If there’s a debate that will be ignited, it will be, once again, over whether the non-apostolic fables composed centuries after Jesus lived constitute an equally viable interpretation of Christianity. The Orthodox Coptic Church, in addition to every other creedal church that has survived into the present era, says no. The ‘Christianity must change or die’ crowd, of course, says yes. Draw your own conclusions.

The entire interest of the Christian Church fastens on this truth, that Christ is not simply one sublime figure in the Valhalla of human greatness, but that in the historical manifestation of Jesus Christ God Himself actually enters into the ranks of mankind, so that Christ’s life is really God’s life; His love, God’s love; His power is really God’s power; His fight is God’s fight, His victory is God’s.

Scripture and Church belong together, but not as though the Scriptures were the letter and the teaching Church the spirit that breathes life into it. The Church is the creation of the Word, but the Word can never be the creation of the Church. […] The Bible contains only one truth, but it is the decisive one: ‘that Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for the sake of our sins, and was resurrected for the sake of our righteousness.’

[H]aving heard my fair share of Orthodox and Catholic sermons over the past eight years, I am convinced that most Orthodox and Catholic preachers simply do not understand what it means to speak the good news of Jesus Christ. They do not understand that preaching is, first and foremost, the proclamation of the God who is absolute love and mercy. The homilies I have heard may be characterized as exhortation. I have heard exhortations to good behavior. I have heard exhortations to imitate Christ in his care for the poor. I have heard exhortations to repentance and the acquisition of the virtues. I have heard exhortations to adhere to the dogmas and traditions of the Church. I have heard exhortations to prayer and ascetical discipline. But rarely, oh so rarely, have I heard the kerygmatic announcement of the surprising and unmerited mercy of God. Rarely have I heard the proclamation of the resurrection of Christ and the eschatological existence now freely given to us in the Church by the Spirit. Rarely have I heard of the God who leaves his flock in search for one lost sheep and upon finding it lays it on his shoulders and rejoicing takes it back to the flock. Orthodox and Catholic preachers prefer to exhort, urge, counsel, warn, and admonish their congregations; but this kind of preaching, whether moralistic or ascetical, cannot save. Only the proclamation of love communicates the abundant life that Christ came to bring us.