"(and Orthodoxy, as best as my Western mind can grasp it)"
Just keep reading The Fathers, slowly, sometimes paragraph by paragraph, sometimes twice and ALWAYS pray before and after you read. You may well not end up Latin or Orthodox, but you will understand Christianity far, far better than most of your fellows.
At a minimum you can choose a few choice snips from the Fathers, like my tagline for instance, or better yet, that line and those immediately around it in +John Chrysostomos' Paschal Sermon and drop it on the minister at the next bible study. Astonish your friends; confound your enemies! :)
I'm actually working on a presentation/message on the Resurrection that will quote that. I think it's a much more mature understanding of resurrection than "Jesus coming to get us before we die."
Astonish your friends; confound your enemies! :)
Actually, many of my friends are pretty theologically literate. One of my best friends teases me about becoming much more Catholic in my understandings. Another - who is studying to be a Navy Chaplain (interesting story - a secular Jew who is now a Baptist seminarian) is as intrigued by Orthodoxy as I am. Still, I am more Latin than Orthodox (probably because of my Western mindset).