Adrian Fortescue Bibliography

Suggest and discuss books to read (all languages welcome!)
Post Reply
LectorRecitator
Posts: 392
Joined: October 6th, 2018, 1:34 pm

Post by LectorRecitator »

ADRIAN HENRY TIMOTHY KNOTTESFORD FORTESCUE (1874–1923)

The Greek Fathers (1908)

ℹ️ "This little book contains outlines of the lives of the great Greek fathers, from Athanasius to John Damascene, with list of their chief works and a few bibliographical notes. No one will expect to find anything new in what does not profess to be more than a series of popular sketches. The only object of the book is to give in a small space, and in English, a general account of what is commonly known about these fathers. I have described their lives and adventures rather than their systems of theology." (Preface)

https://archive.org/details/cu31924007767274/page/n5

https://archive.org/details/greekfathers00fortrich/page/n10

The Orthodox Eastern Church (1908 · 2nd Edition)

ℹ️ "This little book is intended to supply not so much matter for controversy as a certain amount of information about the Orthodox Church. People in the West have too long forgotten that enormous mass of their fellow Christians who live on the other side of the Adriatic Sea and the river Vistula, and now that Anglicans especially have begun to take an interest in what they look upon as another branch of the Church, it seems regrettable that English Catholics as a rule have only the vaguest and the most inaccurate ideas about the people whom they confuse under the absurd name of " Greeks."" (Preface)

ℹ️ "In the departments of research in which he specialized—Liturgy and Ceremonial, and Eastern Church History—Dr. Fortescue produced a number of works of which one at least, The Orthodox Eastern Church, has become a classic on the subject"" (The Catholic Historical Review, 04/1923)

https://archive.org/details/orthodoxeasternc00fortuoft/page/n8

https://archive.org/details/TheOrthodoxEasternChurch/page/n9

The Lesser Eastern Churches (1913)

ℹ️ "This book forms a continuation, or second part, of The Orthodox Eastern Church by the same author. Its object is to describe the lesser separated Eastern Churches in the same way as that described the greatest. " Greatest " and " lesser/' by the way, are only meant to qualify their size. No opinion is thereby expressed as to their relative merit." (Preface)

https://archive.org/details/lessereasternchu00fortuoft/page/n8

The Mass, A Study Of The Roman Liturgy (1914 · New Edition)

ℹ️ "This book is intended to supply information about the history of the Roman liturgy. The dogmatic side of the Mass is discussed by the Bishop of Newport in the same series. The title shows that it is a study of the Roman rite. It is only in the Roman (or Gallican) rite that the Eucharistic service can correctly be called Mass. The chapter about other liturgies and the frequent references to them throughout are meant only to put our Roman Mass in its proper perspective and to illustrate its elements by comparison. In spite of the risk of repetition, the clearest plan seemed to be to discuss first the origin and development of the Mass in general ; and then to go through the service as it stands now, adding notes to each prayer and ceremony." (Preface)

https://archive.org/details/massstudyofroman00fort/page/n8

https://archive.org/details/massstudyoftoman00fort/page/n6

Donatism (1917)

ℹ️ "THE great Donatist schism of the fourth century in Africa forms an important chapter of Church history. It is important in itself, being the first great trouble the Church had to suffer after the peace of Constantine, and because of so great Fathers who opposed it the fact that St. Augustine spent a considerable part of his later life in controversy against the Donatists is alone enough to give importance to their schism. But it is chiefly valuable as a test case of schism. It is the most important example of what we may call pure schism, without heresy, in Church history. So, in arguing against the Donatists, the Fathers have their opportunity of explaining what they believe about the Church and her unity. As the Arian heresy gave the Church occasion to define what she believes about the holy Trinity, so the Donatist schism was an opportunity of her explaining her faith about herself ; so much so that the writings of the Catholic Fathers in this controversy form a fairly complete treatise de Ecclesia." (Section I)

https://archive.org/details/a622030600fortuoft/page/n3
Last edited by LectorRecitator on January 9th, 2022, 12:28 pm, edited 12 times in total.
Elizabby
Posts: 9209
Joined: April 1st, 2011, 5:36 pm
Location: Kelsingra

Post by Elizabby »

Just from the point of view of someone connected to the Orthodox Church (through my husband and his family) I would be rather suspicious of books written by the "Catholic Truth Society" claiming to describe the positions, beliefs and theology of the Orthodox church. I would find it difficult to believe that such a book would be 1) unbiased and 2) would accurately understand and represent such theology. It's complicated and inherently different from "Western" Theology.
Post Reply