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The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity

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Oden argues in the beginning pages of this book that the theological quest for orthodoxy is well underway within the Christian and Jewish traditions who both are seeking their founding roots through the reading and contextualizing of their most ancient and authoritative writings and commentators into this century. This search, Oden argues, is a sign of new life within Christianity as it earnestly desires to recover its theological, liturgical, and pastoral roots. In taking up this quest is to also relearn the skill once possessed and then discarded that was once able to distinguish faithful witnesses from heresy and to learn how each heresy overcome has strengthened orthodoxy and taught the body of Christ enabling it to take on greater challenges.

Oden builds a case for orthodoxy throughout this latest effort that seeks to show orthodoxy's patience, strength and flexibility within clearly distinguished boundaries. In so doing, Oden shows orthodoxy doesn't lead to oppression; but rather, freedom. Oden's presentation in distinguishing the authority invested in the written word of God from that of oral traditions and why the written Word of God is normative and authoritative over all other voices is noteworthy. Of greater interest is his unpacking of the Vincentian rule of faith that says orthodoxy is that which has been believed by everyone, everywhere, and at all times. Thus to be trustworthy, Oden writes, Christian truth claims must: (1) Be the same faith that the church confesses the world over. (2) Be the same faith confessed by the apostles. (3) Survive testing by cross-cultural generations of lay consent through a trustworthy process of conciliar agreement. (Conciliar agreement: Has the teaching been confirmed by an ecumenical council or by the broad consensus of the ancient Christian writers?) What this means in practice: (1) If some isolated contemporary members abandon the historical, universally received worldwide faith, you prefer the universal to the particular. (2) Even if the whole community of believers for a certain period of time seems to go astray in a new culture with a new idea unfamiliar to the apostles, you appeal to antiquity above innovation. (3) If the reliability to apostolic testimony itself is questioned, you appeal to ecumenical conciliar precedent by looking at conciliar decisions and canons, where almost everything important has been already debated. Hence, there are four filters--or strata of references, if you will--through which to sift Christian truth claims: (1) The universal truth prevails over the particular (the whole is preferred to the part). (2) The older apostolic witness prevails over newer alleged general consent. (3) Conciliar actions and decisions prevail over faith-claims as yet untested by conciliar acts. (4) Where no conciliar rule avails, the most reliable consensual ancient authorities prevail over those less consensual over the generations. (As a general rule eight great doctors of the church are most referenced to chart ancient ecumenical consensual Christianity. From the east: Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and John Chrysostom. From the west: Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great.)

This book is important if you wish to travel with Oden on his theological and pastoral quest for orthodoxy. Oden presents the hallmarks of this quest so that the reader may greater appreciate where forces within Christianity are heading in this new century. In addition Oden reveals much of his own theological method so that the reader may avoid pitfalls and theological dead ends long settled as well as gain a firmer understanding of the goals of orthodoxy.

The Rebirth Of Orthodoxy: Signs Of New Life in Christianity by theologian and post-denominational ecumenical scholar Thomas C. Oden (Chairman of The Institute on Religion and Democracy) is an informed and informative examination of the new trend of revitalized traditional faith, a close study of scripture and daily prayer, a treatise on moral accountability, and a combining of hopes and dreams across doctrinal lines. Individual chapters address the renewal of orthodoxy within the Christian community, observe why orthodoxy survives in the modern era, how the multicultural aspect of orthodoxy can be strengthened, classical ecumenical methods, and a great deal more. A worthy, persuasive, and scholarly study of a noteworthy trend in contemporary religious thought, The Rebirth Of Orthodoxy is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Religious Studies reading lists and library collections.

The Rebirth of Orthodoxy is a good study of the current interest to uncover the theological, liturgical, and spiritual roots of Christianity. This is a quest that will take the student back to biblical times, and from there forward through the first five centuries of the Church's history. Oden is unabashedly conservative (formerly left-wing), and his book will probably attract some of the ultra-right evangelicals. But he condemns Fundamentalism, pointing out that it is not real Christian orthodoxy, but the product of the late nineteenth century. His distrust of Enlightenment ideology and individualism is sometimes overstated, and as a scholar of the writings of the ancient church fathers he sometimes gives the impression that he regards any current theological work which does not reflect their ideas and thoughts as less worthy of consideration. But all in all, he does an excellent job of explaining the reasons behind the current interest in the ancient church. In fact, his referrals to the ancient writings compelled this reader to purchase a small Penguin classic containing excerpts from a few of them. At any rate, I would recommend Oden's book for all serious, or simply curious students of modern religious trends.

This is a great book, the product of Tom Oden's own journey in faith. That journey of nearly three decades has taken him a long way from the east coast to the west coast of the Christian landscape of our times. If you are from a liberal, mainline denomination - you're going to hate this book. All the more reason to read it with a mind open to be challenged. If you are a conservative Christian, you may like what he says - but chances are you'll be very mistrustful of the source. Read it. Its high time for God's-eye view on the world. The book is as fresh and as timely as this week's TIME.

"Everything old is new again" reflects the realities explored by this noted theologian in an outstanding work that will challenge and inspire the serious seeker. As one who has traveled through the vast seas of quest for the corpus of faith, I continue to find Oden a clear beacon in what is often stormy waters.

This is a wonderful and inspiring book giving hope to those who feel something is missing.

The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity was written by Thomas C. Oden. It was published by HarperCollins Publishers in 2003.
Thomas Oden is a professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University. He is a well-known theologian and an ordained United Methodist Elder. He received his Master of Arts at Yale in 1958, and a Ph.D. from Yale in 1960, as well as a Doctor of Literature from Asbury College. He professes to liberal roots, and having once been overly concerned with the political possibilities of social change in ministry rather than actual theology. He now calls for a renewed look at the historical church after being let down by the shallow nature of the 1960's radical church movement. He is also the author of approximately forty books and eighty articles, including The Justification Reader; After Modernity, What? Agenda for Theology; and Pastoral Theology, which includes The Living God, The Word of Life, and Life in the Spirit.
Based on the word usage and the author's assumption of knowledge, it appears that Oden wrote this book for the educated layperson. The purpose of the book is to reveal what the orthodox movement is, what it looks like, what its alternatives are, and how they compare. Most importantly, Oden hopes to encourage the reader to allow orthodoxy to be "reborn" within them.
To begin with, Oden compares the ideas of modern ecumenism with much older ideas. He also exhorts orthodox Jews and Christians to look at their similarities. He begins the second half of the book by giving a personal testimony on his own path to orthodoxy, followed by his definition of orthodoxy, and examples of orthodoxy.
Oden assumes that his readers are very familiar with Christianity. He assumes that, even if they are not familiar with the particular theologians, they are familiar with doctrine. Based on his language, he also assumes dissatisfaction with modern Christianity and an understood want for some kind of change. One would not be hard-pressed to conclude that only the orthodox would agree with this book.
The second half of the book is much stronger than the first. The second half begins with Oden's personal journey from liberal modernism to orthodoxy, which would have been useful to hear before he spent the first half of the book in harshly criticizing liberal modern Christianity. In addition, he clearly defines orthodoxy in the second half, something which should have been much earlier to avoid confusion and frustration on the part of the reader. Including the account of Vincent as he did at the end was an excellent move, but as with the definition, should have been done earlier.
The content, overall, supported Oden's purpose. The chapters that so harshly criticized the liberal church could have be omitted without losing the idea that it was not compatible with orthodoxy. The idea remained embodied in the text, and he demonstrated it sufficiently in his testimony. The tone causes the text to lose some of its credibility, distracts from the purpose of the book, and conflicts with the honest, frank, and yet gentle tone of the rest of the text. Oden also does well to talk about Jewish and Christian Orthodoxy together, and not as mutually exclusive. He does not delve into it very much as the work progresses, but its inclusion is nice.
Oden is a brilliant man, and his ideas are worth listening to. This book articulates many of those ideas, and presents them in a form the lay-people he hopes to reach can grasp. In that sense, this book is a significant work, particularly because in the book, he supports the work of the laity in the church and as defenders of orthodoxy.

This is a good book. Not a great one, but good. Oden correctly identifies the ecumenical orthodox phenomenon, but tends to be a little repetitive, and tends to skip over the differing Protestant/Anglican/Orhtodox/RC understandings of the term.

As a kind of 21st century follow up to his earlier "After Modernity...What?", in this volume Oden continues to build his case that the hope for our Christian future rests on a thoughtful return to our Christian past. In this 3rd millennium A.D. Oden sees the church and world entering a watershed moment philosophically, politically and theologically. In order to help Christians sift through truth-claims, Oden proposes four "strata of referees": 1) The universal prevails over the particular (the whole is preferred to the part); 2) The older apostolic witness prevails over the newer alleged general consent; 3) Conciliar actions and decisions prevail over faith-claims as yet untested by conciliar acts; 4) Where no conciliar rule avails, the most reliable consensual ancient authorities prevail over those less consensual over the generations.

For a good summary read Landstrom's review down below. He covers all the bases very nicely. This is the first book that sees the picture of the "new" criticism for what it is. It is high time we had a scholar express these views. And to be urging all scholars back to the early theological classics with an open mind. There are no new arguments, only old ones in new bottles! Thankyou professor Oden.

Oden's book, "The Rebirth of Orthodoxy" is a refreshing engagement with an ancient understanding of our expressions of Christianity. Far from it being a reactionary conservative response to modernity, "Rebirth" restores life into an ossified view of Church.

The Christian experience is one lived out in the world, and made relevant by its expression in worship. Orthodoxy from Oden's perspective is not rigid adherence to prescribe rules, but to "right worship" (right worship = orthodoxy) in which God (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) again take primary importance in the lives of the Christian faithful.

This perspective of "Orthodoxy" is drawn from the patristic teachings of the early Church, and placed into context of the modern world. We are drawn from the past into the present (and future) and from the present into the past. Contemporary experience is illuminated in the light of Orthodoxy.

Reviewed by: Dr. Jeffrey Wincel (D.Min), author of "Climbing The Mountain of God, The Path to Mystical Discipleship", Surviving the Fall, America's Second Great Depression and Defying the Trend: Business Ethics and Corporate Morality from a Faith Perspective