Eugenia Constantinou apparently had some bad experiences with armchair theologians on Facebook! Good thing, though—those experiences seem to have inspired her to write this book, which is an excellent introduction to the Orthodox Christian "phronema," a Greek term loosely translated as "mindset." Really, this book is about acquiring the mind of Christ. Protestants and Catholics will likely find much to dispute in her characterization of those traditions and their own unique "phronema," and sometimes Constantinou seems to contradict herself (as when she denies the validity of the Catholic notion of progressive revelation early in the book, only to describe later something like progressive revelation when she describes the differences between morality in the Old and New Testaments). Those apparent contradictions didn't bother me too much, in part because Constantinou reminds us throughout to rely less on our own understanding and human reasoning: we should instead embrace the intellectual difficulties of Christian faith with humility and affirm the mysteries that God has given us through the Church.

This book's greatest strength lies not in any original argument that Constantinou makes, but in how thoroughly she relies on the words of the Church Fathers to support her account of the Orthodox phronema. Nearly every single page contains a long quote from one of the Fathers. In fact, I would recommend this book as a great introduction to the Fathers' thoughts. They, better than anyone, offer us the Orthodox phronema in its purest form, but accessing and reading the vast array of writings associated with the Fathers can be difficult. This book simplifies the task of exploring their writings by compiling hundreds of passages and explaining their context. Constantinou's book is a refreshing read and a great resource.