A Journey to Orthodoxy, and the Church Feminized with Frederica Mathewes-Green (Part 1)

Ba Vojdaan! با وجدان

This is the first in a series of episodes featuring Orthodox Christian scholar Frederica Matthewes-Green.

Frederica has a number of resources available that have been very helpful for me in my inquiry into, and eventual baptism into the Orthodox Church. In fact, Frederica's book, Two Views of the Cross was very influential in my own introduction to the Orthodox Church, and the Orthodox views of Christianity.

The life of Jesus and his death, his atonement, very different ways of thinking between the Orthodox and say, Roman Catholic or the Protestant views of Jesus's suffering and how it translates to our joy and our joy. Eternal Salvation.

I think the initial agenda was to discuss her book Two Views of the Cross. And while we did get into the book eventually, we discussed quite a bit beforehand.

And to be honest, it all blended quite honestly and pleasantly.

I have one more interview that I did with Frederica that I'm going to publish shortly after I published this one, and that was more Overtly Orthodox. It was on the topic of Energeia, the Greek word that refers to divine energy.

To give a bit of background on this interview: I was brand new to Orthodoxy when we recorded this. I was trying to get a completely different podcast off the ground. This particular podcast wasn't even a glimmer in my eye. So you might hear references to a completely different podcast, as well as a URL mentioned that is not necessarily relevant to this particular podcast.

Nothing that is a game-changer, but I want to explain why you might hear some odd references to various things throughout.

So enjoy it!

In this discussion with Frederica, you'll discover:

-Frederica describes her spiritual journey as a young person...06:35

-Contrarian thinkers and actors often come from a place of deep-seated convictions and principles...10:30

-How Frederica discovered her relationship with Jesus, and in due time Orthodoxy...14:02

-"All of Western Christianity seems to have adopted the idea that the purpose of church is to comfort people"...19:18

-The need for strong (but not dominant) men has never been more pressing than in modern culture...27:09

-A shocking imbalance between how men and women are viewed in society...32:26

Resources mentioned:

Two Views of the Cross: Orthodoxy and the West by Frederica Mathewes-Green

Men and Marriage by George Gilder

About the guest, and how to connect:

Frederica's website

"I write and speak on a wide range of topics. In recent years I’ve concentrated on ancient Christian spirituality and the Eastern Orthodox faith, but the hundreds of Posts and Essays on this site include movie reviews, humor, marriage and family, cultural issues, and more. Essays can be browsed by date or category, or you can use the search box at the right.

The most recent posts are below. Here’s where you’ll find my published Books.

I travel to Speaking Engagements all year round; you can contact Cynthia Damaskos of the Orthodox Speakers Bureau if you’d like to bring me to an event. This Calendar will let you know when I’m in your neighborhood.

Audio: Here’s where you’ll find many of my commentaries for National Public Radio (NPR), though others have been filed away under many different creative misspellings of my name. I have recorded a podcast for Ancient Faith Radio since 2007.

Video: For Beliefnet.com, I recorded brief videos on my conversion to Christ, the Christ of Sinai icon, the spiritual discipline of fasting, and the evil one.

There’s a link in the sidebar where you can sign up for my mailing list, and you can find me onFacebook too.

I’m always glad to hear from readers. You can contact me by email here."

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Thank you for listening!