Religion of the Apostles: Orthodox Christianity in the First Century

By: Stephen De Young

Narrated by: Stephen De Young

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Rev. Dr. Stephen De Young, creator of the popular The Whole Counsel of God blog and podcast, traces the lineage of Orthodox Christianity back to the faith and witness of the apostles, which was rooted in a first-century Jewish worldview. The Religion of the Apostles presents the Orthodox Christian Church of today as a continuation of the religious life of the apostles, which in turn was a continuation of the life of the people of God since the beginning of creation.

©2021 Stephen De Young (P)2021 Stephen De Young

Solid presentation

Great book, more citations would be helpful. Overall recommend! Good audio quality and reader/author does a very good job.

Well Presented Church History

The author did a very good job of explaining the beginning of the church and how it differs from Judaism. Additionally he shows the evolution of Judaism throughout history.

Enlightening

Filled with historical, and biblical, and pagan elements it deconstructs the roots of Early Christianity, as the continuation of the Torah, and prophets. Delves into the know called apocryphal texts, which were still canon at the times, and the understanding, and beliefs of not only the Apostles, Early to second temple Judaism, but also the parallels of other ancients religions of the regions, and the descriptions of their gods/demons in relation to our Ancient and current faith.

Fantastic book, and well recommended to any Christian, and really anyone interested in the ancients beliefs, customs, traditions, and their evolutions to the present day.

fair review

a lot of people are critiquing this book as an academic book. this is not an academic book.
this book is more like a textbook with limited citations. much of what's presented is common knowledge to students of theology and history and language.

the book should encourage many to analyze the epistemology of their beliefs.

The Book that Most Accurately Explains the Faith

This book presents unadulterated Christianity. It explains the concepts that the West doesn’t understand because it is so disconnected from the original faith. Read the text! I’ll jump the gun and also say, “Welcome to the Orthodox Church!”

Mandatory read for any modern Orthodox believer

With little words: this book is one of the best out there bringing amazing content on the relationship between the old and new testament. May God bless fr. Stephen, and grant him many years in his ministry.

Excellent analysis of the Religion of the Apostles

Fr. Stephen De Young provides an excellent scholary examination into the religion of the Jews in the Second Temple period. He then synthesizes this understanding with the New Testament and Early Church Fathers to make a compelling case that Orthodox Christianity truly is the fulfillment of the Religion of the Apostles.

The first Christians did not “invent” anything

The Religion of the Apostles: Orthodox Christianity in the First Century by Stephen De Young had several aims. I am paraphrasing: “To outline the contours of the religious practice and beliefs of the Jewish people in the first century AD; to rectify the assumed discontinuity between Old and New Testamental beliefs, practices and scriptures, and to be used in the Orthodox Christian apologetics”. The book achieved and exceeded its aims, at least this is my humble opinion, but it is not without its faults, about which I will speak later. Additionally, the book’s aim, which was unmentioned but fulfilled anyway, is to give Orthodox Christians grounding in their beliefs and practices. Too many of us gather as the one Body and participate in the life of the Orthodox Church without understanding the modes of that participation. I have seen criticism levelled against the book, and those mainly revolve around not providing enough references. If you are looking for a scholarly book full of references and footnotes (the book is not without them), this is not the book for you. The book was not written to be a scholarly reference for somebody’s doctoral thesis. The book had different aims.
As mentioned above, the book does have some issues. The issues are mainly in its pacing and the presentation of the material. However, this criticism I would not entirely place on the author, much of it has to do with the material, which gets complicated at times. The book starts very well. It presents the material very cleanly and concisely, which for me was a refreshing change. Too many authors in the field of religious studies try to be “scholarly”, which comes off as pretentious. Part 2 is where the trouble begins. Part 2 very soon becomes repetitive and a bit tiresome. While Part 3 is too complicated, to the point of feeling like reading somebody’s PhD thesis, which makes the listener lose focus, hearing every third word or so. However, as mentioned before, much of it has to do with the subject matter of this particular section. This section answers questions that many regular non-western Orthodox parishioners (people with roots in the Middle East, Balkans, Russia) have never raised during their religious lives. Part 4 is where the book goes back to its beginnings, slowing the pace down and being much clearer.
From the technical perspective, the audiobook is well-narrated by the author himself, with the occasional “end quote”, which would pop out sound-wise.
To summarise, the book is excellent, and the benefits for the Orthodox listeners are immeasurable. First, because the book shows us two fundamental things:
1. That the first Christians did not “invent” anything.
2. That the first Christians did not “corrupt” anything.
Second, because it shows us that the first Christians listened to the voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Repent (in Greek “metanoite” – change your mind, your worldview), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”. And then listened to the call of the Apostles and their descendants through the ages, until today: “Taste and see that the LORD is good”.
However, the book is not without its problem, which will be negligible after a careful re-listening. The first of many, I am sure.

Comprehensive and Loaded with Beauty

I won’t lie, I’m a wee bit obsessed with Father Stephens mind! huge fan of his podcasts, and this books really shines. It’s hard to find a scholar who manages to write and speak how my mind works. There is a large volume of data here to digest, but it’s written in such a way that it makes it digestible but not at all boring. I appreciate the incredible amount of time and attention to historical and scriptural accuracy that is lended in every work he submits. Thank you Father Stephen for this comprehensive look at the fundamental beginnings of our faith. God bless you.

Want to read the book, not just listen

This audiobook from audible was read by the author and was very engaging. The content was engaging. The flow of prose was well done. I look forward to actually reading the book, because I am very interested in looking further into the citations which the author mentioned, along with researching the author's stated conclusions of recent academic research.