In this book, Orthodox theologian Radu Bordeianu has produced a masterwork of ecclesiology with relevance for the Orthodox Church and for wider ecumenical ecclesiology. A unifying theme of the book is the question of location.

First, and correctly, the author locates the church in relation to the kingdom of God. As indicated by the title, where Catholic ecclesiology often points to the image of the church as a “sacrament,” Bordeianu highlights the church as an icon, that is, as a visible, encounterable “icon, sign, foretaste, and instrument of the Kingdom of God” (25).

Second, and most distinctively, Bordeianu asks about the location from which one develops ecclesiology and locates ecclesiology at the grassroots of ecclesial life, that is, in the family and in the parish. This is distinctive given, as the author reminds us, so much Orthodox (and Catholic) ecclesiological reference to the “local church” points to the diocese or eparchy, with its bishop, presbyters, deacons, and baptized, as the model for ecclesial life, leaving “the parish largely devoid of ecclesiological content” (131). By contrast, drawing upon his own experiences as a husband and father to his family and as a priest in his parish, Bordeianu locates ecclesiology in the smaller, more concrete eucharistic realities of family and parish, making the bold claim (especially in contrast to classic Orthodox and Catholic theologies of the local church) that “the successor of the early Christian community is today’s parish, rather than the diocese” (139). Rather than positing the idealized gathering of the diocese or eparchy with its bishop as the starting point for ecclesiology, Bordeianu locates ecclesiology at the level where most Christians, including their clergy, encounter “the church”—in the local gathered worshipping community with all its particularities, positive and negative.

The location of his ecclesiology within the parish and family opens up a third aspect of location, that of the members of the church in relation to one another, to the past, and to the coming kingdom of God. The longest chapter of the book, immediately following its treatment of the church in relation to the kingdom of God, deals with baptism, and it provides the fundamental categories of ecclesial identity that form the basis for later discussions of the structuring of baptismal identity in ordination of the authority of leaders in a synodal church and the relations of the church with the state in communities marked by a close relation between church and nation-state.

Fourth, and finally, Bordeianu has provided an Orthodox theology rooted in his own location in the United States, and, more particularly, as a Romanian-born Orthodox theologian, trained at and teaching in Roman Catholic higher education, and serving as a priest in a Greek Orthodox Church of the diaspora. These diversities of experience and of dialogue partners enrich this book, making it a thoroughly Orthodox (and orthodox) ecclesiology written in openness to continuing ecumenical dialogue, scholarly dialogue, and the “dialogue of life.” Bordeianu highlights the gifts that he has received from his companions on the way to the kingdom and now shares one of these, especially with those of us outside of the Orthodox Church—his wisdom.

Two aspects of the style of the book are to be particularly commended. First, Bordeianu has produced what might be called a foundational ecclesiological text, outlining the building blocks for a lasting Orthodox ecclesiological vision. But he does not shy away from drawing out the relevance of these foundations to contemporary issues facing his church, and all of our churches; these issues include the validity and repeatability of baptism, the question of eucharistic sharing and hospitality across ecclesial divisions, the need for more robust structures for shared discernment and decision-making in a sometimes divided Orthodox Church, and a commitment to confront continuing forms of Christian nationalism. This work is both learned and relevant. As for the second aspect of this book’s style, because I have had the privilege to know the author as a colleague and friend for some time, I was able to enjoy and learn from the wry humor that permeates the text, particularly in some of the asides and footnotes. Rather than a dislocated “text from nowhere,” this book evidences its location in the particular experience and joy of its author, a gift for which we can all be grateful.