Thomas C. Oden

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Thomas Clark Oden (born October 21, 1931) is an American United Methodist religious author associated with Drew University in New Jersey. He was born in Altus, Oklahoma, and holds a Doctor of Literature from Asbury College.

Oden is best-known as a proponent of paleo-orthodoxy, an approach to theology that often relies on patristic sources. He has published a series of books that he says are tools for promoting "classical Christianity." Oden suggests that Christians need to rely upon the wisdom of the historical Church, particularly the early Church, rather than on modern scholarship and theology, which is often, in his view, tainted by political agendas.

He has written, "The term paleo-orthodoxy is employed to make clear that we are not talking about neo-orthodoxy. Paleo- becomes a necessary prefix only because the term orthodoxy has been preempted and to some degree tarnished by the modern tradition of neo-orthodoxy" (Requiem, p. 130). Since Oden denies the verbal inerrancy of the Christian Bible, however, saying the doctrine is "modern," critics such as Francis Schaeffer have said he is essentially neo-orthodox, not orthodox.

Oden says his mission is "to begin to prepare the postmodern Christian community for its third millennium by returning again to the careful study and respectful following of the central tradition of classical Christianity" (After Modernity...What?, p. 34). Oden himself has written that he hopes, "to make no new contribution to theology" (Life in the Spirit, p. vii), preferring instead to recapture the spirit and authority of the patristic writers. Oden is also active in the Confessing Movement in America, particularly within the United Methodist Church.

[edit] Works

• Agenda for Theology, later re-published as After Modernity...What? (ISBN 0-310-75391-0)
• Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series, which pieces together Biblical commentary from the Church's first millennium
• Care of Souls in the Classic Tradition
• Classical Pastoral Care series

Vol. 1: Becoming A Minister (ISBN 0-8010-6763-4)

Vol. 2: Ministry through Word and Sacrament (ISBN 0-8010-6764-2)

Vol. 3: Pastoral Counsel (ISBN 0-8010-6765-0)

Vol. 4: Crisis Ministries (ISBN 0-8010-6766-9)

• Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition (ISBN 0-310-75240-X)
• John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity: A Plain Exposition of His Teaching on Christian Doctrine (ISBN 0-310-75321-X)
• One Faith: The Evangelical Consensus (written with J. I. Packer) (ISBN 0-8308-3239-4)
• Pastoral Theology: Essentials of Ministry (ISBN 0-06-066353-7)
• The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity (ISBN 0-06-009785-X)
• Requiem: A Lament in Three Movements (ISBN 0-687-01160-4)
• Systematic Theology (a three volume series)

Vol. 1: The Living God (ISBN 0-06-066363-4)

Vol. 2: The Word of Life (ISBN 0-06-066364-2)

Vol. 3: Life in the Spirit (ISBN 0-06-066362-6)

• The Transforming Power of Grace (ISBN 0-687-42260-4)
• Ancient & Postmodern Christianity: Paleo-Orthodoxy in the 21st Century (Essays In Honor of Thomas C. Oden), edited by Christopher Hall and Kenneth Tanner (ISBN 0-8308-2654-8)