Raising Lazarus: Integral Healing in Orthodox Christianity

I believe that Raising Lazarus will do much to establish pastoral counseling as a vital integrative ministry within the modern Orthodox Christian Church and off er valuable perspective to those in other denominations as well. Surely the authors have responded successfully to Archbishop Demetrios' challenge to "off er Orthodox Christianity to contemporary America." Their reward will be that they will help many persons in their eff orts to achieve spiritual growth and healing. We are all grateful. Dimitrios G. Oreopoulos, M.D. Raising Lazarus takes an adventuresome approach to the fundamental practical issue raised by the Christian faith: How are we to live the union of divine and human life that is off ered to us by Christ? The book's clear reply is: Certainly not by a 'spiritual' manner of living, if that means ignoring the psychological and bodily aspects of our being. In their diff erent ways the contributors invite us to use the insights of the Fathers as well as those of contemporary depth psychology in our search for wholeness in Christ, thereby confi rming that the Tradition of the Church is quite capable of facing the challenges of the new century in a lively and constructive manner. Bishop Basil of Sergievo