This volume, edited by Mary B. Cunningham, Lecturer in Historical Theology at Nottingham University, and Elizabeth Theokritoff, an independent scholar known for her publications on liturgical theology and Christian ecology, is a welcome addition to the series, Cambridge Companions to Religion. As its title suggests, it is mainly concerned with theology rather than the history of Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Church. For the latter (although the two editors do provide a survey of the history of Orthodoxy from the beginnings to the present day) one might also turn to the relevant volumes of the Cambridge History of Christianity, especially volume 5, Eastern Christianity, edited by Michael Angold (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). After the historical introduction, the present volume is divided into two parts, headed respectively “Doctrine and Tradition” and “Contemporary Orthodox Theology: Its Formation and Character,” and there is a marked emphasis on Russian Orthodoxy and spirituality. The focus of the first section is on major theological themes within Orthodoxy, while the contributions to the second section take a more historical approach. The book provides a most useful and indeed salutary complementary tool for church historians whose own focus may be on historical and social rather than theological issues; as such, it can also be read alongside The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity, edited by Ken Parry (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999).

The topics covered in section one include scripture and tradition, the Trinity, Creation, the human person and salvation, eschatology, ecclesiology, icons and Orthodox spirituality. Themes which run through several of the contributions include Orthodox ecclesiology and the importance of a Eucharistic understanding of the Church. Many of these chapters are excellent, including those by Matthew Steenberg on the Church and John Chryssagvis on the spiritual way. The chapter on the veneration of icons, by Marianna Fortounato and Mary B. Cunningham, presents Orthodox iconology with reference to the classic statements by L. Ouspensky and V. Lossky, but perhaps surprisingly does not reflect the huge amount of recent work by Byzantine art historians and others on the development of icon veneration, the disputes surrounding it, and the history of individual images. This is a case where the separation of theology and history is less effective. Most of the contributors emphasize the patristic foundations of Orthodox theology, or refer to the “Church Fathers,” but these terms cover many differences and even disputes; there was not one continuous and seamless development from the patristic period to the present. Here the contributions included in part 2 by Athanasios N. Papathanasiou, on the theology of the Greek Church, and Aristotle Papanikolaou, on the concept of personhood in twentieth-century Orthodox theology, both offer more critical approaches; their presentation of some of the problems of interpretation arising from the standard earlier and recent accounts of Orthodoxy is welcome in a subject where there is a danger of resorting to bland general statements.

In part 2, Augustine Casiday's chapter on the contribution of the “Church Fathers” addresses the patristic foundations directly, with sections on Athanasius, the Cappadocians, Evagrius Ponticus, monasticism and councils, Photius and Palamas; he would no doubt agree that space constraints made it difficult to do more. However, he also draws attention to a lesser-known writer, Peter of Damascus (ca. 1027–1107), whose writing bears out Casiday's own argument that Orthodoxy is about practice as much as about doctrine, and that “theology” is embedded in the daily life and actions of the faithful. This is a further theme which runs through the whole volume. Andrew Louth contributes a very interesting chapter on the renewal of Orthodoxy associated with the impact of the Philokalia (published in 1782), and the “neo-patristic synthesis” advocated in twentieth-century Orthodox theology by scholars of Russian background and by the Romanian Fr. Dumitru Stäniloae (d. 1993). One of the most important Orthodox themes in the twentieth century is that of ecclesiology, and this has become even more pressing with the collapse of communism. An Orthodox theology can no longer be based on Byzantine ideas of the relation of church and state, and the alternative Eucharistic theology associated with the work of John Zizioulas, Metropolitan of Pergamon, and others is prominent in this volume. At the same time Orthodox philosophical writers such as Christos Yannaras have turned back to patristic writers, in particular Ps-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus Confessor, in a new critical engagement.

Perhaps not surprisingly in view of the role played by Russian thinkers in the rediscovery of the Orthodox tradition since the nineteenth century, several of the chapters in part two are concerned with Russian Orthodoxy. They include discussion of the theory of “Sophiology,” associated with Vladimir Soloviev (1853–1900), which laid emphasis on divine Wisdom (Sophia) as the unifying principle. Leonid Kishkovsky discusses Russian theology after totalitarianism, but it might also have been good to have coverage of some of the issues and sharp divisions that have arisen in the newly emergent states of the Balkans. If personhood and communion are important current issues, the final key theme that has emerged, which is intimately connected with the Orthodox concepts of sobornost and synergy, is that of Orthodoxy and the ecological movement; this is exemplified in many recent writings, as well as in the activities of the Orthodox youth fellowship known as Syndesmos.

In any collected volume there are bound to be some topics on which one would have liked to hear more, for instance in the present case on Orthodoxy during the Ottoman period, or on the remarkable revival seen in the monasteries of Mount Athos in recent years. But this is an accessible and attractive collection, from which much can be learned.