Surprised by Orthodoxy – Christian History

In this article from Christian History and Biography, Thomas C. Oden describes his autobiographical journey to the ancient fathers of the Christian church. His words are remarkably candid and full of wisdom. He describes a time when he sought to “uncritically [accommodate] to the very modernity that pretended to be prophetic,” only to be warned by a mentor to have solid textual grounding in order to avoid becoming “lost in supposed relevance.”

Today’s church, in its quest for relevance may need to reevaluate its methods and motives. An unhealthy effort to be relevant to our age may result in seperating ourselves from “the blessed presence of the communion of saints of all generations.”