Resource Review: “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy” by Fr Andrew Stephen Damick

After a good couple of months of reading Fr Andrew Stephen Damick’s text, Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: Exploring Belief Systems Through the Lens of the Ancient Christian Faith, I finally finished it. The reading was informative but a bit dense. This is not because the information was incredibly difficult to sort through, but because Damick tends to spend a lot of time repeating himself, which can get a little boring. This is not necessarily a problem with the text, nor is it a critique of his writing; it is simply to say that the nature of this work is one that actually seems to call for a fair amount of repetition. That said, for the Orthodox Christian (youth worker or non) who wishes to know more about other religious traditions, I recommend this text with some reservation. My reservation, however, is primarily due to how zealous Orthodox readers might perceive Fr Andrew’s text. For now, I turn to the strengths and my reasons for this book’s recommendation.