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Surprised by Christ
- My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity
- Narrated by: A. James Bernstein
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
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Surprised by Christ
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Summary
Raised in Queens, New York, by formerly Orthodox Jewish parents whose faith had been undermined by the Holocaust, Arnold Bernstein went on his own personal quest for spiritual meaning. He was ready to accept God in whatever form he chose to reveal himself and that form turned out to be Christ. But Bernstein soon perceived discrepancies in the various forms of Protestant belief that surrounded him, and so his quest continued - this time for the true Church.
Surprised by Christ combines an engrossing memoir of one man's life in historic times and situations from the Six-Day War to the Civil Rights Movement to the Jesus Movement in Berkeley with an examination of the distinctives of Orthodox theology that make the Orthodox Church the true home not only for Christian Jews, but for all who seek to know God as fully as he may be known.
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What listeners say about Surprised by Christ
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 02-01-21
A true hidden treasure
Hidden behind what can either be perceived as excruciatingly slow OR 'considerately paced' narration (a native English speaker may want to increase playback speed to around 1.4 for a more 'normal' listening experience whilst an English-as-second-language listener may find the pace incredibly helpful) is a book filled to the brim with love and insight and compassion.
On the surface it is a book introducing Orthodox Christianity through one person's journey of discovery. On the surface it is a book about a Jewish American struggling with understanding both his Jewish identity and his emerging Christian identity. But this book is far from superficial. It is an extraordinarily insightful and compassionate examination of what it means to call oneself a Christian believer in 'the church', in a world full of 'believers' and 'churches'.
It begins as an easy listen, which one can appreciate 'on the move' but soon heads in a direction of depth and substance that one must truly be sitting down and still (focused) to authentically hear. Continuing to listen 'on the move' beyond the opening chapters could lead a person to start finding this book to be a 'difficult listen': I read one review suggesting that the book is at its best telling Father Berenstein's life story, but then becomes too much like a 'study'. I can see how this could be someone's experience. But when I truly stopped to listen, even to listen for a second time, I experienced this book as a profound and tremendously encouraging message and learning experience far behind anything I could have expected it to be.
...only not if you are in a rush. And perhaps not if you have already decided the book is not for you because you are not Jewish, not American, not 'seeking' Christian faith (because you have already have it) and not Orthodox.
I personally feel that the message of this book goes beyond all of those things. And as someone who stumbled across this book entirely by chance, and has (at least superficially) almost nothing in common with the author, I found myself utterly compelled by what he had to say AND how he says it.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Howell M. Williams
- 20-02-19
Insightful and interesting
i thoroughly enjoyed the book although initially I took a while to get used to Fr Bernstein’s slow and deliberate delivery. However as the book got deeper in talking about Orthodox Theology I appreciated the pace of the reading as it gave me time to digest what was being said. As someone interested in what the Orthodox Church believes I found it very interesting and insightful and would throughly recommend it to anyone seeking to learn more. At the same time I discovered so much about Judaism and have a much better appreciation of it than before.
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3 people found this helpful