The Word of Life : Systematic Theology: Volume Two (Systematic Theology, Vol 2)

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and well thought out...
Review: This is the 2nd volume of Oden's excellent systematic theology series. This book is about Jesus, all 583 pages! Oden is very detalied, and he has done his research. His presentation uses a varity of sources: The Bible, Ante and Nicene church Fathers, Medieval theologians, reformers, and finally modern theologians. Oden is for the most part a traditional Christian. In this book he gives a very orthodox understanding. For instance, He deals with non-traditional explanations of the resurrection and gives good reasons why they are not well thought out hypotheses. He even looks at the historical Jesus issue. He also covers Divine Sonship, the Incarnation and Jesus' two natures (human and divine). I was looking for the perfect Systematic Theology and I would say this comes close. He has HUGE numbers of references, and he is always refferring back to the church Fathers, the reformers and of course the Bible. I have looked over many ST's and this is by far, 1)the most detailed, and 2.) the most well thought out. By the way Oden leans toward a Wesleyan understanding of free-will, but he quotes Calvin extensively as well.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Survey of Christian Theology
Review: Thomas Oden brings his usual passion and erudition to this work of theology, combining Biblical, Apostolic, Patristic, Medieval and Reformed thought into an excellent exploration of fundamental Christian doctrine. Oden is a "thinking person's conservative" who does not gloss over challenges to traditional Christian doctrines, but almost always concludes that the traditional doctrines are, in fact, correct and have stood the test of time and experience. I especially like Oden's ecumenical focus ... as one other reviewer remarked, this is a book that will be valuable to Catholics and Protestants, Calvinists and Wesleyans, High-Church and Low-Church. In sum, incredibly worthwhile!