Sarah's December Book
Jan. 1st, 2016 02:58 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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christianreaderOnly completed one book during December: A Change of Heart: A Personal and Theological Memoir by Thomas C. Oden.
Oden is a well known academic theologian whose career spanned most of the twentieth century. I encountered his work in my Masters of Divinity program, almost a decade ago now. In his earlier career (in the fifties, sixties, and seventies), he was fairly cutting-edge in his ideas, extremely progressive in his politics, and rejected much of his childhood Methodist faith. From the eighties onward, he began to revisit (or read for the first time) some of the early classics of Christian literature. At this point he began to realign with mainstream, orthodox Christianity. Most of his later writing is devoted to showing how the core creedal teachings of Christianity are where the true heart, beauty, and transformative potential of the faith reside. This is the point at which I encountered Oden in my own studies, and where he had an influence on me.
I was intrigued by the idea of a theological memoir, tracing the evolution of Oden's thinking over the course of his life and the various events and people that shaped it. The book began to read a bit like a laundry list of name-dropping, though, and that grew tiresome after awhile. It is simply the case that Oden was at the center of many major controversies and movements, and therefore he rubbed elbows with a lot of big names. Still, I am ambivalent at best about theological academia right now, so this part was less interesting and enjoyable for me. I would have liked to hear more about the workings of his own mind through these transitions, and his own walk with the Lord.
Oden is a well known academic theologian whose career spanned most of the twentieth century. I encountered his work in my Masters of Divinity program, almost a decade ago now. In his earlier career (in the fifties, sixties, and seventies), he was fairly cutting-edge in his ideas, extremely progressive in his politics, and rejected much of his childhood Methodist faith. From the eighties onward, he began to revisit (or read for the first time) some of the early classics of Christian literature. At this point he began to realign with mainstream, orthodox Christianity. Most of his later writing is devoted to showing how the core creedal teachings of Christianity are where the true heart, beauty, and transformative potential of the faith reside. This is the point at which I encountered Oden in my own studies, and where he had an influence on me.
I was intrigued by the idea of a theological memoir, tracing the evolution of Oden's thinking over the course of his life and the various events and people that shaped it. The book began to read a bit like a laundry list of name-dropping, though, and that grew tiresome after awhile. It is simply the case that Oden was at the center of many major controversies and movements, and therefore he rubbed elbows with a lot of big names. Still, I am ambivalent at best about theological academia right now, so this part was less interesting and enjoyable for me. I would have liked to hear more about the workings of his own mind through these transitions, and his own walk with the Lord.
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