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Rating: 
Summary: Promising but also disappointing
Review: ...Oden sets himself the task of demonstrating that during the first five centuries of the Church there existed a clear consenual teaching on justification that looked very much like the teaching of the Reformers. Unfortunately, I do not believe that he has accomplished his task. Specifically, I am not persuaded that he has shown that the imputation of righteousness is a consensual patristic understanding. My big disappointment is that this book is so very Protestant. Oden ends up quoting Reformation and Protestant sources almost as much as he cites the Fathers. It's as if he could not make up his mind as to what he wanted this book to be. Oden presents a good summary of the Reformation understanding of justification, with which I find myself in strong personal concurrence. But I wanted to hear the voice of the Fathers interpreted on their own terms, not filtered through Reformation conceptuality and distinctions. Can one really say that St. Augustine held the same view on justification as Luther, when the former understood justification/sanctification as a process? Can one say that the Eastern Fathers understood justification as an imputation of righteousness, when they understood salvation as our incorporation into the risen humanity of Christ, as theosis? I'm trying to keep an open mind. Indeed, I want to be persuaded that Oden's interpretation is true. I just don't think he has made his case yet. So I do not think that Oden has accomplished the goal that he explicitly sets out for himself. And so I am disappointed. On the other hand, I am grateful and delighted to have before me now the patristic texts that he does cite. I suspect that many of them have been ignored by everyone, whether Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant. I just wish he had given me more of the Fathers, and much, much less of the Reformers and their heirs. Our harsh reviewer criticized Oden for not interpreting the cited patristic texts in their historical context. But I do not think this is a fair criticism. What Oden is doing is in fact very Patristic. He is providing us the words of the Fathers, on the assumption that the Holy Spirit has inspired the Fathers and that they therefore all speak, despite differences in language and vocabulary, with one voice. This hermeneutic is quite different than the historical-critical hermeneutic that we moderns typically operate from. The latter is not necessarily superior to the former. I recommend this book. It is worthwhile to read and to have in one's library. You will find in it an excellent presentation of the Protestant understanding of justification. I'm not sure, though, that this Protestant understanding is identical to the Patristic understanding.
Rating: 
Summary: Venturesome Project Into Ecumenism
Review: Other reviewers of this fine book have been critical for what this reviewer feels is unfair reasons. Oden never seeks to provide evidence that there has not been uniform applicability of the teaching of justification by grace through faith, nor that he would limit such evidence to primarily the early fathers, but would attempt to show that the Reformation teachers understanding of this was the same as the early church writers. In this his attempt is successful. He provides much evidence from varying confessional statements to show these veins of agreement across the ages.
This certainly then should be of utmost concern to the church in ecumenical discussions, that this was their historically from the beginning, now where did it go offtrack? Oden's desire for ecumenical consensus is admirable and certainly provides at least one target area for such serious discussions. His challenge for others to refute this evidence is valid. Since this doctrine is pivotal to all the rest, it surely must be a considered firm, starting point.
The writing style is tight and organized and the thought progression of his thesis is well laid out and easy to follow. His paraphrasing of fathers and confessional statements alike is masterful. The thoughtful reader will find many paths to followup, e.g. my desire to discover more on the mysterious Ambriosiaster.
Looking forward to his next effort in this series on Good Works.
Rating: 
Summary: Just What It Says
Review: This book does not attempt to say that the Fathers held one simple or unanimous position on the doctrine of justification. Nor does it attempt to be comprehensive (just look at its size). Oden is a scholar of the first rank, and my guess is that he knows that either attempt would be futile. What he does aim to accomplish--successfully, in my estimation--is to show that the early church did indeed agree with the fundamental thrust of justification by faith: a sinner's "yes" to God's rescue through Christ, a '"yes" which is initially and necessarily verbalizd by faith, and not by "being good." That is what the Gospel is all about. The early church believed this. Protestants believe this. And Caholics believe this as well (see Louis Bouyer's "The Spirit & Forms of Protestantism"). Religion is complex. But that doesn't mean it's essential message has to be. Thankfully scholars like Oden see this clearly.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor scholarship, dubious premise, BIG disappointment
Review: This book purports to show that there was a consensus among the Church Fathers in support of an essentially Protestant theology of "justification by faith alone" (JBFA) long before the Reformation. Oden tried to prove this by comparing isolated quotations from the Fathers to individual doctrinal points gleaned from several different Protestant sources. He made no effort to systematically develop the various nuanced positions of the Fathers on soteriology and acts as if every apparently anti-Pelagian comment equates to support for Protestant dogma. For example, the dominant position among the Eastern Fathers as far back as the 2nd Century was Theosis -- partaking of the divine nature through union with Christ. This concept is neither mentioned nor explored in the book. This is a critical omission since John Calvin and his spiritual descendants explicity deny this concept. It is also well established that the Protestant doctrine of JBFA is strongly tied to medieval Ockhamist and Scotian ideas in theology and philosophy. The Patristic Church did not share these ideas and was in fact more strongly influenced by Platonic and Neo-Platonic thought. The attempt to find Protestant doctrines among the Fathers is anachronistic at best and openly deceptive at worst. When I purchased this book, I had hoped to see a detailed comparison between the positions held in the Patristic Church and those of later sectarians, both Protestant and Catholic. This is something that no one has done up to now. Earlier work by Buchanan was tainted by his outright anti-Catholic bigotry and Alister McGrath's "Iustitia Dei" -- for all of its attempt at covering medieval developments -- still concentrated on the Western/Augustinian tradition and did not examine the breath of the Patristic thought while virtually ignoring the contributions of the Ecumenical Councils before Trent. I was disappointed to see that the positions of the Fathers were never systematically developed and that no attempt was made in the book to examine either Catholic or Eastern Orthodox soteriology. The continuitites and discontinuities between the Patristic positions and those of non-Protestants were virtually ignored. Meanwhile selective proof-texting made it seem as if there was a broad Protestant consensus on JBFA which was compatible with a similar broad consensus across the Patristic Church. This is not only poor scholarship, it is frankly dishonest. The reality is that there were (and are) many Protestant positions, many Patristic positions, and many views within Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The doctrine of justification has developed over the centuries with each age adding its own peculiar contribution to the way it was articulated and lived. There never was a consensus AMONG the Fathers on all the fine points or AMONG the Reformers or AMONG their Catholic and Orthodox counterparts. The bottom line is that Dr. Oden's book is a shoddy piece of propaganda alleging a continuity between the Early Church and the Protestants which did not -- and does not -- exist. I think he wrote this book in an irenic spirit similar to that of Daniel William's book "Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism: A Primer for Suspicious Protestants." Unfortunately, this book will not serve to broaden the horizons of rank-and-file Protestants as Dr. William's did. Rather it will be used by those very narrow minded propangandists who are still trying to convince themselves (and others) that Baptists were not Protestants, that St. Thomas Aquinas was not a "Romanist", and that the Reformation was a return to historical "biblical" Christianity. The truth is that Historical Christianity is a much broader and complex movement than any one tradition can claim and that Protestantism is as much a product of its contemporary environments in every age as any other form of Christianity. In fact by its very nature, Protestantism in any form is always discontinuous in its doctrine with the theological positions previously held even from within its own tradition. I am sorely disappointed that Dr. Oden did not make a real effort to educate his co-religionists in what the Church Fathers really taught, but instead tried to confirm them in sectarian ignorance for the sake of a false irenicism.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Starting Point For Evangelicals
Review: This is an excellent starting point for evangelicals
who are "gun shy" regarding the Early Church. Read
this work, and I believe you will be more willing to
actually pursue other studies in the realm of the
doctrine of the Early Church.
Many evangelicals fear the teachings of the Early
Church. In my experience this is due to a class of people
who claim to represent the "historic church" and
who use the the claim of following in the footsteps
of the fathers as a bludgeon to pummel evangelicals into submission.
Usually these are former evangelicals themselves who
have the new found zeal of former smokers. Such folks
are now on a crusade to save the world from tobacco.
These former evangelicals end up end up ridiculing
everything in their evangelical heritage in an almost
pathological manner.
But even these zealots have a good point.
To be quite honest, the Protestant Reformers in the
Reformed, Anglican, and Lutheran camps were dedicated
students of the Early Church and believed themselves to
be restoring the primitive Christian teaching.
Their followers in the modern era have distorted
the teachings of these reformers (and the scriptures)
with a modern proof text mentality that takes some
verses as "gospel" while shunning "inconvenient"
texts.
As a presbyter (priest) who has been blessed to be raised
in the evangelical church and who has now found a home
in the historic church, yes, the New Testament church I
was always encouraged to seek, I say you will value this
book.
It shows how the Early Church affirmed the doctrine that
came to be known as Justification by Grace through Faith,
shows how the fathers of the church held the doctrine, and
yet shows how they did so in a way without modern evangelical
distortions of the biblical evidence.
Thomas Oden is to be thanked for his efforts. I wish the
readings had been republished in an appendix without his
commentary - only subject headings. But still this is a fine
work despite the detractors he has managed to create!
Thank you, Dr. Oden.
Once you have read this work, I encourage you to go on to
learn more about the teaching of the Early Church with the
conviction that it will help you go more DEEPLY into the
Holy Scriptures, not AWAY from them. And where you DIFFER from the teachings, at least you will be forced to justify your faith biblically. And isn't that what we who were raised in the evangelical church were raised to do anyway?
Fr. Chuck Huckaby - ...
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Starting Point For Evangelicals
Review: This is an excellent starting point for evangelicals
who are "gun shy" regarding the Early Church. Read
this work, and I believe you will be more willing to
actually pursue other studies in the realm of the
doctrine of the Early Church. Many evangelicals fear the teachings of the Early
Church. In my experience this is due to a class of people
who claim to represent the "historic church" and
who use the the claim of following in the footsteps
of the fathers as a bludgeon to pummel evangelicals into submission. Usually these are former evangelicals themselves who
have the new found zeal of former smokers. Such folks
are now on a crusade to save the world from tobacco.
These former evangelicals end up end up ridiculing
everything in their evangelical heritage in an almost
pathological manner. But even these zealots have a good point. To be quite honest, the Protestant Reformers in the
Reformed, Anglican, and Lutheran camps were dedicated
students of the Early Church and believed themselves to
be restoring the primitive Christian teaching. Their followers in the modern era have distorted
the teachings of these reformers (and the scriptures)
with a modern proof text mentality that takes some
verses as "gospel" while shunning "inconvenient"
texts. As a presbyter (priest) who has been blessed to be raised
in the evangelical church and who has now found a home
in the historic church, yes, the New Testament church I
was always encouraged to seek, I say you will value this
book. It shows how the Early Church affirmed the doctrine that
came to be known as Justification by Grace through Faith,
shows how the fathers of the church held the doctrine, and
yet shows how they did so in a way without modern evangelical
distortions of the biblical evidence. Thomas Oden is to be thanked for his efforts. I wish the
readings had been republished in an appendix without his
commentary - only subject headings. But still this is a fine
work despite the detractors he has managed to create! Thank you, Dr. Oden. Once you have read this work, I encourage you to go on to
learn more about the teaching of the Early Church with the
conviction that it will help you go more DEEPLY into the
Holy Scriptures, not AWAY from them. Fr. Chuck Huckaby - ...
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