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Paleo-orthodox Protestants

Thomas C. Oden's Theology as a Way Toward Christian Unity

Jun 6, 2008

Thomas C. Oden calls on Christians to listen to classical Christian theology, and this has potential to be a doorway to Christian unity around the essentials.

There’s no doubt about it: the Protestant church is divided, seemingly beyond repair. Protestants war with each other over minor points of doctrine, elevate secondary issues to primary importance, and treat each other like enemies. Is there any hope for divided Christendom? Can the Church get out of this mess?

There is no easy answer to those questions, no simple seven-step unity plan. Heavy doses of unscripted things like humility, forgiveness, and love will be necessary. But it has to start somewhere, and Thomas C. Oden’s “paleo-orthodoxy” might just be that starting place.

Thomas C. Oden's Path from Liberal to Orthodox Theology

Thomas C. Oden is the author of several books, including After Modernity...What?, Pastoral Theology, The Rebirth of Orthodoxy, and his magnus opus, the three-volume Systematic Theology. Before writing these and other volumes, he was something of a Classical Liberal theologian, having disdain for traditional, orthodox Christian theology and moving from theological fad to theological fad. After beginning a thorough study of the Early Church Fathers, Oden was moved to an orthodox position, and he’s been trying to move others there ever since. He coined the term "paleo-orthodoxy" as a name for his theology.

Paleo-orthodoxy: Letting the Dead Speak

So what is paleo-orthodoxy? The position is really quite simple: Go read and learn the Early Church Fathers, the great theologians of the faith who laid down the essentials in the midst of persecution, controversy, debate and heresy during the first several hundred years following Jesus. Learn the decisions of the first seven ecumenical councils. Return to the church’s classic creeds - the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed - and focus on those things that have been held by all Christians in all places at all times. In his classic book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton called tradition "the democracy of the dead" (chapter 4). Paleo-orthodox theology is a way of giving the dead their vote.

Oden’s commitment to theology, expressed in volume three of his Systematic Theology (Hendrickson Publishers, 1992), is threefold:

To make no new contribution to theology.
To resist the temptation to quote modern writers less schooled in the whole counsel of God than the best ancient classic exegetes.
To seek quite simply to express the one mind of the believing church that has been ever attentive to that apostolic teaching to which consent has been given by Christian believers everywhere, always, and by all.

In short, Oden is calling on Christians to stop acting as if they’re the first ones to ever pick up a Bible, and to go back and listen to the Early Church Fathers and martyrs, without whom there would be no Christian faith today.

There are worse ways to start than by focusing deeply on that which unites Christians. Oden’s paleo-orthodoxy is no watered-down, “Let’s all just get along” theology; his works are both deep and wide. They call readers to immerse themselves in classical Christian theology and to find the heart of their faith and their communion with all the saints.

Ancient Christian Resources

For those looking to baptize their understanding of the Scriptures in the thought of the Fathers, Oden serves as editor of a series of commentaries: The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (InterVarsity Press). There are also many free resources containing the works of the Early Church Fathers:

Early Christian Writings

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

The copyright of the article Paleo-orthodox Protestants in Protestantism is owned by Travis Prinzi. Permission to republish Paleo-orthodox Protestants in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.