The title of the book states that it is an introduction to the history, doctrine and spiritual culture of the Orthodox Church. It deals with each of these three areas in turn. The first section describes the history of the Orthodox Church in order to understand how it has reached its present form, and especially how the various national Churches came into being and developed. The doctrinal chapters describe the nature of tradition, the doctrine of God and the salvific work of the Church. McGuckin's approach to Orthodox doctrine has clearly defined characteristics. In its origins it is patristic, with clear and sensitive analysis of the writings of the early Fathers. In its character it is soteriological and doxological, insisting that the Church's teaching is not debated or discussed but lived and worshipped in the church community. The doxological theme is further developed in the following sections which describe the various liturgies of the Church. Then the soteriological reappears in the concluding sections of the book which show how the Orthodox way of life can provide guidance in the various concerns and crises of modern living. The author is a priest of the Romanian Orthodox Church and a teacher of patristics in New York and he explains that he is writing to introduce the Orthodox Church to a western audience, both converts and ecumenically-minded interested members of other Churches. Throughout he shows how Orthodox teaching is radically opposed to western Enlightenment thought, which he refers to in simple, often misleadingly simple, terms. However there is another, less clearly stated, intention, which is to argue for an approach which is both patristic and contemporary, in contrast to more rigid and reactionary versions of Orthodoxy. This shows itself clearly, for example, in his advocacy of the central place of women in the life of the Church. Thus he presents a challenge to the Orthodox in the east as well as the west to understand, worship and live their faith in a way which fully engages with modern society. His passionate, sometimes polemical, argument of this understanding of faith at times leads him into oversimplification. He consistently presents western theology as superficial and intellectual, He fails to show the variety of approaches of Orthodox theology, stating for example that western errors concerning the ‘filioque’ lead inexorably to dysfunctionality in the Church, a connection which is hard to demonstrate and certainly not the view of all Orthodox theologians. He gives little space to Orthodox theological writing subsequent to the Fathers. However this clear, simple, passionately argued, at times poetic book shows how Orthodoxy provides an abiding message of hope to a confused modern world. It will help the Orthodox to a deeper understanding of the riches of their faith and will introduce the non-Orthodox to fresh ways of thinking about their faith, and both to a renewed engagement with the life of the Church.