After Modernity...What? [Paperback]

Thomas C. Oden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 10, 1992

This vigorous and incisive critique of modernity lights the path to recovering the revitalizing heritage of classical Christianity.

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About the Author

Thomas C. Oden (PhD, Yale) is Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University. He is an ordained Methodist minister and the author of many books, including The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind: Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity, Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition, John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity: A Plain Exposition of His Teaching on Christian Doctrine, and his three-volume work Systematic Theology.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (February 10, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310753910
• ISBN-13: 978-0310753919
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas C. Oden (Ph.D., Yale University) recently retired as Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology at The Theological School of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. He is general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and author of numerous theological works, including a three-volume systematic theology.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is next?, May 31, 2002

By 

David Bennett (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: After Modernity...What? (Paperback)

The word postmodern is thrown around quite a bit. Given the nature of this post-modern age, even the term postmodern is likely to have a variety of nuances. Oden provides one interpretation. This interpretation is that postmodernity allows for a return to classical orthodoxy, i.e. the Christianity of the first millennium. So for Oden, writers such as Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius, and Clement are more important to Christian theology than recent theologians who attempt to construct "new" theology. Indeed Oden is correct in that modernity kept telling us what was "relevant" and what was not. We were constantly told what we could and could not believe, despite the fact that most modern peoples probably conceived of God `incorrectly.' Thus, modernity, with its promise of human progress, ended up seeming elitist and quite irrelevant.

Oden is not a fundamentalist. His tradition might be described as something of a conservative evangelical catholic. He critiques fundamentalism, pointing out (correctly) that fundamentalism is simply just another modern movement, that only could have come out of the Cartesian/Enlightenment era. Oden also critiques the more pietistic and ultra-liberal forms of Christianity, preferring an ecumenical consensual orthodoxy as explained by Vincent of Lerins, `that which has been everywhere and always and by everyone believed.' Thus Oden proposes a return to Orthodoxy grounded in the center, one that virtually every mainline denomination and classical Christian writers can affirm. Oden is not pre-modern though. He critiques those who claim to be pre-modern, asserting that such a claim is impossible. This is why postmodern `paleo-orthodox' Christians, such as Oden, embrace modern science, critical enquiry, etc.

Overall, I think Oden has written an excellent book. He critiques modernity's methods and assumptions, and (I believe) generally avoids falling into conservative error, by being grounded in the ancient orthodox Christian writers. I think the `Vincentian canon,' while certainly appealing, is doubtful as an actual historical reality. However, as a model, it is still useful, so long as we recognize its weaknesses (as Oden does). I took issue with Oden's distaste for Vatican II. Despite its weaknesses, it brought the Roman Catholic Church into the current age, and caused them to leave behind various late-medieval practices. Generally, this is a thought provoking book, and a good angle on the postmodern age for those of us grounded in the catholic tradition.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book for perspective, March 15, 2002

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Eric N. Landstrom (Nevis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: After Modernity...What? (Paperback)

After five years of soul searching Oden rejected liberalism and embraced the precepts of evangelical conservatism. In 1979 He first published this book under the title "Agenda for Theology." In this book he laid out his reasons for rejecting liberalism and the promises of modernity it held and began describing a new emerging postmodernity which he clearly differentiated from what he calls "ultramodernity" which so many other authors believe is postmodernism.

Oden lays down his reasons for becoming disenchanted with mainstream liberalism through the examination of where he has been in his own walk with the Lord. He presents a convincing agenda for theology which is the rediscovery of the teachings and precepts of the ancient church and the theologian's task to boil theology down to the pastoral office. Oden argues that it is the teaching office of the church which is the thumbtack, or linchpin, which holds the entire discipline of theology to those it hopes to serve. The importance of this office and the duties it is to perform needs to be rediscovered, he maintains, and the biblical role of the pastorate needs to recover its soul and spirit within the biblical precepts of its origin.

This book is a good read for anybody who wants to understand the collapse of modernism, the emergence of postmodernism, and the role that theology and theologians are supposed to fill within the church.

Since writing this book, Oden has been following through with the agenda for theologian's office which he first laid down in this book producing a fine series of books about the duties and responsibilities of the pastoral office; writing what may emerge as the best 20th century systematic theology; continuing to develop and articulate the emerging postmodern climate as an opportunity for the church rather than something to be feared (Two Worlds); all the while attempting to drag what has been called "an incurably liberal denomination," the UMC, back to the orthodox center.

If you want to learn about postmodernism, this book is your starting point.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Clarion Call for Classical, Post-Critical Christianity, June 29, 2010

By 

Scophocles (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: After Modernity...What? (Paperback)

Written with a more moderate to liberal audience in mind, Oden seeks to make a case for returning to a kind of "Postcritical Orthodoxy" in this postmodern world. He advocates the "consensual Christian tradition" of the first millennium, before Medieval, Reformation and Enlightenment developments which have managed to twist and turn a proper examination of Apostolic Christianity. Oden calls for a return to a Christ-centered and robust ecclesiology rooted in the Church Fathers. He believes that this vision will encompass and inspire to renewal the broad spectrum of believing Christians in the world today. A highly recommended work for anyone needing to re-think the first things of their faith.