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Perhaps surprisingly to some, Oden's Jewish mentor guided him down this path that resulted in his conversion to evangelicalism by connecting him to early Christian roots.
I recently discussed the idea of Christian roots with some friends and colleagues. For some, our Christian "roots" takes us back to the campmeeting and revivalist movement of the latter 19th and early 20th centuries when perhaps our grandparents and/or parents came to Christ. Others may think of their roots in a particular denominational or theological tradition from the Reformation or post-Reformation era. Many of us go no further than this. Oden's work is challenging and refreshing and enables us to get a much longer look at the "classic consensus" from the earliest days of Christianity. We often limit our arguments regarding a consensus to 50 years or perhaps even 500 years. Oden is saying, let's go all the way back.
This discovery of our genuine roots brought humility to Oden who apparently had thought before that he was on the cutting edge of all things new. He found in his acquaintance with classic Christianity that all those things that he thought were new "had already been investigated."
This suggests yet another way that the classics may guide us. And it leads to a related issue that Oden's work addresses: the relevance of our classic Christian traditions.
A recent purchase that I am just beginning to read is by Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness: A challenge to the idol of relevance. I have looked the book over and read a few pages. It seems that Guiness is suggesting that our drive for relevance in an post-modern culture could misguide us. The church must be relevant but I believe he is saying that relevance cannot be our first concern. We are only relevant in this world as we continue to understand and live out what it means to be the people of God. Our role/task is godward first and that is the only way to be relevant. [I think that Oden would suggest that there is substantial guidance and examples of this in the classic Christian consensus and there is much to be lost when we cut ourselves off from the deepest and longest of our roots.]
One comment from Guinness: "Never have Christians pursued relevance more strenuously; never have Christians been more irrelevant."
It would seem that the two authors would draw a direct link between roots and relevance---a view that may not be so popular in the evangelical world today.
Perhaps surprisingly to some, Oden's Jewish mentor guided him down this path that resulted in his conversion to evangelicalism by connecting him to early Christian roots.
I recently discussed the idea of Christian roots with some friends and colleagues. For some, our Christian "roots" takes us back to the campmeeting and revivalist movement of the latter 19th and early 20th centuries when perhaps our grandparents and/or parents came to Christ. Others may think of their roots in a particular denominational or theological tradition from the Reformation or post-Reformation era. Many of us go no further than this. Oden's work is challenging and refreshing and enables us to get a much longer look at the "classic consensus" from the earliest days of Christianity. We often limit our arguments regarding a consensus to 50 years or perhaps even 500 years. Oden is saying, let's go all the way back.
This discovery of our genuine roots brought humility to Oden who apparently had thought before that he was on the cutting edge of all things new. He found in his acquaintance with classic Christianity that all those things that he thought were new "had already been investigated."
This suggests yet another way that the classics may guide us. And it leads to a related issue that Oden's work addresses: the relevance of our classic Christian traditions.
A recent purchase that I am just beginning to read is by Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness: A challenge to the idol of relevance. I have looked the book over and read a few pages. It seems that Guiness is suggesting that our drive for relevance in an post-modern culture could misguide us. The church must be relevant but I believe he is saying that relevance cannot be our first concern. We are only relevant in this world as we continue to understand and live out what it means to be the people of God. Our role/task is godward first and that is the only way to be relevant. [I think that Oden would suggest that there is substantial guidance and examples of this in the classic Christian consensus and there is much to be lost when we cut ourselves off from the deepest and longest of our roots.]
One comment from Guinness: "Never have Christians pursued relevance more strenuously; never have Christians been more irrelevant."
It would seem that the two authors would draw a direct link between roots and relevance---a view that may not be so popular in the evangelical world today.
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