after having followed Fr. Stephen's work for years. This is phenomenal. It is not an academic book though it does have a bibliography, but it heavily references Scripture on the assumption that it will be the most important reference for most readers. It's readable though not light reading, and it's full of helpful information, mostly discussing the bearings of ancient cultures and Second Temple Judaism on the Scriptures we know, love, and often are completely missing the point of. Highly recommended.

I’m enjoying the book, but with such unusual claims I need references. There aren’t many sources listed so far...

I have searched for theological coherence all my adult life. This book has most (of not all) of the missing “puzzle pieces.” Combined with The Language of Creation by Matteo Pageau, re-enchantment has begun!

Fr. Stephen De Young reveals the Faith held by the Apostles of Christ as the same Faith practiced by the Orthodox Church today by delving into Second Temple Judaism and other early Jewish writings ignored by most Western Christians but preserved by the Orthodox throughout the centuries. The beliefs of the Orthodox Church are thus shown to be not the product of "development" or "evolving" of doctrine, but a revelation from God that is anchored in the Old Testament and continuous among all of God's faithful worshippers.

This book was so good!! Fr. Stephen has done an excellent job of connecting both biblical testaments and showing us that Christianity is meant to be a continuation and a fulfilling of Israel’s religion. His treatment on the law and what it means for Christians today was great and forced me to rethink my own views of the law in my own life.This is a must read!!