reviewing my story

Recently I was asked to contribute some thoughts to an article about men and Orthodoxy. There's no particular distinction in that--I was one of something like a hundred men contacted for that one article, and it's anyone's guess which quotes will make it into the final product. It's got me thinking, though, about my journey to Orthodoxy. I still have no idea how many people read this blog or who most of them are, but it's possible that some have started here too late to see my rather lengthy, multi-part account of my journey, which I posted more than a year ago, which I wrote about a year before that. The nine segments that I posted were:

Coming Home: Why I Have No Choice but to Be Orthodox

• Seeking a Homeland
• A Wandering Aramean
• From the Desert of Paran
• Passing through Samaria
• A City with Foundations
• The Gate Is Narrow
• The Road Is Difficult
• The Road Goes Ever On

For the most part, it still seems like an accurate representation. If I were to write it over again, I'd probably emphasize certain points differently.

If you want a quick-and-dirty chronology, either so you can skip the narrative altogether or to help keep straight what happened when, here's the gist:

My Philippians 3 list:

• born into an Evangelical home (1975)
• active in my youth group--quiz team, Scripture memory, choir, writing, preaching, etc. (1987-93)
• graduated top of my class from Bible college (1996)
• graduated top of my class from seminary (1998/2000)
• taught college classes in Bible, theology, and language (1998-2000)
• earned an M.A. (and ABD) in Semitic languages (2003/2004)

Key Milestones:

• 1994--adopted a strong, four-point Calvinism
• 1996--Tony Badger fired from PBC for teaching against Lordship Salvation (I later adopted his view)
• 1997--adopted a radically biblical approach to theology; adopted Arminianism (with eternal security, not Calvinist perseverance)
• 1999--controversy erupted at WBC/CBS over the Openness of God (pros were mostly WBC faculty, cons were mostly CBS--I was teaching at one school and still finishing up as a student at the other)
• 2000--started exploring non-Evangelical hermeneutics
• 2001--started exploring Oriental Orthodoxy and traditional fasting
• 2002--started exploring Orthodox Judaism and liturgical prayer
• 2003--started exploring Messianic Judaism
• 2004--first Eastern Orthodox prayer book; first visit to St. Matthew's
• 2005--resumed Orthodox fasting; first visits to Holy Cross and Holy Apostles; informed Evangelical friends
• 2006--informed parents and in-laws; became a catechumen at Holy Cross
• 2007--first visit to St. Tikhon's Monastery