Discovering the Rich Heritage of Orthodoxy

Discovering the Rich Heritage of Orthodoxy
By M. Charles Bell

Bell does an excellent job in presenting the ancient Tradition. A former Protestant himself, Bell takes up the following issues with honesty and faithfulness:1)The True Church? 2)Worship in the Church 3)What About Mary? 4)Saints Alive! 5)The Physical Side of Spirituality 6)The Eucharist 7)Scripture and Tradition 8)The Path of Spirituality. He does this in the context of his own search. This is very strongly recommended for any Prostestant who is interested (or fighting against) the Church since the author is very winsome.

If you want something more "in your face" but along the same lines, sort of, you may want to check out Frank Schaeffer'sDancing Alone: The Quest for Orthodox Faith in the Age of False Religion. Bishop Kallistos Ware's The Orthodox Way is very readable, but it doesn't interact with Protestant theology in the same way as Bell since it is meant more for Orthodox. If you want to chew on something for a while or if your friend is more critical and needs some strong documentation, I would always go with Common Ground: An Introduction to Eastern Christianity for the American Christian by Jordan Bajis. A recent addition to this discussion, from the Protestant perspective, is Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition which I found very useful.