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For the first time, Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann’s classic For the Life of the World is now available in audio book format. The edition may be purchased from Mars Hill Audio which partnered with Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Yonkers, NY to produce the audio book edition. Mars Hill’s Ken Myers is the reader of the new, Classics Series edition of the book.
For over half a century, For the Life of the World has challenged, illumined, and inspired readers from many backgrounds. For some, it is an introduction to the Orthodox Church, while for others it is a call to plunge more deeply into the life of the Kingdom, both manifested and anticipated here and now in the liturgy of the Church. The updated edition of Father Alexander’s classic text includes a new foreword by Dr. Edith M. Humphrey, along with original explanatory notes and an index.
The book is also available in paperback and hardcover editions from SVS Press.
By way of background, Father Alexander begins his essay into the sacraments of the Church with the observation that man is a hungry being and that the world is presented to him as his food. Man must eat in order to have life. From this observation, he follows with the question: “Of what life do we speak, what life do we preach, proclaim, and announce when, as Christians, we confess that Christ died for the life of the world? What life is both the motivation, and the beginning and goal of Christian mission?” It is precisely this question that serves as the inspiration of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon’s recent work, Of What Life Do We Speak? Four Pillars for the Fulfillment of the Apostolic Work of the Church and its Study Guide, both of which may be downloaded free of charge on the OCA web site.
