Hellenic Ethnic Religion: Theology and Practice

This book was my first foray into looking at the ancient culture of the Hellenes before the ethnocide by the Christian's.Thankfully my understanding of philosophy is quite advanced and was able to digest what this book was telling me. It's a small book, but I wish it would go more into all it talks about otherwise it was a great read. For those who read this review mind recommending other books on H.E.R. I see a few on Amazon here and would be happy to look into other material.

I appreciated the effort, but it was a very short primer. It did however, include discussions of theology and philosophy that I hadn't encountered in other Hellenismos related books. All in all, it's still a necessary addition to the dearth of Hellenic books out there today.

Overall good information, good for beginners

This is an interesting book. YSEE tends to style itself as the leader of all Ethnikoi Hellenes worldwide. While they might be the largest, they are not the only organization of Hellenic Polytheists. My person views, as a Hellenic Polytheist, are similar to those represented in this book. However, I would not place this book as an excellent starting point for aspiring Hellenic Polytheists. I don't even think it's necessary. If YSEE had put more effort into making a book that explains things in great detail, I might think otherwise. This book is average, at best. It starts with philosophical aspects that I don't think a beginner would readily grasp. It does a decent job at describing certain things; but, when it goes into the "True Being" stuff, I can't help but think that there are better ways to describe what they're trying to say. The rituals that appear after the philosophy seem to be semi-recycled material that I've seen on Hellenic Polytheist websites and read in better books (Household Worship by LABRYS is great).If you want to read it, go for it. But, know that there are infinitely better places to start, or to further, your journey into Hellenismos.

An excellent and laconic book on the theology and practice of the Hellenic Ethnic Religion, the current form of the ancient religion of the Hellenes, a religion that the Greek State recently recognized as one of the "known religions" according to article 13.2 of the Greek Constitution. The title says it clearly that the book deals with the theology and practice of this certain religion, not with the beliefs (or even reveries) of the one or the other modern pagan or neo-pagan group.

Very good and concise overview of theology and praxis of Hellenic Ethnic religion.

For instance, in the introduction there is a claim that "[t]here is no Christian or Islamic tradition". This claim is trivially true. But such a claim might be considered offensive, by some readers, without a list of examples how much Christianity had to take over from the European traditions to even act as a religion, e.g. they even felt the need to retreat from their ban on burning incense.Another opportunity which was missed comes with the mentioning of Georgios Gemistos-Plethon. Stating it like the book does sounds a little eccentric from the authors. However, this figure plays also part in a recent mainstream bestseller: John Freely's "Aladdin's Lamp: How Greek Science Came to Europe Through the Islamic World" (chapter 12). Also, there is a point which was not made: the theologian Thomas of Aquinas which is currently hyped as THE theologian of the catholic church was born 1225 and, hence, more than 100 years before Georgios Gemistos-Plethon birth. So, against the argument of historical distance, there is more historical distance between Christianity and its most beloved theologian than between the Hellenic tradition and Georgios.

This Book, while incredibly short, is an incredibly important piece of work in the field it is made for. It is a valuable Spiritual text in the development of the rebirth of Hellenic (and by proxy the related Roman and even Iberian) Ethnic Religion and its practices; for the modern world. The order arrived on-time just as expected and all was well. The only complaint I would have, and I do not consider it a point of real complaint, is simply that since the Book is very thin, perhaps the seller(s) would consider some harder packaging. I say this because the Book was somewhat bent by the time it got here, and the spine was mildly damaged by this.