Thomas C. Oden - The Rebirth of Orthodoxy: Signs of New Life in Christianity

THE REBIRTH OF ORTHODOXY: Signs of New Life in Christianity.

First Edition published in 2003

Copyright 2015 by ICCS, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address ICCS Press, Box 942, 1300 Eagle Road, St. Davids, PA 19087

ISBNs: 978-1-62428-001-6 (paperback); 978-1-62428-002-3 (ePub); 978-1-62428-003-0 (Kindle)

SECOND EDITION

Translation indicated in each endnote.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oden, Thomas C.

The rebirth of orthodoxy / Thomas C. Oden.

p.cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Theology. 2. Postmodernism-Religious aspects-Christianity. I. Title.

Cover Design: Gina Peterson, Speers Design Associates, LLC

To quiet heroes of the New Ecumenism

John Leith (PCUSA)

Jilian Churchill (UC Canada)

Diane Knippers (ECUSA)

William Rusch (ELCA)

James Heidinger (UMC)

CONTENTS

PREFACE TO THE INTERNATIONAL EDITION

Although The Rebirth of Orthodoxy was written for a North American audience, it is finding a hearing in many other places. When it was translated into Arabic in Egypt and Amharic in Ethiopia and into other languages, it was clear that it was being welcomed by a global audience. This edition is for those who are witnessing the same phenomena in their cultures, whether they are believers or not.

The neglected fact is that there are more classic Christian believers now than at any previous time in human history. Orthodoxy has been understood and espoused without diminution by ever-unfolding communities of faith for 200 generations. That steady stream of faithful consent has not dried up or faltered amid these times. It does not need to be improved upon by modernity but more so it needs to be preserved for the sake of the healthy rejuvenation of modern cultures.

The sustained and growing vitality of Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical worshiping communities around the world has not been reported by a press fixated on secular change. Whats happening now for believers is a fresh recognition of the faithfulness of God that has endured over human history.

The challenges in North America that brought forth this book in 2003 have relevance now for readers especially in the global South, as well as in Europe, and in Eastern Christianity. Christians of the global South are presently passing through the fiery consequences of modern western consciousness that have accompanied the sad history of colonialism. Parts of the text that pertained primarily to the American situation have been displaced in the interest of showing the vitality of orthodoxy as a rising worldwide phenomenon. Since it is being offered digitally as well as in print, it will be more accessible to international readers than if it remained merely a North American topic.

The core confession has not diminished. The promise of the faithful Christian life not been altered. Believers everywhere can look around them and see that orthodoxy is persisting in liturgy, hymnody, and worshiping communities of prayer that are thriving in the midst of their own developing cultures. But many have not seen reasons set forth for why it will continue to persist into the future. This book will give these reasons clear expression.

The central event of this surprising story is the continuing work of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the promises of the prophets and apostles. Even though it may seem as if our efforts are failing, God the Spirit is tireless in bringing to fruition the work of God the Father through God the Son without coercing human freedom.

Many world-wide believers in their varied cultural situations have heard and understood the good news of God the Son who died for us and rose anew to give us new life.

But many have not yet recognized the beautiful ways in which providence is working amid human conflict toward greater ends than we can imagine.

The Spirit has been forming the one body of Christ worldwide for all of these centuries and is certain to continue. The Spirit continues to awaken an enduring community of free consent to the apostolic testimony that has lasted twenty centuries and persists in and beyond modern life.

Why has it been so durable? Why has it penetrated almost every human culture since the good news was first heard? This is what we are seeking to understand.

PREFACE

A reversal has occurred in our time. The faithful have in fact outlived the collapse of the foundations of secular society. Familiar dominant patterns of thought have lost their immune system for recuperation. The modern outlook is disintegrating. But communities of traditional faith flourish more than ever.

It is a fact: Evangelical, Orthodox, and Catholic spirituality, scholarship, pastoral care, and institutional life have against all odds already weathered the waning winter of this modern decline. So has traditional Jewish life.

We are witnessing an emerging resolve in worldwide Christianity and Judaism to reclaim the familiar classic spiritual disciplines: close study of scripture, daily prayer, regular observance in a worshiping community, doctrinal integrity, and moral accountability. Even though my voice is Protestant, the arguments and evidences apply equally to Catholic, Orthodox, and Jewish life.

Turning from the illusions of modern life, the faithful are now quietly returning to the spiritual disciplines that have profoundly shaped their history, and in fact have enabled their survival. This is the rebirth of orthodoxy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks are due to Jewish partners in dialogue who have helped me over three decades to understand how efforts at the recovery of Christian orthodoxy have salient analogies with efforts to recover Judaic rootsespecially Peter Ochs, David Novak, Fritz Rothschild, and the late Will Herberg. Blessed by a quarter-century of dialogue with esteemed Catholic colleagues, I am grateful especially to Avery Cardinal Dulles, Richard John Neuhaus, Robert P. George, and James M. OKane. Among friends who are building bridges between the Orthodox and evangelical traditions I especially thank George Dragas and David Ford. To colleagues in the Association for Church Renewal, and to my close associates in editing the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, and to each of the editors of its twenty-eight volumes, I am profoundly grateful.

INTRODUCTION

Those made alive by the Spirit, grounded in sacred scripture, come to this time confidently. Laypeople whose lives have been quickened and stabilized by the emergent vitality of classic Christianity and Judaism are now living and breathing in a refreshing atmosphere. This century promises to be a pivotal period of opportunity, recovery, and rebuilding. Long-set-aside possibilities and aptitudes for spiritual deepening again have relevance and power, even though they are disdained by the knowledge elites and media managers.

Moving confidently beyond the modern future

The defenses of secularism are down. Its wasted opportunities are strewn about a stark landscape. However, amid this cultural death (as amid any cultural death) gracious gifts of providential guidance are being offered to human freedom and imagination. Human folly is always being quietly curbed by divine grace in history. Thus the demise of the underpinnings of the modern outlook offers worshiping communities an unparalleled opportunity.

The faithful who are healthy enough to have survived the collapse of the modern dream are no longer intimidated by the pretenses of its future durability. Recovering pilgrims of Catholic, Evangelical, and Jewish spirituality have already paid their dues twice over to modern misjudgments. Now they are open to forgotten wisdom long ruled out by the narrow dogmas of post-Enlightenment naturalism.