Classic Christianity: A Systematic Theology

by Thomas C. Oden

For the first time, Thomas Oden's Systematic Theology classic series (individually titled The Living God, The Word of Life, and Life in the Spirit) is available in one complete volume. A renowned theologian, Oden provides a consensus view of the Christian faith, delving deeply into ancient Christian tradition and bringing to the contemporary church the best wisdom from its past. In this magisterial work, Oden tackles the central questions of Christian belief and the nature of the trinity.

Written for clergy, Christian educators, religious scholars, and lay readers alike, Classic Christianity provides the best synthesis of the whole history of Christian thought. Part one explores the most intriguing questions of the study of God—Does God exist? Does Jesus reveal God? Is God personal, compassionate, free?—and presents answers that reflect the broad consensus culled from the breadth of the church's teachers. It is rooted deeply and deliberately in scripture but confronts the contemporary mind with the vitality of the Christian tradition. Part two addresses the perplexing Christological issues of whether God became flesh, whether God became Christ, and whether Christ is the source of salvation. Oden details the core beliefs concerning Jesus Christ that have been handed down for the last two hundred decades, namely, who he was, what he did, and what that means for us today. Part three examines how the work of God in creation and redemption is being brought to consummation by the Holy Spirit in persons, through communities, and in the fullness of human destiny. Oden's magisterial study not only treats the traditional elements of systematical theology but also highlights the foundational exegetes throughout history. Covering the ecumenical councils and early synods; the great teachers of the Eastern church tradition, including Athanasius and John Chrysostom; and the prominent Western figures such as Augustine, Ambrose, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, this book offers the reader the fullest understanding of the Christian faith available.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Christianity, Christian, Reference, Nonfiction, School

948 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Thomas C. Oden was Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology and Ethics at Drew University in New Jersey from 1980 until his retirement in 2004. He remained faculty emeritus until his death. He was the general editor of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Ancient Christian Doctrine series as well as the author of Classic Christianity, a revision of his three-volume systematic theology.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oden sets out to provide a consensus view on the Christian faith, which is an incredibly challenging goal. Many would scoff and say there is no consensus view. I imagine liberal Christians reading this would not find an accurate representation of their understanding. I read this book in chunks, so I read the beginning last January, but I recall Oden's consensus view relies heavily on the early church. So it is not a consensus view that all who call themselves Christians would agree on in 2016, he argues it is the consensus of what all orthodox Christians believed in, say, 500 AD.

I would say Oden succeeds at his task. This book is thorough and detailed. He covers all the necessary ground. I wish I had read this one back in seminary rather than Grenz's Theology for the Community of God. I liked Grenz's work, but I think Oden does more for training Christian pastors. That is because the way he connects everything he says not just to scripture but to the early church. This book helps you realize, again and again, that the church does not just reinvent its teaching every generation but is a tradition following from scripture through history.

That said, Oden is a bit idealistic. There were moments when I expected him to lay out different Christian views and who held which and why they disagreed (election, Lord's supper, etc.) and he often did not. This wouldn't be a problem except many Christians would say that what Oden puts forth as the consensus view of free will and predestination is not consensus and this quotes from Augustine (and Calvin) are weighted to support his view but not theirs. Further, I know I am a poodle barking at a mastiff, but I think there was more diversity in the early church then Oden lets on. One might be Gregory of Nyssa and Origen's universalism. Sure they were the minority, but their view was their. Gregory played a huge role in the teaching of the Trinity, so its not like they were fringe either.

It seems most of the disagreement comes up in the third part, on the Holy Spirit. The first book, on God the Father, and the second, on Jesus, were places where the early centuries did have consensus (yes Nestorians and Monophysites, we see you waving). The Spirit section dealt with issues that it seems Christians have always disagreed on. Maybe Oden noted that and I just forget, after all it has been a long year.

That said, this is still a fantastic book. Anyone who wants a grasp of general Christian theology with a huge helping of early church fathers as well as a small helping of medieval and Reformers, should check this one out.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Christianity is arguably the most helpful systematic theology text I have ever read. Oden's purpose in laying this out is not to present his own positions, but rather to attempt to summarize the theological consensus of the Early Church.

While the book is highly readable in its own right, its primary strength is as a resource - it references, I believe, nearly twenty thousand various sources from throughout the history of the church. As a result, while the book itself is illuminating and helps to provide an ecumenical consensus of the Christian faith that the majority of Christians everywhere can agree on, its true value lies in the way that it is able to direct people towards a large variety of primary sources. This is particularly important since the book was written in the context of Protestantism, where often little to no attention is paid to pre-Reformation history. This book serves to introduce readers coming from this environment to some of the most significant figures of the Christian faith such as Athanasius, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Basil, and many others.

While the book is largely beneficial, it is not entirely without flaws. First, one must remember that no individual is without bias, and as a result, it would be impossible for Oden - or anyone, for that matter - to undertake a matter this great and avoid presenting a consensus where there was none. In other words, take this book with a grain of salt - not every position presented here was without prominent, orthodox detractors within the church. Additionally, there is perhaps a tad too much emphasis placed upon later figures, such as Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin. While it is helpful to see how the teachings of the early church correspond to more recent thinkers, when some of these theologians are the only ones being cited to support a particular claim, it casts doubt upon the doctrine's acceptance in the early church.

These objections aside, Classic Christianity remains an excellent resource for both theology and the early works of the Christian church, and is highly recommended to clergy, leaders, and lay people alike.

[Shaun Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oden's three volume systematic theology, now in one volume, effectively summarizes the consensus fidelium. As a Wesleyan, he does not simply dismiss those with whom he has differing view points, but shows where common ground exists. He also inspires the reader to want to study the church fathers and other great teachers within the Christian tradition. I highly recommend the work.

[Jonathan Ammon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible work based on early church sources, this systematic theology will be labeled "Arminian" though it quotes Calvin and Luther extensively as well as numerous early church sources. Oden's systematic theology is easy to read, but its extensive nature will make it less accessible. I especially appreciated his work on divine happiness, his discussion of the gifts of the spirit, and his reporting of early church consensus on controversial issues. I felt that I learned as much or more from this text as I did from the previous systematic theologies I have read. He focuses on major doctrines, and I appreciated the constant citation of early church sources. That said, I must remain skeptical of what he reports as consensus. The church fathers have been subject to so much quote mining, and many scholars torture the early church fathers into a "consensus" that comfortably resembles current evangelicalism. That doesn't make this work any less excellent, but I will use it as an indicator in further research into early church thought rather than a completely trustworthy summary.

[Hardin · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be nearly impossible to write a perfect ecumenical theology, but this comes very close. A very helpful theology of Christian consensus, and a resource I expect to continue consulting for years to come.

[Joshua Mahoney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A systematic theology with the parameters of explaining the less controversial "consensual" beliefs of the Christianity's broad traditions/streams. A valuable resource of theological history, and I appreciated its ecumenical quality.

[Sam Blades · Rating 4 out of 5]

“That which has always, everywhere, and by all Christians been believed about God’s self disclosure.”

Wesleyan-Arminian systematic theology (“Methodist Wayne Grudem” — Luke Blades).

[Mike Bright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Oden had me on the first page when he stated the hilarious ridiculousness of humans trying to understand an infinite God and fencing Him with a systematic theology. I also appreciate Oden's commitment to finding the consensus opinions on topics, while still displaying a range of voices. This is an accessible systematic theology, and covers all the normal bases in the field. It is deeply set in historic Christianity and constantly looks to what the ancient fathers said.

I am just finishing my third seminary course with this as the textbook, and I have enjoyed and learned from every chapter. This will be a regular reference book for me forever.

[Jeff Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favourite Systematic Theology I have read to date and feel it would be a fruitful book to have on every Christian leader's shelf regardless of denominational affiliation. Oden stays true to his aim; stating as clearly as he can, for the building up of the Church, the classic consensually received doctrines of the Church. He seeks to help his readers receive the apostolic faith for their day. Weaving together male and female voices, he sensitively and skillfully presents a synthesis of Scriptural exegesis utilizing scholarship spanning the Patristic age to our modern era. In my journey, personally, Oden's (among many others) emphasis that the content of our faith is not something needing to be continually reinvented has been healing. It is a faith that is passed down, received, and applied in unique ways to every generation of the Church.

[G Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oden really is great. This is a delightful book. Nothing earth-shattering per se, but still an enjoyable and nourishing read. He draws from the deep and rich wells of the Christian faith... This is a nice summary of his larger work. Still edifying and very much worth the time and effort of reading, though I would recommend his larger set over this smaller work. Still though, very good stuff and more profitable than most other works on the subject(s).

[Wayne Kinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my top two 1-volume theology books.

[W Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

After dabbling in general theology for several years and doing intense study into a small handful of particular areas, I decided it was time to take on the challenge of reading a full-blown systematic theology - that is, an orderly, comprehensive exposition of the most important points of Christian doctrine. There are lots to choose from, including many that will boldly present the particulars of a given tradition (especially the Reformed tradition, in my experience) as biblical truth (rather than tentative belief). I sought to avoid such dogmatism and thus landed with Oden's Classic Christianity. I was pleased with the outcome! (Though this was no light read - it took me several months to work through in my spare time).

The brilliant thing about Oden's work here is that he is sworn to "the promise of unoriginality". Rather than presenting his own particular views, Oden has consciously mined the vast body of historic Christian literature in an effort to "set forth what is most commonly stated in the central Christian tradition concerning God". Almost every sentence comes with an attached parenthetical citation. Oden's "pyramid of sources" starts with Scripute as the primary base, followed in order of significance by writers from the first few centuries of the Church (both East and West), then medieval writers, and only then the writers of the Reformation and more recent times. When he cites recent writers (such as Karl Barth) or controversial ancient figures (such as Origen) on particular issues, he does so only if they have stated the wide-ranging consensus view better than others. Oden is also sensitive to areas (such as atonement theory and eschatology) where the consensus view is harder to identify, simply presenting the different views that have been widely put forward without favoring any one view over another. In these ways the reader is exposed to the best of the Christian tradition, even where that tradition is somewhat diverse. While none of the doctrinal content was surprising to me, what was surprising was just how clearly the ancient writers had articulated their beliefs and how thoroughly they had anticipated and addressed issues that are still important for students of the Christian tradition today. Oden shows convincingly that, with very few exceptions, there is nothing new under the sun, and that the Christian tradition has always had adequate resources to handle its own defense. I now have much more interest in the ancient writings and hope to dip my feet in the works of St. Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa in the near future.

Oden's work is split into three volumes along Trinitarian lines: The Living God, The Word of Life, and Life in the Spirit. Within these headers, the particulars of Christian doctrine are dealt with in the order that they often appear in the ancient creeds. My favorite part about this organization was that Oden explained the Christian conception of God in personal terms (as the very same Yahweh revealed in the Bible) before handling the more abstract question of whether God exists. This turns the modern mode of organizing the subject matter on its head, and in so doing it helpfully clarifies the uniquely Judeo-Christian conception of God, and lends extra plausibility to the existence of such a God.

There were many other helpful insights along the way. When talking about the Incarnation, Oden rightly points out that Christian doctrine is offensive in part because of "the scandal of particularity". What he means is that Jesus was a particular person, of a particular race and gender, living in a particular time and place in real human history. While it is true that Jesus experienced everything common to man, this need not mean that Jesus experienced literally every conceivable human experience (taking on every race, gender, place, and time, etc.); in fact, such a comprehensive experience is not common to man, and thus would have robbed Jesus of His solidarity with us. Rather, a universal part of our human experience is that we are tied to many particulars, and thus so was Jesus. Another helpful point was that, just as Adam and Eve shared in the disobedience that resulted in the Fall, so Jesus and His mother Mary share in an obedience which resulted in the Redemption. The fact that the Savior was a man born of woman shows that God was concerned to fully honor both sexes in His plan of redemption, even though they played different roles within that plan.

This is a highly recommended book for any who are interested in systematic theology. I will certainly be using it as a helpful resource in the future!

[Zach Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a popular lie that theology and doctrine are not important to the Christian life. Worse still is the attitude that doctrine actually opposes or hinders spiritual growth. A relationship with God through Jesus Christ unquestionably involves more than doctrinal information, but it absolutely does not involve less!

The book is structured around the Apostles Creed, which is one of the oldest, concise belief statements in Christian history. The book’s strength is that it shows how the major beliefs of Christianity have consensus across time, space, geography, and culture. Its major weakness is that it has no section dedicated to the doctrine of Scripture. Nevertheless, the authority and inspiration of the Bible are made explicit throughout the book.

[Joshua Pearsall · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with any Systematic, it can be dense, but Oden does a very good job of making it as enjoyable as I think a systematic theology can be. The other thing I greatly appreciated about Oden, he didn't simply point to Scripture, the entire point of this work was to reference you back to earlier figures in the Church (especially Church fathers but also figures like Aquinas, Wesley, Calvin, Newman, theologians of every tradition) to read their own work more in depth. He also wrote this to be as ecumenical a systematic theology as possible, so anyone and everyone could use it. Of course some will disagree with more than others, but it's a great resource for anyone to have.

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent exploration of the doctrines of Christian faith as established by early Church fathers. The focus was on those areas of consensus that are shared amongst most denominations. His intent which he does an excellent job of is to keep this work high level enough to be relevant to many denominations. He does not go into the nuances that have caused denominational splits over the years, which is of course perfectly fine but the reader should be aware of these if they are intending to use this book as a means of exploring their own theology and beliefs.

[Caitlin Grammel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool how Oden approaches theology. Read this in Seminary and appreciated how Oden incorporates the faithful of the past and takes Christian consensus into account- something not many authors do and that uplifts the church/ let’s us look at unity of the Body of Christ instead of division. He explains in his prologue he doesn’t consider modern writers as much but looks to the past to, so he is definitely missing some things that we now have to consider when thinking about the Church but as his goal is to write about Consensus it makes sense.

[Aurora Grace · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where to start with this book? Oden shifted his views from more mainline to more conservative Christianity, with a corresponding interest in the ancient Fathers of the church. The result as presented here is a systematic theology of sorts, though anyone with much knowledge at all of the Fathers can see this book is a mishmash of quotations, a Herculean effort designed to reassure the anxiety of evangelicals who want desperately to believe their views were the views of the original church.

[Jeannine · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to review a book like this. It's a dense comprehensive theology text which I read in preparation for a class. I have nothing to compare it to but it was readable not so technical it was completely over my head. Funny story (not)... the day I finished it I learned the professor changed the text for the class. I'll have a different one to read, oh well.

[Zach Waldis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished this boring monster. The content is mostly fine, but I have to say that it made me never want to read another book on systematic theology again. I'm also not sure who I would recommend this to; it's not overly academic, but I don't know of any layperson who would find it helpful. One to skip.

[Jonah Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oden provides a helpful systematic theology resource grounded in patristic sources and emphasizing the points of unity amongst all Christian traditions. At times, this leaves one wanting more in where to come down on various issues. But, the emphasis on unity is an important value, particularly in our day and age.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oden provides a summary of the consensus views of Christain theology from the church fathers to the reformers. I most certainly will be keeping this book at my side for the next few years as a reference when preparing for preaching.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is long and a bit dry to read, but it is packed with information about God and our relationship with Him. It was required reading for both of my Systematic Theology classes. I learned quite a lot from reading this book.
I'll put up a better review later.

[Callie Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I want to have on my shelf as I become a leader in ministry. I think this read works best as a reference rather than a narrative, but its theological insights are incredibly helpful to my understanding of basic Christian doctrine.

[Renee Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book as part of my Theology I class at Trinity Seminary. I found it extremely helpful and my favorite of the two textbooks that were required reading.

[Amye Olivero · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I will refer back to often.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christian theology based on classic exegesis? Yes please!

[Jenna Waugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

For school

[Greg Tanner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mostly good content, but it's a chore to read. If you only buy one book of theology then do yourself a favor and skip this one for something written with more editorial style (i.e., only hardcore theology nerds should read something as dry and boring as this work by Oden). Also, I really respect the method laid out in the first pages, but the rest of the book misses the mark of its implied grand method in that this book is not THE account of classical Christian doctrine, but it is ONE account of historical doctrine. While this is a great resource for historical theology, the selections are clearly chosen to conform to Oden's contemporary theological preferences. Non-Wesleyan leaning folks out there will probably want a different perspective than Oden's (Gregg Allison and Alister McGrath have both written historical theologies that are great from a different but still evangelical point of view).

[Greg Hagues · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the focus on the church fathers and other earlier authors. A little dry, but can't say that if I wrote a systematic theology focusing on the consensus of the church throughout history that it would be any better. Did not read every word, or every chapter. I thought at times the argument is advanced from theologians in history more than from scripture. My favorite section was his treatment of Anselm's ontological argument which was import to me my freshman year of college.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and agree there is a majority consensus we can see from the earliest of church history. It's nice that someone who can name drop the Pope in his foreword can also label Open Theism as heresy.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a demanding read - it's taken me nearly 6 months to get through it. But it is thoroughly worthwhile. It presents a systematic theology of Christianity as it has been agreed by the 'ecumenical consensus' of the believing Church - eastern and western, catholic and reformed - over 2,000 years. And it is not a dry doctrinal tome: it has done more to get me to examine my life and get right with God, than many a work of 'spirituality' that I have read over the years.