Fr Joshua Schooping was a masters graduate of St Vladimir’s seminary, an ordained EO priest, author of EO books and peer-reviewed academic articles… he seems to have found all that unconvincing There is lot of consternation in Eastern Orthodox circles: https://youtu.be/2uQ17ijWWo4 and his own interview for why he did so, doesn’t leave the eastern orthodoxy looking very good https://youtu.be/VUXQiF1MWnQ has anyone heard of this to shed some light?
That's a bit of a dramatic change to land in the Christian & Missionary Alliance. You more commonly see cross pollination with Lutherans and Anglicans when Orthodox and Roman priests defect. I picked up on something as I listened to him talk for a few minutes: he's moved around a bit. I don't know this guy or anything about him but there is a certain segment of the clergy who are always on the move to their next church. Sometimes that means they only stay 3-4 years at a parish and sometimes that means a denomination. And the habit often begins before they are ordained.
Our local Episcopal Priest, started out as a Catholic, then went Lutheran and now is an Episcopal priest. Also the CMA is basically Baptist from what I understand. My wife went to a CMA church that left after they decided to ordain women. The pastor went to a Baptist seminary
It’s just interesting to hear of strong clericalism at St Vladimirs with many people interested in church culture, and not always primarily interested in Jesus obviously it’s just one man’s observations, but it matches my impressions of the “trad” world- sometimes “Jesus” is left to the protestants and what they really care about are “church culture,” thick “tomes of theology,” the nuances of 6th ecumenical council or “reactions to Florence,” or “the thoughts of St Maximus the confessor” Jesus is often relegated to a respectable background, behind a thick iconostasis of “the church”
I'm surprised why he didn't go into a more liturgical direction. I guess he got jaded by the whole principle of liturgy and ceremony and now believes those are obstacles to a true and lively faith, since they were such obstacles for the academics he encountered (but that's speculation on my part).