Having entered the Christmas season, we ask those who find the work of the Mystagogy Resource Center beneficial to them to help us continue our work with a generous financial gift as you are able. As an incentive, we are offering the following booklet.

In 1909 the German philosopher Arthur Drews wrote a book called "The Myth of Christ", which New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman has called "arguably the most influential mythicist book ever produced," arguing that Jesus Christ never existed and was simply a myth influenced by more ancient myths. The reason this book was so influential was because Vladimir Lenin read it and was convinced that Jesus never existed, thus justifying his actions in promoting atheism and suppressing the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the ideologues of the Third Reich would go on to implement the views of Drews to create a new "Aryan religion," viewing Jesus as an Aryan figure fighting against Jewish materialism. 

Due to the tremendous influence of this book in his time, George Florovsky viewed the arguments presented therein as very weak and easily refutable, which led him to write a refutation of this text which was published in Russian by the YMCA Press in Paris in 1929. This apologetic brochure titled "Did Christ Live? Historical Evidence of Christ" was one of the first texts of his published to promote his Neopatristic Synthesis, bringing the patristic heritage to modern historical and cultural conditions. With the revival of these views among some in our time, this text is as relevant today as it was when it was written. 

Never before published in English, it is now available for anyone who donates at least $20 to the Mystagogy Resource Center upon request (please specify in your donation that you want the book). Thank you.



March 15, 2011

Fr. George Florovsky: The Latest Most Up-to-Date Bibliography


The Greek theological journal ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ has devoted its most recent issue (Vol. 4, 2010) to Fr. George Florovsky. The volume is in Greek, though there is a 40-page bibliography of secondary sources in English that is the most complete and up-to-date.

To view it, click here for the title page. Then click on where it says "Τεύχη ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ". Under "Τόμος 81/2010" click on the issue that says "Τεύχος 4o". The title with the bibliography says "Secondary Bibliography of Scholarly Literature and Conferences on Florovsky".

Here is the introductory information about the bibliography:

In this section, attempt has been made by the authors to present an exhaustive list of secondary literature treating Florovsky’s life and work, including PhD dissertations, Masters theses, full-length monographs, essays, and articles in a wide variety of languages. Unpublished conference papers and presentations have also been listed. This collection represents the cumulative fruit of numerous years of bibliographical searching. At that same time, most especially with the conference papers, acknowledgment must be made of the gracious help of the following scholars and friends: Prof. Pavel Pavlov at the Theological School of Sofia University “Saint Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgary; Prof. Stoyan Tanev at the South Denmark University; Prof. (Emeritus) A. Blane of Russian History at the City University – New York and secretary of the Andrei Sakharov Foundation and Prof. Alexis Klimoff at the Vassar University. In addition, we have included as an appendix a brief chronology and description of symposia and conferences dedicated to Florovsky.

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