Thomas Oden - Patriarch of Paleo-Orthodoxy

"Thomas Oden is a Methodist, ecumenist, evangelical, and patristics scholar who was dissuaded from liberal modernism by a Jewish conservative, becoming himself a theological paleo-orthodox and devoting the last half of his life to the reaffirmation of Christian orthodoxy rooted in the early church fathers." So begins the recent review of Oden's A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir (2014) in the pages of the Weekly Standard. Click here to read this excellent review.

Paleo-orthodoxy is a loose term to used to describe the trend among a range of scholars - Oden chief among them - to root theological thought in the broad consensus of belief expressed by creeds and councils during the first six centuries of Christian history rather than in medieval Catholicism, the Protestant revolt of the 1600s, or the Enlightenment thought that came to define the experience of modernity. Of paleo-orthodoxy, one writer states, "It is in many respects a reaction against Protestantism's '400-year memory'. Proponents of paleo-orthodoxy aim to widen the Protestant collective memory to include all 20 centuries of church history."

In his Classic Christianity, Oden - retired Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University - describes his commitment to the "Christianity of consensus" - that which was believed "everywhere, always, and by all."

My basic purpose is to set forth an ordered view of the faith of the Christian community upon which there has generally been substantial agreement between the traditions of East and West, including Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox. My intent is not to present the views of a particular branch of modern Christian teaching, such as Roman Catholic or Reformed, but to listen single-mindedly for the voice of that deeper consensus that has been gratefully celebrated as received teaching by believers of vastly different cultural settings, whether African or Asian, Eastern or Western, sixth or sixteenth century.

My intention may be simply put: I hope to set forth what is most commonly stated in the central Christian tradition concerning God. This effort is therefore ecumenical in a larger sense than is usually assumed in the modern ecumenical movement. It proposes to follow that ancient ecumenical consensus of Christian teaching of God as seen in earliest creedal summaries of Irenaeus, c. AD 190; Tertullian, c. 200; Hippolytus, c. 215; Council of Caesarea, 325; Council of Nicaea, 325; Marcellus, 340; Cyril of Jerusalem, 350; Council of Constantinople, 381; Rufinus, 404; Council of Chalcedon, 451. These confessions still embrace and empower not only centrist Protestants and traditional Roman Catholics and Orthodox but also great numbers of evangelicals, liberals, and charismatics.

Hence I am seeking to set forth key constructive arguments of two millennia of ecumenical Christian thinking - that God is, who God is, and what that means for us today. I seek an internally consistent statement of classical Christian thinking about God so as to provide a reliable foundation for baptism, the life of prayer, scripture studies, and for the living of Christian life.

Other Christian scholars identified with paleo-orthodoxy include the late Richard John Neuhaus, Alan Padgett, J. I. Packer, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Carl Braaten, Stanley Grenz, Bradley Nassif, and Thomas Howard. Special attention should be paid the the Ancient-Future series by the late Robert Webber.

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Of the writings by and in honor of Thomas Oden, these are the essential works:

The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity (HarperOne, 2002)

Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology (HarperOne, 2009)

After Modernity . . . What? (Zondervan, 1992)

Ancient & Postmodern Christianity: Paleo-Orthodoxy in the 21st Century - Essays In Honor of Thomas C. Oden (IVP, 2002)