Hugeness
Jason Zengerle has an interesting piece in the TNR on evangelical conversions to Orthodoxy. At the end of the article, he quotes Jordan DeRenzo, who converted to Orthodoxy when her Baptist pastor, Wilbur Ellsworth, converted. She says: “Coming to the Orthodox Church means that I am in communion with that church no matter where I am in the world, that I can go into that church wherever I am and have the same liturgy and celebrate the same way. I’ll be in communion with other people. And that is so huge. That hugeness is so exciting.”
She has a point, of course. One cannot even walk into Baptism or Presbyterian churches in the same town and find the same liturgy.
On the other hand: What was she learning in the Baptist church that made her think she wasn’t part of a huge communion?
And, on still another hand: Isn’t converting to Orthodoxy a tad restricting? Is she going to find the same church everywhere ? Isn’t she going to have a hard time finding that huge church in Chile, Guatemala, or Austria?
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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