Category talk:Non-Orthodox

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I see a serious problem with most of the articles in this category right now, as they don't qualify for the Style Manual's stipulation that such articles be mainly about the group's relation to the Orthodox Church. That is, they should read as though the article title is "Group X and the Orthodox Church." The bulk of the material in these articles is currently not about Orthodoxy at all.

I'm tagging all the articles that are questionable. I propose that they either get deleted or completely revamped. The ones on John Paul II and the Rosary are almost the only ones which fulfil the requirement (though the latter is iffy). —Fr. Andrew talk contribs (THINK!) 16:54, January 11, 2006 (CST)

My 2 cents

Although, as you know I am not Orthodox, I figured I'd put in my two cents worth, since I have done some of the work on a lot of these. Here's my thinking. Certainly you have a good point here. As I was writing them I was thinking that I was putting background informatinon down, which would then be added to specifically as regards to (for instance) Anglican/Orthodox relations etc. I guess that didn't really happen. Here are some things specifically that I am thinking:

  • The article on the Archbishop of Canterbury seems to have some historical validity for being included, since the first many were Orthodox and the current ABC has done some scholarly writing on Lossky and some "popular" writing on iconography
  • I would argue for the inclusion of the article on John Paul II because of his relationship with Orthodox over the time of his pontificate; and for the article on the Rosary (although, probably substantially re-vamped) because of the arguments both for and against its use among Orthodox. That is, I can see an inquiring Orthodox Christian turning here to find out what it's all about.
  • The article on teh Immaculate Conception, I think would be good to keep, specifically, again, because of the controversy.

However, articles like ECUSA and the Anglican Communion (although I put a good bit of work into the latter) wouldn't really hurt my feelings to have deleted, since they have not, largely focused on Anglican-Orthodox relations. Perhaps they can be replaced with an article specifically called "Anglican-Orthodox Relations" or something like that. Then only very basic theological/historical information would need to be included as it relates to the reasons they're not in communion.

Anyway - those are my thoughts. Certainly don't worry about sparing my feelings if any are deleted or seriously modified.

Peace. Joffridus 11:22, January 12, 2006 (CST)


One of the main questions I had was about the differences between Catholicism and Orthodoxy was the Immaculate Conception. I do think the article needs more work, though the external links are helpful (of course, now I know to look for the key for me: the difference in understanding the idea of "original sin"). During the past year, on the OrthWomen's list, I remember there being quite a discussion about the rosary, and whether it would be acceptable to use that tradition as an Orthodox Christian, and what the Western Rite said about its use.
Ideas for inclusion: Buddhism could be made to relate to the Orthodoxy in Japan series; Jehovah's Witnesses, Episcopal Church U.S.A., and Calvinism could perhaps be subsumed into a general article?
I think that my understanding for the Non-Orthodox Category is to have pages explaining the differences in beliefs (and perhaps, in practices) between Orthodoxy and the non-Orthodox groups, such that, for a person coming from a particular non-Orthodox background, the article would explain clearly what is different and why. It might be the scope of another article (or section) to explore the history of the relationship between that group and the Orthodox Church. I am completely at a loss for titles for any of these ideas. —magda (talk) 11:59, January 12, 2006 (CST)
Titles? Oh, that's easy!  :) I think perhaps a major cure for most of these articles would be to move them to "X and Orthodox Christianity," which could cover both relations between groups and also comparisons of belief. My main difficulty with the articles as they stand now is that they're mainly about X with (at most) notes for further references to Orthodoxy. If the article can't be about Orthodoxy, ISTM that it really doesn't belong on OrthodoxWiki. Wikipedia is much better for general articles about particular denominations or belief sets.
I don't think the articles necessarily have to be deleted, but the bulk of their material should probably be summarized. Jeff makes a good point about the Archbishop of Canterbury article, though its contents could perhaps be subsumed into a more general article about the Orthodox Church in the British Isles (or in England). A complete list of post-Schism Abps. of Canterbury seems to me not really needed here, though mention of particular ones relevant to Orthodoxy (like the current one) would be germane. BTW, I mentioned the JP2 article as one which was good.  :)
Articles like the Immaculate Conception one should probably be renamed to "Orthodox view of the Immaculate Conception" or something like that. Such a thing is distinct from heresies which arose within the Orthodox Church (like Nestorianism), whose articles are about the heresy itself and how it was fought. The IC is something external to the Orthodox Church, and the "distance" created by "Orthodox view of X" is, I think, prudent.
All of this is, of course, part of my perpetual OrthodoxWiki philosophy of cutting out stuff that folks could easily find elsewhere from non-Orthodox sources. I certainly don't mean to step on anyone's favorite articles, but I do think we could use some tightening up in this department. —Fr. Andrew talk contribs (THINK!) 14:20, January 12, 2006 (CST)
A big part of the usefulness of any kind of Wiki it its ability to hyperlink to related topics. If you talk about Church history, you have to talk about the Reformation. If you talk about the Reformation, you have to talk about Calvin. If you talk about Calvin you have to talk about the 5 points of Calvinism. If you talk about the 5 points of Calvinism, you have to talk about the TULIP acronym, and so on, and so on. Deleting such information simply because it appears to be non-Orthodox is myopic. Forcing users to search outside of OrthodoxWiki for related topics is a disservice. This is an opportunity to write about these topics from an Orthodox perspective.Thedogfather 15:35, January 12, 2006 (CST)
So you're suggesting that policy be changed? I can tell you why it was written the way it was, though. If we open up OrthodoxWiki to articles about topics that are not directly pertinent to Orthodoxy, then OrthodoxWiki loses its distinctiveness, and one could certainly conceivably watch the non-Orthodox material balloon out of control to make this "generic religion wiki" rather than OrthodoxWiki. I absolutely agree that there is an opportunity to discuss these topics from an Orthodox perspective, but the problem is that, as of this writing, at least, what's currently in those articles is general information about the topics without anything from a particularly Orthodox perspective.
Here's the relevant section from the Style Manual: Further, articles on Non-Orthodox Christian religious groups, while necessarily including some general description of those groups, should have as their primary content the relationship and history of that group in relation to the Orthodox Church (from OrthodoxWiki:Style Manual (Point of View)). So, it's not a question of "deleting such information simply because it appears to be non-Orthodox," but rather about maintaining the integrity of OrthodoxWiki as an Orthodox source. For example, an article explaining the TULIP of Calvinism would be inappropriate, but an article detailing an Orthodox critique of TULIP would be in keeping with our established policy.
In order for OrthodoxWiki to be useful, it has to be limited. These are the limitations that the administration has put in place. In any event, except for your userpage, you've been editing articles here a total of only two days. Perhaps you may wish to examine the Style Manual thoroughly and familiarize yourself with our practices a bit further before indicating that there should be policy changes. —Fr. Andrew talk contribs (THINK!) 16:00, January 12, 2006 (CST)