I\u2019ve been trying to educate myself on the history of the Catholic\/Orthodox split having made a friend who is a convert to Orthodoxy. I pulled out my seminary (pentecostal) texts and lo and behold they were quite biased, and besides that, only gave it a chapter long treatment at best.<\/p>\n
Do you know of any good books on the subject?<\/p>\n
nate<\/p>\n
P.S.
On a personal note, I\u2019ve now been Catholic for over 3 months. What a joy and load of my shoulders to obey! You may recall that my wife was very much against it. Having actually made the conversion, there is MUCH more harmony between us now than the 3 years before in which she was praying I wouldn\u2019t convert, and I am seeing a few faint sign of openness in her. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement in the past.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nLast things first: glad to hear it! Welcome!<\/p>\n
As to books, I\u2019m not your guy. Orthodoxy was never much on the radar for me and the few questions I had about differences were dispelled fairly quickly for me. I never had much problem with the doctrine of the papacy, I think many of the theological differences between Catholics and Orthodox are greatly exaggerated, and I could never get past the sensation that a lot of Eastern hostility to Catholics was indistinguishable from the sort of hostility my Canadian relatives would exhibit toward Americans. I decided I wasn\u2019t interested in getting into a fight with people with whom I hold 99% of Christian teaching in common while the world is burning down around us. So I moved on and focused on learning the Catholic faith. If memory serves, James Likoudis has written about Catholic Orthodox relations. And, of course, if you want to get the basic magisterial take, go read Orientale Lumen<\/a>. Like John Paul, I have a high regard for the Eastern Churches. If you want to explore the Eastern way, one thing you might do is go find Fr. Thomas Loya\u2019s endlessly interesting Light of the East<\/a> stuff. He\u2019s a Byzantine Rite priest out in Chicago and he does a nice job of making that tradition intelligible to Westerners. Also, of course, if you have a Byzantine rite parish in your neighborhood, you could probably ask the priest for information as well.<\/p>\n
Sorry I\u2019m not more help!<\/p>\n